Arches National Park

 March 1, 2021

It was cold last night, fourteen degrees cold.  We ran our electric heaters and the furnace still kicked on last night.  We were comfortable in the RV, just worried about the water in the pipes.  The bathroom water faucets worked in the morning, the kitchen faucet did not.  We had an electric heater going in the basement to keep the pipes above freezing but when we went to dump this morning, nothing came out.  Hmm, we hit the road without dumping, giving the pipes time to thaw out and sure enough we were able to dump when we got to our new campsite.  Phew.  We have the first two nights here with temperatures below freezing but daytime temperatures above, so hopefully no repeat water issues. 

It is official, we are half-way thru our year on the road and we celebrated by taking a 311 mile trip from Winslow, AZ to Moab, UT.  The views were spectacular the whole way.  Here are some shots from the drive with no comments.  The last 2 shots are the views from our current campsite in Moab.

March 2, 2021

Arches National Park

Oh yes, this place is all smiles.  Something wild and wonderful was around every corner.

And the weather was wonderful, thanks to our daughter Melissa who highly recommended that we visit now and not in the summer heat. Brilliant idea, so glad we listened.

"A dramatic break in the earth's surface occurred here about six million years ago. Under intense pressure, unable to stretch, the crust cracked and shifted. Today, the highway (below) parallels this

fracture line, called the Moab Fault."

First stop, Park Avenue

The sheer walls of this canyon reminded early visitors of buildings lining a big city street.

This formation is called the 3 Gossips.

The rock to the right of the gossips is sheep rock.

Tower of Babel on the left and the Organ

Courthouse Towers

The La Sal mountains, these snow capped wonders can be seen all over the park.

In the foreground are petrified sand dunes. "This vast area was once covered by extensive sand dunes. Some 200 million years ago, winds from the northwest carried tons of fine-grained sand into this area, creating an immense desert.  Over time, the sand drifts were covered by other layers of sediment, compressed, and cemented by quartz and calcite into Navajo Sandstone.  Erosion has since washed away the overlying layers, exposing the "petrified" dunes."

Here is a video for you to get a sense of the 360 point of view.

Balanced Rock "The forces of erosion are sculpting more than just arches. Balanced Rock clearly shows the various layers responsible for this amazing defiance of gravity.  The caprock of the hard Slick Rock Member of the Entrada Sandstone is perched upon a pedestal of mudstone. This softer Dewey Bridge Member of the Carmel Formation weathers more quickly than the resistant rock above. Eventually, the faster-eroding Dewey Bridge will cause the collapse of Balanced Rock."

Dewey Bridge Member, the base 128 feet 

Boulder Height: 55 feet  Boulder Weight: 3,500 tons 

great vista of fins and La Sal mountains

Okay this sign explains how arches are formed.

The South Window

Turret arch, this one is my favorite here.  I like the window to the left of it and enjoyed scrambling up the rocks and going to see it from the other side.

It's huge, see the little spot lower center right? that's me 

Here is Jim under the Turret Arch, taken from the backside.

South and North windows together look like a mask when taken from Turret Arch.

Us at Turret Arch.  We climbed up and into the arch and the view on the far side was amazing.

view beyond Turret Arch

view beyond Turret Arch

North window

Double Arch, twice as nice.

explanation on formation of double arch

Double Arch as we hike to it

No name or signage but we see a man's profile here

Under the double arch

Besides the rock formations and the La Sal mountains you can see the curvy scenic drive from the Double Arch trail.

Fiery Furnace.  These very large fins are strikingly different than the earlier formations. We saw them across from Panorama Point where we had lunch.  We will see more of them down the road.

Here is the 360 view from today's lunch spot, Panorama Point.

Originally named "Cowboy Chaps" and "Old Maid Bloomers" but renamed Delicate Arch by a journalist and now its on every Utah license plate.  This is from the view trail.  Tomorrow we will take a trail to the arch itself.

Greenery in Arches National Park.  I've been in the desert for awhile seeing green is nice.

The color variation in these rocks is attractive.

"Most of the rocks in Arches National Park owe their brilliant color to the presence or absence of iron.

When iron oxidizes-similar to a nail rusting-it gives the rock a red color like here at the Fiery Furnace, where the sandstone fins glow like flames at sunset. Bands of white occur where water has removed the iron or bleached the rock through chemical reaction. Black, brown, or deep metallic purple streaks on stone faces are created by iron oxide, manganese oxide, and clay interacting with bacteria and water. Green rocks form in an oxygen-poor environment, such as a shallow lake, where iron is in a reduced or ferrous state.  Over millions of years the many colors of iron have painted the landscape of Arches National Park into the work of art visible today."

"Contrary to its name, the Fiery Furnace is not a hot place. Named for the warm glow seen

on the rocks in late afternoon, the Fiery Furnace is actually a maze of cool, shady canyons between towering sandstone walls."

I want to walk among these rocks at Fiery Furnace but the trail is currently closed.

Huge thin slabs of rock with slots between them all.

Amazing.

La Sal Mountains from Fiery Furnace

We hit the Sand Dune Trail and I am so excited!  I get to walk between the tall fins of stone.

Not a lot of room between rocks but enough.  It was a great trail.

Limited sun in here so it was a little cooler.

Sand Dune Arch, yes that's me behind it.

Jim slipping through the narrow trail here.

Broken Arch ( it has a fracture making it look broken)

On the way to Skyline Arch Jim spies a rabbit shadow on the rocks ahead.

Skyline Arch  In 1940 a large boulder fell out of this arch roughly doubling the size of it.

That's it for day one, tomorrow we go back to take 2 longer hikes.

March 3, 2021

Rise and shine and off to Devil's Garden Trailhead this morning.

It's a beautiful day, let's get going.

Views along the trail.

Landscape Arch. 

"September 1, 1991 – Hikers thought they heard cracks of What caused this cataclysmic event? Water had been slowly thunder from distant clouds. Visitors resting under Landscape shaping the arch for countless centuries, dissolving cement Arch noticed loud cracking and popping noises overhead. They between sand grains, seeping into tiny cracks, freezing and fled as small rocks tumbled from the slender 306-foot-long span. expanding. What had finally upset the delicate balance?

Moments later, a 60-foot-long rock slab peeled away from the debris lay scattered on the ground.

arch's right side. When the dust settled, 180 tons of fresh rock Unseasonably heavy rains the preceding ten days may have filled pore spaces within the sandstone. The added weight may have finally overwhelmed the rock slab in its timeless struggle with gravity."

A window and unnamed arch in the area.

Landscape Arch, note the 180 tons of rock on the right that fell in 1991.

"Landscape Arch is the largest arch on the planet, beating out Zion National Park’s Kolob Arch by a scant 3 feet."

These two fins looked like boats to me.  Do you see it?

Jim heads up the trail.

"The trail between Landscape Arch and Double O Arch is more difficult, winding along the narrow tops of exposed sandstone fins, then up and down short, steep crevices where steps have been cut

into the rock. This section is not recommended for hikers with a fear of heights or when lightning, snow or ice are present.."

Jim checks it out.

Thinking I could go up but not sure I could come back down, I chose not to continue on this trail even if there is no snow or ice today.

Other hikers went up the trail I passed on.

I am okay with the views from here.

We did go to Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch on the way back to the trailhead.

Happy hikers.

Tunnel Arch, it is thicker than other arches, I guess that is how it got it's name.

To the left I named that window the laundry chute.

This formation between tunnel and pine tree arch looked like a submarine to Jim.

The sign says it all.

For perspective to see how large this arch is Jim is 6 feet 3 inches.

Looks to me like this arch has some issues up top.

Who knows, these cracks may break away or hang on another 100 years.

From Devils Garden we headed over to the Delicate Arch Trail.

 "John Wesley Wolfe and his son Fred settled on the banks of Salt Wash around 1898. Drawn by the climate, which was drier and "healthier” than their previous home in Ohio, John and Fred spent more than a decade leading lives of solitude and hard work."

John & Fred's one room, dirt floor cabin.

"In 1906, John's daughter Flora Stanley, her husband and their 2 children moved to the ranch. Shocked a the primitive conditions, Flora convinced her father to build a new cabin with a wood floor — the cabin you see today.  The reunited family weathered a few more year Utah and in 1910 returned to Ohio."

This is one room, yes it has a wood floor but where did everybody sleep?  No fireplace, winters are cold here.  I would have gone back to Ohio too.

"The trail leading to Delicate Arch is 3 miles roundtrip and climbs 480 feet with no shade. The trail is well defined for about the first half mile then steeply climbs up an open slickrock slope. Just before reaching the arch, the trail traverses a narrow rock ledge for about 200 yards.

This trail is DIFFICULT, especially in hot weather."

This is the defined portion.  And yes I was nervous on the narrow rock ledge but I hiked it successfully.

Hikers ahead of us show that the route is up hill.  This was only the first part of the climb.

Jim taking on the trail one step at a time.

The trail goes on and on.

An unnamed arch near the end of the trail.

This is called Twisted Donut Arch on the way to Delicate Arch.

Ta Da!  I successfully hiked the short ledge hugging a steep cliff.

"The trail also winds through an area full of chert — a hard, shiny rock used by Native Americans for tools and weapons around a short ledge, hugging a steep cliff."

No photos of ledge I was busy hanging on to steep cliff.

Jim and I up at Delicate Arch.  It is much bigger in person than what we saw yesterday on the upper view trail.  And from the view trail you could not tell it was on the edge of a high hill.

It still looks like cowboy chaps to me.

From the Delicate Arch Trail we can clearly see the scenic drive road.

Views on the way back down the trail.

"A rock art panel created by the Ute people. It depicts a hunting scene with riders on horseback from around the 1700s."

The Colorado River runs by Wolfe Ranch.

We have really enjoyed our visit to Arches National Park.

If you come, choose to come in early March the weather is great and the crowds are not bad.

The town of Moab has plenty of hotels to accommodate you if you don't want to camp.  We drove thru the campground in Arches and the views from there were great but the campsites too small for us.