Arches

It was a cool early morning when we arrived at the gates of Arches National Park just before dawn.

Sunrise

We had a quick and easy breakfast of scones, yogurt, and coffee in the car as we made the drive to Arches. Unlike Canyonlands which sits a short drive outside of Moab, the entrance to Arches is just a few minutes outside of town.

Arches is one of the country's most famous national parks and for most of the year a reservation ticketing system is required for entry even if you have a national park pass. We were lucky enough to get a 6:30am entry time which meant that, although it was going to be a very early morning, we would have the entire day to get to experience one of the most beautiful parts of the state.

We stood in the chilly predawn shadows with a small group of other people at one of the overlook points near the park entrance. Several photographers were beginning to set up their expensive looking camera equipment, ready to capture the desert sunrise.

As the sun crested over the distant eastern mountains, soft golden light fell on the cliffs and rock faces to the west. First, the far distant rocks began glowing with an orange-red fire, and the warm glow crept closer and closer as the day approached.

Landscape Arch

With the sun rising in a beautiful cloudless sky, it was time to start our first hike. We had entered the Devil's Garden area of the park, known for its challenging hikes, but we decided to start with something a little more manageable.

Our first hike of the day would take us to the Landscape Arch, one of the park's more accessible arches located down a relatively easy flat trail.

We walked along the trail through narrow canyons and past sprawling desert landscapes. The day was warming up, but it was still a bit chilly in the shade. As we hiked towards the arch, I remained on the lookout for new birds to add to my life list.

It took about half an hour to walk to the arch at a leisurely pace, enjoying the scenery as we went.

Landscape Arch is the longest arch in the Western Hemisphere and the fifth longest in the world! This precarious-looking ribbon of rock spans 306 feet and stands 77 feet tall! 

Because the arch is so thin and because of the rocky cliff behind it, it is difficult to spot the arch as you are approaching it. That is, until you are close to its base. Suddenly, the sky appears behind the arch, and it's an incredible sight to see.

Sand Dune Arch

A hike through grassland durned to trudging through deep golden-red desert sand as we approached the appropriately named Sand Dunes Arch. 

We entered a narrow canyon between two towering stone walls. The sand, I suppose, had eroded from the rocks over the millennia. It was noticeably windier here than anywhere else we had been inside Arches.

Eventually, we came to the arch itself. Sand Dune Arch isn't the largest arch at the park, nor is it the most famous, but it ended up being my favorite spot that we visited. 

Because it's less popular than some of the other of the park's iconic features, it's less visited, and it felt like we had the place to ourselves. I found the red desert rock really stunning, and it felt like standing on the surface of Mars. Unsurprisingly, lots of science fiction films use Utah's unusual desert landscape to depict scenes of other planets!

Fiery Furnace

The Fiery Furnace is a mazelike expanse of sandstone canyons, spires, and arches, and like the Maze District at nearby Canyonlands, is only accessible with a permit and guide. We stood on an overlook to gaze out across the rambling formation.

At sunset, the light hits the rocks making them glow bright red like the tongues of fire alluded to in its name.

Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch is the most famous landmark at Arches National Park. It shows up on all sorts of Utah state merchandise and marketing - including on the state's license plates! If you've ever searched for images of Arches National Park, you've probably seen this arch.

While it's not necessarily the most impressive arch at the park, it's unique because it stands alone and totally unsupported. The arch can be reached on foot along a trail, but we stopped in at the lower viewing area which offered a decent view.

Garden of Eden

The Garden of Eden is known for its unique, rounded rock formations and balanced rocks, set amidst a landscape that looks as if it could be from another planet. The area is relatively small but is packed with remarkable sights, including isolated rock spires, arches, and hoodoos (tall, thin spires of rock), all shaped by centuries of erosion.

I always imagined the Garden of Eden to be far lusher than this, but that's what someone called this part of the park decades ago, and the name stuck.

Double Arch

The one place at Arches that I was the most excited to see with my own eyes was Double Arch. This incredibly rare formation features two separate arches that are joined together at roughly 90 degrees.

The arch was featured in the opening scene of one of my favorite movies, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Whenever my younger siblings were out for the night, staying with friends or whatever, my mom and I would often go to Blockbuster and rent the Indiana Jones films. We've watched that movie so many times that as soon as we saw the Double Arch we instantly recognized it!

This was by far the busiest part of the park that we had visited, but the crowds really didn't bother us at all. Arches is such a big national park with lots of great infrastructure that traffic and crowds really aren't a problem (the same can't be said for every national park in Utah... but more on that in a future post).

Of course, the arches that we saw today are just the very few most famous and iconic ones and are only barely scratching the surface at Arches National Park. There are over 2,000 natural arches and other almost unbelievable formations, and I highly doubt that any one person has seen every one of them.

Balanced Rock

The Balanced Rock is a lurching giant standing 138 feet tall. Despite its name, the rock is not actually balanced atop its spire but is attached to its eroding pedestal... at least for now!

The Rock had a smaller twin, the "Chip off the Old Block" which collapsed in the winter of 1975. 

Cliffs, mountains, and rock formations may seem permanent, but the landscape out here is constantly changing. Some of these changes take place over millennia, but others can happen overnight as erosion, freezing, thawing, and other forces of nature continuously shape the face of the national park.

It's fascinating to think that all of these arches will someday collapse - it could be in a hundred years or less, and it could be in thousands - while new ones will be formed to take their place. It's all a matter of time.

Even though it's not exactly cold yet, the temperatures in the evening are starting to feel really nice out in Utah, and we sat by the fire pit at our hotel after dinner. It was nice to put our feet up and enjoy the heat from the fire after a long day of hiking.

Tomorrow, we'll be leaving Moab and driving on towards Boulder, Utah and Capitol Reef National Park, the next stop on our whirlwind five-day tour of the state's "Mighty Five".