Arches National Park.

Wow! What a fabulous place!


There are around 2000 natural arches known in the park, and apparently more are being discovered all the time – which we think is incredible. You would think that they would have all been found by now, but no, there are still nooks and crannies and inaccessible areas still being explored. Only 10 or so are really well known and they attract all the tourist traffic. But arches are not the only natural formations to see, there are many other fantastic shapes to see. We are both fascinated by the huge variety and the density of interesting shapes and the way the erosion has sculpted the landscape.

Definitely the most famous is Delicate Arch. It is the State symbol, and featured on car number plates, and heaps of other Utah images. We weren't able to get up to the best place to see it (another casualty of our level of fitness – hopefully by the time we bring Kasana and Graham back here we will be able to do the upper viewpoint and walk under it), but we did manage to get to the second-best place – lower lookout. The amazing thing is that all the surrounding rock has been eroded away over the millennia, and this is what has been left behind. Eventually, the arch and the rocks behind will all disappear too.

Delicate arch from Lower Viewpoint

Another of the iconic images is Turret Arch, seen through Window Arch. As David found out, when you approach from the rear, it is not obvious which of the two Window Arches you have to climb up behind to get this shot. Eventually he found the right spot (a tiny little knob of rock at the top of a tricky scramble) and captured this.

Turret Arch seen through North Window Arch

Then there is Balanced Rock. The info says that the rock on top is over 5000 tons. Makes you think about how these rocks form and how the erosion eats away at them.

Balanced Rock, Arches National Park

The Courthouse Towers section is quite different to the rest of the park. It is all very tall, narrow walls of rock that stand out in the middle of the surrounding desert. It is sobering to reflect that the original ground level was once much higher than the top of these towers, and that everything else has been eroded away; washed down into the Colorado River and out into the sea. Here is the Organ, with the Courthouse Tower behind. Note the size of the people and the car in the lower left.

The Organ with Courthouse Towers in the distance

As you may be able to tell, Arches really clicked with us, and we are looking forward to coming back again with Kasana and Graham in 7 or 8 weeks time. In the meantime, we are heading south towards Mexican Hat and Monument Valley…