Laura’s Journal: Arches National Park

Posted on by snukes

Transcription:

Navajo Arch.
Haha, I don’t remember what, specifically, inspired this pose, but in any case I am the lover of all I survey.
Devil’s Garden Trail.
Double O Arches (the second one is just behind the people in the background).
Laura in front of the giant rock bookshelf.
This is the sort of thing they mean when they say part of the Devil’s Garden loop is “primitive.” Not so much a trail as a well-trodden series of rocks. It is well marked, however.
Ominous signage for an ominous rock. That thing is 125 feet tall.
The sun playing dramatic games behind dramatic rocks. ❤
And now for some glamour shots.
A downslope view of the Fiery Furnace area, a spot we’ll definitely get a permit to explore next time we come.
One of the Window Arches. South, I think?
Turret Arch.
Balanced Rock. Look for the little person in the bottom left corner of the photo to start feeling the scale.
Rock fins like trains hanging out at the station.
Aaaaaand Delicate Arch, because you don’t visit without at least getting an eyefull.

Transcription:

Sunday, May 9, 2021
ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

We arrived early but not quite early enough in Utah’s most iconic park. Pulling up at 8:05, we still wound up waiting about 20 minutes to get in through the entry gate. We stopped oh-so-briefly at the visitor’s center before heading all the way to the Devil’s Garden trailhead at the end of the scenic drive. We thought that by doing that first, skipping the more obvious stops at Balanced Rock and Delicate Arch, we might beat the crowds. Haha. We drove around the huge parking lot 6 times before we got lucky and found someone pulling out.

All worth it, though. As with Zion, I harbored some suspicions about whether a park with so much hуре really could be All That, but it can. Of course.

These rocks, so very much younger than the ones we met in the Grand Canyon, do amazing things. [They create] arches, yes, obviously, but even the way they split into the long, slender fins that make the arches possible [is amazing]. A huge layer of salt below the sandstone got pressed up and the bulge forced the sandstone to fan open like the pages of a book. (Yet another geologic process I’d never heard of prior to this trip. I am rich with new facts!) In fact, sticking with the book metaphor, viewed head-on the fins look an awful lot like a shelf full of books. It’s super cool.

On the Devil’s Garden Trail, I decided play a game called “let’s count the arches!” There are over 2,000 arches in this park. I didn’t learn until after the hike that an arch must [have an opening of] at least 3 feet (in any direction) to be officially counted, so a few of the 25 I spotted may not qualify. Eight of these arches have names and dedicated trail spurs. I can 100% vouch for 3 additional arches we spotted. I’ll admit the rest are suspect, pending verification. It’s incredible how light and shadow can play tricks on your mind.

Most of the people responsible for the crowded parking lot peeled off at Double O Arch and headed back, leaving us to finish the “primitive” half of the trail (it was fine) in relative tranquility. There was a certain quantity of demoralizing sand to schlepp through, and by the time I faced the last hill up from the Pine Tree Arch Spur I felt pretty much done in, but even so, this 8-mile loop (counting every official spur and maybe one I invented myself) joins my list of all-time favorite hikes.

Loads of spaces were available in the parking lot when we came out. I guess starting early isn’t always the best option (when the weather is pleasant, anyway. And let’s be honest: 8:30am isn’t actually early. 6am is probably always a good time to start hikes like this.)

Onward, then, to the more famous stops. I wasn’t sure I had 3 more miles in me, so we didn’t do the hike out to Delicate Arch, just the quick 1/2-mile overlook. Even at a distance, you could see all the people swarming around it. It’s not as big as I had thought, and far less delicate looking than Landscape Arch. (Please know I say this as a fan of Landscape Arch, not as a critic of Delicate Arch which is still, of course, amazing.)

We also went out past the Parade of Elephants formation (hehe) to the Window Arches, Turret Arch, Double Arch, and a whole bunch of others all glommed together in a fairly small space. That grouping feels so much like the half melted remains of an ancient civilization, it’s kind of spooky.

Today is our last day in Utah. What a wild an unexpected place this has been! We’ve seen a ton, and missed plenty too. I hope we get to fill in the gaps someday, but maybe it can somehow be a Someday when the crowds are a little less like swarms of locusts. Somehow.

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