Arches National Park, it has been 26 years since we visited this Park, and finally we are back exploring this amazing landscape. Only 4 miles north of Moab, containing the world’s largest concentration of natural stone arches, this 73,000 acre region has over 2000 of these “miracles of nature”. We started with a short hike to Park Avenue, massive sandstone red fins. Then on to Balanced Rock and the iconic Delicate Arch. We hiked the 1 1/2 miles to view this beautiful, perfectly shaped, Delicate Arch, at an elevation of 4829 feet it was breathtaking and awe-inspiring.
Eventually it was on to the next trailhead to hike the Devil’s Garden region, leading to 8 amazing natural stone arches. First we came to Landscape Arch, the longest natural arch in the world. Its span is more than a football field in length, and since 1991 three slabs of sandstone have fallen from the thinnest section of the Arch and therefore the trail is closed that once passed underneath it. In its thinnest section the arch is only 11 feet thick, yet it supports a span of rock almost 300 feet long. This arch could collapse at any time. Then we scrambled over rocks to get to Partition Arch and Navajo Arch, both spectacular rock formations. We walked along a narrow fin high above the ground to reach the Double O Arch, a large arch stacked above a small arch, very strange in shape. Bob climbed through to the backside of the arch to get some premium pictures.
It started to rain so we decided to turn back instead of continuing on the Primitive Trail, we saw 4 of the 8 arches in the Devil’s Garden. It has been a long day and still many more places to visit here when we return. Until next time!!!