edpaffjr.comI’ve started sorting through the over 500 pictures we took while in Utah and the other surrounding states. The first batch of pictures that are ready for viewing come from Arches National Park. I knew going into this weekend that this was going to be my favorite place we saw, and I was not disappointed. It truly is an amazing place, and I’m not sure that the pictures will even do it justice, although there are some pretty good ones.
We started the day by driving toward Balanced Rock, which is a sandstone boulder the size of three school buses that sits atop a pedestal of mudstone. The mudstone weathers away more quickly than sandstone, and this will eventually lead to it’s collapse. There is a short hike around the rock but we opted to save our energy for later hikes and try to avoid the big crowds.
Our first hike came in the Devils Garden section as we decided to head up and see Landscape Arch. Landscape Arch is the largest known natural rock arch in the world. It spans 290 feet and at it’s thinnest is only 6 feet thick. At one time you could hike all the way up to the arch, but since some larger pieces fell from the arch in both 1991 and 1995, it is no longer allowed. This arch really could fall at any time.
From there we headed toward Delicate Arch, the most famous thing in the park. We opted to take the longer hike all the way up to the arch instead of a much shorter hike to a viewpoint one mile away from the arch. The hike is 1.5 miles each way and it ascends 480 feet in elevation. But doing this hike is so worth it once you finally come face to face with this massive arch. The longer hike also helps avoid the crowds. When we finally arrived at Delicate Arch there were only a few other people there. It was very easy to get as many pictures as you wanted. In fact, I found it hard to stop taking pictures. It definitely was the highlight of the park, and made the tiring hike well worth it.
All of our pictures from Arches can be found in this photo gallery. There are 45 of them there, weeded down from the 140ish I started with. I hope I didn’t leave anything out. Enjoy!
wow it looks amazing!!! I want to go!!! I have to go before Balanced rock and Landscape Arch fall down! I can’t believe how huge Delicate Arch.. that picture with Kim and the Delicate Arch really shows how big it is! great pics!
very cool!!! not as cool as you getting eaten by bears – but still cool.
Nice pictures! Okay this is totally unrelated to your entry, but any chance you and Kim are considering the Great American Beer Festival this year since you ARE in Denver?
I will definitely be attending the GABF. I just realized that it is the same weekend that the Bengals play in KC, which we’ll be at as long as our ticket order goes through. That means I’ll probably have to do the Thursday session. Are you coming out to Denver for it?
Yeah, I’ve got a group of people and we’re all thinking about going to GABF and then doing some rock climbing. Though, we might not make the Thursday session. Figures the weekend I come to Denver you two will be in KC ;)
I may come out before that though, so I’ll let you guys know.