A good day of car touring with a bit of hiking among large and scenic rock formations!
We had an 11AM reservation to enter the Arches National Park and were let in by 11:15, not too bad a wait at the fee gate.
The reservation system does seem to cut down on the crowding of the more popular parks but as the day wore on, more and more crowding conditions evidenced themselves.
Still, we got to see the rock formations Martha wanted to see. It has been over 20 years since she'd last been at Arches NP. In fact, she was pregnant with Thing Two at the time!
Park Avenue
Courthouse Rock
We next drove over to the Delicate Arch View Point. A short hike but very steep at times, we may have been huffing and puffing at certain points.
I mentioned to Martha we could see the Delicate Arch from the below point along the trail, but she wanted to get closer:
Telephoto shot of the Delicate Arch with people for scale perspective:
I'd been to the actual arch on a previous trip, see here for pics closeup:
LINK
Next stop, Devil's Garden:
Entrance to the garden
Tunnel Arch
Pine Tree Arch
Part of the Devil's Garden
Finally, a short stop at the park's visitor center so Martha could get her Parks Passport book stamp.
After Arches, we stopped at the Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage. It was a small affair, mostly pics of folks involved with filming history in the Moab area.
As we headed north on Utah 128, I spotted a sign for Fisher Towers! I recalled that lovely rock formation at the end of the movie:
6 UndergroundThe closest point you can drive to...
About 1/2 mile from Fisher Towers
Back on northbound UT 128, Martha had spotted a rock formation which looked like Hellenic Towers perhaps: On the right below, Fisher Towers, on the left the columns:
We got back to camp sometime before 4PM and we did some packing up for tomorrow's displacement westward. It was a bit windy but not too bad and warm enough today to almost break a sweat while hiking.
7 comments:
Nice to be back on the road again? Here in TX you break into a sweat just sitting around…
Only been to Arches NP and that general area once, but it is pretty. The Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage looks interesting.
Arches NP has some great views and hikes. And, was the first Utah NP that I ever visited. We were doing fieldwork out of Moab in the late 70s and on a cloudy day, we visited the park. It was pretty empty back then.
RichardM, it is very nice to be back on the road again. The reservation system seems to be keeping the crowds down a bit, at least in the morning...seems like TX is a bit warmer than up here.
Oz, the museum is tiny....not much time needed in my opinion. Not sure it should be on one's bucket list. Arches is nice as you say, but Capitol Reef, where we are today is gorgeous so far.
Arches NP... my favourite. I just love the rock formations and you have captured them very well, Dom. Thanks for the memories. Cheers, SonjaM
You're quite welcome SonjaM, thanks for the feedback and comments.
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