A glorious day it was, on Saturday the 22nd, and we spent the entire day in Arches National Park.
Just ask our own foot arches how much we hiked and walked!
At day's end our muscles ached somewhat, but our senses were rejoicing!
Because the "Delicate Arch" is Utah's icon of sorts (the one pictured on license plates and postage stamps, etc) I had the idea that it was something to be viewed alongside the road through the park.
Uh-uh!
To see it, we hiked for 3 miles on a somewhat strenuous, steep trail. At times the trail hugged overhanging rocks and it was narrow; other times we could scramble just about anywhere over the smooth rocks. But it was always upward.
This photo does not show the perspective, but it is one of the steep rock passages, and the view is straight upward here. I thought if this little blossom could make it, so could I (of course, it is resting!):
The Delicate Arch is immense and stands at the edge of an even more immense red rock natural amphitheater.
Exhausted, hot (it was 81 degrees at the bottom) hikers sat all around to view the reward:
Here Dick starts down to the base from high on the steppes:
Dick and I:
This view is from the side, taken from near where the rock plateau drops away for hundreds of feet:
We are so lucky that the desert is in bloom:
Back down near where the Delicate Arch trail starts are the remains of an early settler's cabin and corral:
Typical panorama:
Though the park rocks' color is predominately red-orange,
there is contrast:
I call this style "Fallen Arches":
The beginning of another trail we hiked:
(Imagine the anticipation; those majesties saying, "Welcome to my kingdom"!)
"Balanced Rock":
A short hike took us to "Landscape Arch".
It is longer than a football field and frighteningly high overhead:
It was bright-hot, so I looked for any kind of shadow from which to snap a photo.
The rocks really are that burning color, and moreso here because of the sun's angle:
There are hikers in this photo, so it shows the immensity of this arch:
Two peaks. The one with snow is in the Lasal Range:
And lastly, a wildflower backlit by the setting sun:
2 comments:
Love these Grandma! Really pretty! Caleb and I will have to check these out sometime when we're in utah.
Oh, ML, these are wonderful! It makes me all the more antsy and desirous to see Arches myself. From the sounds of it, I don't think that's one I'll be able to do with Steve and Coralie... Those colors, the shapes, the contrasts...what a TREAT!! Thanks for sharing.
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