Arches!

Tuesday, 9/18

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Point of clarification:  This blog is most definitely a team effort! While it's true that Lisa does all the writing, Nils takes 98% of the magnificent photos (if he's not in a picture, he probably took it), and I wanted him to have all the credit he so richly deserves!

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We've been having such a good time kayaking (really, it was a highlight of our trip so far), and just hanging out around Goose Island, but it was time today to visit Arches, esp since it's only a few miles away.   As soon as you drive into the entrance you are hit upside the head with incredible, unique views of all these enormous sculptural geological features, in every shape and size.

Castles? Primitive human renderings (back left)?

So=called rock fins

We decided on the Devil's Garden hike which took us past most of the arches in the park.  It's  7+ miles all together, and about 1/4th of it, we were warned, was a "primitive" trail.  They were not kidding, and it was not for the faint of heart.  First off, lots of deep sand at the beginning (JUST like being on the beach).  Then we had to climb up and around and over a lot of slickrock (red rounded sandstone which can get slippery when wet.  Or when dry, for that matter). 

Lisa in front of an natural arch

...and here's another one

 Here's a panoramic movie that gives you an idea of what you could see by just turning your head and looking across the horizon at one spot along the way:

We had a couple of hairy moments, first locating the trail (there were cairns--stacks of rocks--placed strategically along the way, but they weren't always easy to find and often involved continuing in a direction you'd really rather not go, because it went straight up, or straight down, or along the spine of one of those rock fins.....hiking poles helped a lot.  Also sitting down and sliding on your butt when necessary.

Brave Nils sitting high in an Arch

Inside the Navajo arch, one of my favorites...I'm sitting on a twisty log, of course

This one was tied in a knot, also in Navajo Arch

We started out at 8:45am in 62 degrees of cool, and by the end (around 1pm) it was a blazing hot and sunny 82....perfect timing.  I was expecting it to be much more strenuous....I guess we're in better shape than I thought, also we had to slow way down in the more dangerous, scrambly spots, so while it was a bit nervous-making, it wasn't really hard hiking.  

Delicate Arch which we saw both at the beginning and at the end.  As late as 1991, a big hunk of rock cracked off of the right underside, but the arch is still standing.  So beautiful.

Lisa at the intersection of two trees twisted together.

Our hike was FULL of twisty trees.  It was all I could do not to photograph them all (and there were scores of them, so you can be thankful for my prudence), but I couldn't resist this last one (actually two) which protrudes halfway into the path back to the parking lot.  It was just magnificent.

The famous "Balancing Rock" which we passed on the way out of the park

We were tired at the end of our long, hot hike, but stopped on the way out to gawk at the gigantic Balancing Rock (it's 128 feet tall all together.  The balancing rock on top is 55 feet tall).  Somehow it manages to stay up there without toppling.   What a wonderful day.

I keep thinking, every time we go to a new park, "c'mon, Lisa, you've seen it all by now, and this will be nice but couldn't possibly surpass the ones we've already visited".  And each time they are unique and eye-poppingly amazing.  You'd be correct in assuming that Nils and I say "WOW" a lot.