Ever since we watched a Travel Channel documentary about Arches NP, it has been on our bucket list to visit. Unfortunately the day we set aside to visit the park was not very sunny, meaning the color of the features were muted, but still we were in awe.
Our first feature is called Park Ave, because early visitors likened the structures to skyscrapers in a city.
These features are called fins, because they are thin and look like “fins.” All the arches and windows in the park started out as fins.
Arches is made up of many different kinds of sandstone that wind, water, and gravity shape. Balance rock is a perfect example. As the story goes, an old man visiting the park asked a ranger if Balance rock was held up there by cement. The ranger told him no. Later on in the day a visitor had to be rescued from Balance Rock. Yep you guessed it, the old man crawled up there to check it out for himself. His comment to the ranger when rescued was “You are right, it isn’t cement.”
Here you can see Fiery Furnace, a large area covered with canyons and fins. Many hikers get lost in these and you need a guided tour to enter.
Here is a closer look at the Furnace. I want to come back sometime at sunset on a clear day and get the total effect of this feature.
All over the park are these rock formations just….there.
There are over 2,000 windows/arches to see in the park. This is called North and South Window.
This one is Turret Window.
There is a big explanation as to what classifies a feature as a window, arch, or bridge and so on.
The arches are constantly changing as weather erodes the sandstone causing parts of the arches to drop away.
I really love all the different colors of sandstone that make up the features.
After a short hike we were able to see Delicate Arch, the one most people are familiar with when they think about the West. It is a 3 mile hike to get to the arch. Thanks to the power of zoom on a good camera we were able to get this picture. Neither of us knew all those people were up there until we looked at the pictures we took.
This is Skyline Arch. It is a perfect example of how the arches change over time. In 1940 a large chunk fell out of the arch doubling it in size.
More cool features.
LOVE this view of the park from here.
One of the last arches we visited was Landscape Arch. It is one of the thinnest arches in the entire park. Someday it will collapse, but for now, enjoy.
Rather than take the nice paved road out of Arches, we found a nice, off-road trail through the wilderness of the park. There were a few fun spots topping off an already wonderful day.
