Arches National Park

November 13, 2021 Writing My Story

Today, October 28, 2021, I finally got here !! My main destination since I left Wisconsin. Moab, Utah and Arches National Park!

I have never been here and it was a National Park I really wanted to see. 👍 The photos of the Arches always appeared beautiful, intriguing and so unique!! It’s a 45 minute drive to the park from my campground. I arrived just before 10:00 a.m.. I have no idea if I was already too late to get in. There were only a couple cars ahead of me and I went right through!! I was fortunate. 😊

The National Parks have been controlling the number of people that come in, and they close the gates after the maximum number is met. A great idea in order to control the congestion and the number of people on a trail. So I wasn’t sure how busy it was going to be and if I was going to get in
My son , Mathew, and his family have gone to National Parks during the summer. They found they have to consistently be in line between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m. in order to get in before its maximum is met and it closes! Often by 8:00 a.m.!😯 Thank goodness I didn’t have to deal with that timeline!! 😬 However, even during the off-season, Arches was closing over the weekend around 11:00 a.m. They have it posted that if that happens you are usually able to get in later in the day, often after 3:00 p.m.

within 3/4 of a mile you are at this height within Arches National Park. It is a steady climb. The building in the center down below is the Visitors Center. The road beyond it is highway 191 into Moab. You can see a little bit of the winding road of the park as well.

It was interesting to see the diversity of the landscape within the park. As soon as you pass the visitor center, you make a steep climb on winding roads. The red rocks are all around you and hover above you.

**This is on the way up. See the white gravel road in the middle? That is where the previous photo was taken from**

As you continue to drive you come out to some great overlooks where the land is quite different. The only photos you ever see of Arches IS of the various arches, so it’s interesting to see what the great majority of the land actually looks like.

**interesting formations are everywhere along the way!**

There is one road into and through the park. It dead ends near the Devil’s Garden Campground. At that point, there is parking for a hiking trail to 7 more arches if you want to do so. Then you drive back the same way you went in.

The Arches map with all of the famous landmarks identified. In order to explore more of park, you would go on to gravel roads or even roads just for the off-road vehicles. That’s probably why they are so popular here.

It’s pretty common, apparently, to do the park as I did. Which was to follow along on the map and pull over and observe at each overview or take the trail to each archway . The nice part is you begin meeting the same people at the different stopping points. You end up carrying on conversations as you go. 😊 ( I met a couple from Minnesota ) The second thing that often happens is people take photos for each other . With something as large as the arches, selfies often don’t work well. It’s also nice to have everyone in the picture.

This is really unusual. I had no idea something like this existed within the Arches. Those mounds that are visible, were actually sand dunes at one time. Now they have been petrified into stone. They do not have any trails leading out to them and they continuously request that you do not walk on to the desert floor. They have found that the floor of the desert, although it looks dead, is teeming with microorganisms that help the desert to survive. So no walking out to the sand dunes.

***the first landmark, Balancing Rock***.

There is a short hike up to and around the base of Balancing Rock. I noticed that it had a white area between the Balancing Rock and the sphere it was balancing upon. The hills next to it had the same demarcation. It reminded me of how we would pack the two parts of a snowman together by putting in that extra snow between them. I was glad it held together while I was there and did not decide to fall off!!

***How often can you catch something like this on camera! 😅 Can you see the white part I was referring to on the “neck “of the rocks***? ***Reminds me of ET, too. Can you see it?***

***No names, just the partial arches carved into the sides of the Hills by the elements*** ***along the road.***

Next were some of the first arches! There were two parking areas here. The upper level went to the Windows Arches. The lower level went to this Double Arch. I found parking on the lower level so I hiked out to this Double Arch.

***Don’t I look small? It really puts it in perspective***. **I’m sitting on a rock. You can see some others climbing up closer to the second arch, which I did next…**

Quite a few of the younger hikers, would climb up a rather sheer set of rocks to sit in the opening of the second arch. It’s always easier to climb up than to climb down and after watching them slide and struggle on their way down, I decided there was no way I was going to go up there. Apparently there was quite a drop off on the other side of the Arch and it was a beautiful view. I’ll take their word for it. 👍

***I’ve got a thing for horns! Back at the Visitors Center.***

After the hike, I decided that was a good introduction to the park for the first day. After all I was going to be here for a week or more. At The Visitors Center they had beautiful bronze statues of a family of mountain goats. They also had this wonderful sign in the outdoor patio area.

Makes a good point!

That’s it for today. 👍