Blown Away!

Wednesday, September 14

We’ve been blown away, both literally and figuratively!  We experienced heavy gusty winds all night last night which continued into today.  Then, with our return to Arches National Park, we were blown away by even more spectacular sights.  Just when we thought we’d seen everything, we hiked 3 miles to get up close to Delicate Arch and were blown away by the incredible scenery!  Very close to the hiking trail, we saw this wall of petroglyphs from the Ute Indians, carved sometime between 1650 and 1850!

The hike took us up and down and over slick rock terrain.  The trail climbed 480 ft over the distance, and darn it, I forgot to wear my fitbit! 

There were beautiful sights along the way, including a window high above the trail where you could see Delicate Arch on the other side!  Jim was brave enough to climb up and take a pic!

 

 

 

 

 

Once we turned the corner and saw Delicate Arch close up, it was magnificent!  The light opening beneath the arch is 64 ft high and 45 ft wide, making it the largest freestanding arch in the park.  Here’s a picture of me standing in the arch center.  It was really windy, and one guy almost lost his backpack which was picked up by the wind.  Not everyone who reached the viewpoint walked out to the arch, because it’s a little scary, especially with the wind!

We continued on to the end of the park, Devil’s Garden, and took another 2 mile hike to see more arches.

We got to see Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch along the way. (That’s Jim in the center of Pinetree Arch!)  The spectacular sight was Landscape Arch which spans 306 ft across!  A 60 ft rock slab broke away from the arch in 1991, leaving about 180 tons of debris around the base.  Park visitors are no longer allowed under the arch because it could still be unstable.  We were happy to look from the trail!

We also got to see the Double O Arch from a distance…we elected not to venture the additional mile on a primitive trail to get close!

Over one million visitors come to the park each year, and it’s not hard to understand why!

We were joined at the RV park by two couples from our Alaska trip –what a nice surprise!   Together we enjoyed dinner and a cruise down the Colorado River among the canyon walls.  We learned a lot of history, including the origin of Utah—it was named after those Ute Indians that made the petroglyphs many years ago!  

There was almost a full moon that added to the ambiance of a nice peaceful evening on the water, and a beautiful, clear night sky that treated us to another view that blew us away!