Utah

Our destination on this leg is Arches National Park. I’d visited in 1994, 1997, and Mel and I intended to visit in 2006, but we decided to skip Arches on that trip. The otherworldly nature of this part of the country always draws me—my thirst is unquenchable for southern Utah.

Arches National Park

I was amazed at how much Arches has changed since I was last here twenty years ago. The park is inundated now. It took us 30 minutes just to get in! In 1997, it was a relatively sleepy park with an informal feel to it. Now, there’s a toll booth, many more paved trails, and just more people—everywhere. I talked to a couple rangers about it, and they said it was all the foreign tourists. One even suggested having a different entry fee for foreigners, who don’t contribute tax money to the parks system. This seemed wrong to me and against the spirit of the parks, but the more I thought about it the more I agreed with it.

Delicate Arch

We took the short trail out to Delicate Arch. Luckily it wasn’t one of those 100-degree days, it was only in the mid 90s. There were a fair number of people, but it’s still serene out here.

Delicate Arch from the side, with two people hiking along the sandstone.

Delicate Arch, with a couple people for scale.

Drying mud along the trail from a recent rain.

Petroglyphs along the trail to Delicate Arch.

Devils Garden

The Devils Garden has a trail that leads one to a number of arches. At times, we were sandwiched between rock fins that form sandstone chasms, and at time we were walking on top of those sandstone fins. It was an adventurous trail which was difficult to follow at times, and absolutely zero shade.

Landscape Arch

It’s difficult to capture the scale of this arch. It has the longest span of any arch in the US (fifth longest in the world), and it may not be around too much longer. There have been several rockfalls here. When I visited in 1994, you could hike up underneath the arch—I recall people resting in the shade of the arch. But, this trail was closed a year later after more rock fell off the arch.

The span has been measured at 290 feet. It’s as long as a 25-story building is high.

Landscape Arch, the longest arch and perhaps the most endangered--it's hanging on by a thin segment.

Partition Arch

Double-O Arch

Other trail shots

Mel at the Navajo Arch, which opens up into a room of sorts.

Mel on the Devils Garden Trail — Mel in the Devils Garden Trail.

Arches Road Shots

Balanced Rock, with a guy standing for scale.

Dead Horse Point

One of my favorite overlooks around the Moab area, Dead Horse Point is a small state park perched on the edge of a mesa, looking down to the Colorado-river-carved canyon 2,000 feet below. It never fails to take my breath away.

Dead Horse Point view of the meandering Colorado River.

Black and white treatment of the canyon at Dead Horse.

Meandering Overlook at Dead Horse Point.

Camp on the Colorado River

We got a spectacular campsite on right on the Colorado River and with total privacy. It was one of the most scenic campsites I’ve pitched my tent in. But, the one drawback with these campgrounds on the river is there is no running water. So, you have to bring all your water for drinking, cooking, etc.

A timelapse of the Colorado River at sunrise.

Morning at our camp on the Colorado River.

Camping along the Colorado River — Camping on the banks of the Colorado River outside Moab, Utah.

Timelapse from our camp on the banks of the Colorado River.

River Road

Utah Route 128, which hugs the Colorado River north of Moab, has always been one of my favorite roads. I imagine it resembles how it would feel to drive on Mars. This time, we also explores Route 279, which follows the river west of Moab, and goes out to the potash mine below Dead Horse Point and Canyonlands.

Wall Street climbing area along Utah 279.