June 25, 2018 - Arches National Park
The first item on the agenda was to hike a mile and a half to Delicate Arch, mostly uphill.
Hot and uphill; a bad brew!
Lots of people just hung out and enjoyed the view of the Delicate Arch.
Close up!
A coral where they kept their cattle.
There is the Sand Dune Arch. The area is very sandy so it is like a big sand box; very popular with the kids. We had bought bag lunches at the Red Cliffs Lodge and ate them here.
Then we set off on a hike to the Broken Arch and Tapestry Arch. We mistakenly thought it was 1.5 miles round trip. It turned out to be 4.5 miles! And it was hot. But it was a great hike although we were tired at the end, we were glad we did it.
The hike started off crossing this meadow. The wavy grass had a glossy sheen to it that was striking.
On the trails, you get to see things not visible from the road.
Beautiful country.
We were by ourselves at this point; little to no hikers on this trail.
The trail went through these rock columns.
Very impressive. The people at the bottom of the picture provide some scale to see how massive these arches are.
Looking back at the parking lot. There are some arches on the other side -- North Window, South Window -- but we had had enough.
On the drive out, we passed by Balanced Rock.
This was my second visit to Arches National Park and I think I enjoyed it more this time than the first. It's one of my favorite National Parks. There are some famous arches at the end of the Park which I haven't seen yet, only accessible by hiking the Devil's Garden trail. I'd like to come back and do those someday. There are also some four-wheel drive roads that look like fun.
