This trip was one that Rob and I had wanted to do since we first moved to Colorado. It also brought me one state closer to accomplishing my not-so-unique goal of visiting every state.
Arches National Park was a really incredible experience. Although the temperature remained in the high 90s the entire day; this worked in our favor as far as the amount of tourists went. The park receives anywhere from 3,000-9,000 visitors every day, which is a lot of people in a 119.8 square mile park. Due to it being the peak of summer, there were signs posted all over requiring 2 liters of water for every person to help prevent heat stroke.
Crammed into the space is over 2,000 natural arches formed in red rocks. The arches were all created through the forces of nature, mainly water. The park constantly changing as new arches are being formed and old ones are starting to collapse. Rob and I pondered that one day we could tell our kids we saw some of the famous arches before they fell.
We started the day by waking up in our camp along the Colorado River before the sun, in order to see the sunrise through the arches. Driving through the park in the dark, we had no idea of the beauty that awaited us. We watched the sunrise through the North and South Windows. It was stuck behind the clouds for a while; however, once it showed its face, the rocks were lit up with a brilliant red. We enjoyed watching the sun peak through these natural windows.
Next we walked to Turret Arch. This one looked like God made his own castle in the park. Turret Arch is a large section of rocks with two arches that are surrounded by turret like formations. Lit by the sunrise, it was a blazing orange.
Another small walk took us to Double Arch and the Parade of Elephants. Double arch was especially impressive in its cavernous size. You could climb below the arches at your own risk...
The parade of elephants was aptly named and had a structure that looked like an orange baby elephant.
(Isn't he cute?)
The Fiery Furnace was surprisingly not very fiery or furnace-like. It provided some of the only shade that we enjoyed in the entire park. This ended up being nice because there was some technical hiking involved in the tour. We had to traverse cracks, squeeze through narrow spaces and jump a few gaps along the way.
On the tour we saw a few unique arches, including one of my favorites called Surprise Arch. To get to Surprise Arch you have navigate to a cavern. (If you pick your path incorrectly, you will hit dead ends with tight turn arounds) You can't see the arch until you are inside of the cavern, hence the name. We ended the tour by sitting in this little cove, admiring the arch (and shade).
When we left the Fiery Furnace it was noon; peak sun hours had begun. We asked our guide where to find shade and he recommended visiting Sand Dune Arch. We ended up setting up a picnic in the shade on the trail to reach it. Carolyn had brought us some veggie hot dogs that we enjoyed while staying cool. Everyone who passed us commented on our great selection of a lunch spot. Sand Dune Arch was small, but vibrant. We didn't see until after I had taken a picture of Rob under it, that there had been warnings post of recently falling rocks... whoops!
After our lunch we found a water station and refilled about 6 plastic water bottles in addition to our camelbacks. We were really going through water fast in the heat!
Our next hike took us to Landscape Arch. This arch spans the length of a football field. You don't even realize just how big it is until you are at the base of the trail and can see up through the arch. You can also see that the right side is getting really narrow and that there is a lot of fallen rock on the ground below it.
We debated when to make our longest hike of the day to Delicate Arch. It was 96 degrees and the park rangers advised leaving the park between 1 and 4 because it is just so hot. After sitting in the air conditioned car for ten or so minutes, we decided to suck it up and hike. It wasn't a long hike, but it had a large amount of elevation gain making it difficult. I am so glad that we went when we did. Not only was it actually hotter when we returned than when we started, but we had the arch entirely to ourselves for a while. I guess no one else wanted to brave the heat. On the way back down, we saw a lot people starting to make the trek up. Perfect timing for us!
Delicate Arch was my favorite place in the park. Not only is the arch beautiful, its surroundings are incredible. You can see for miles from the vantage point and the arch truly stands by itself at the edge of a cliff with a deep pit on the other side. It looks like it was built intentionally, not through natural phenomena.
After a grueling hike and with such views all around, none of us wanted to leave that spot. We took pictures from every angle and then napped in the shade of the arch for a while.
We finished the day by walking Park Avenue. It is a little one way trail that is surrounded by narrow rock sheets that look like skyscrapers. There was also a rock cut out shape that reminded me of the aliens from an Indiana Jones movie. Rob wisely took us on the downhill direction of the trail, which ended in a dried up river bed right in the center of the valley.
After that we were all exhausted. We left the park in order to go find dinner and some air conditioning before spending another night on the river.
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