Evening in Arches National Park

For dinner tonight, we made tacos at the campsite.  Around 6:00 p.m. we headed off to Arches National Park to check it out.

It's only about 15 minutes back up Route 191.  We stopped at the Visitor's Center to stamp the kids' national park passports and pick up their Junior Ranger booklets.  The ranger suggested we hang out at the Windows Section of the park this evening and take the hike there. 

From the minute you get into the park, you are surrounded by huge, red formations that boggle the mind.  There really are no words for how beautiful this park is.  There are times you wish your head could turn around 360 degrees so you can take it all in.

As we drove through the park, we spotted formations that looked like an elephant, a sphinx, a rhinoceros, and a pharaoh.  Every turn brought more and more amazing sights. 

Our first hike was around the Balanced Rock formation.  A huge, roundish boulder appears to be perching atop another tall rectangular boulder like a lollipop on a stick.  There were a few other similar formations around it, except the wind and weather had not worn out the middle layer of stone to create a balanced rock formation.

In the distance, we started seeing a few arches and other oddly shaped features.  What's great about Arches is that with every turn, an odd shaped rock may turn out to be an arch, or a feature shadowed by shade may look completely different when sunlight hits it.

We came to the Windows Section and began our hike.  From the parking lot, you can see one huge arch -either the North or the South Arch  -  but not the others.  It's not until you get up to the one arch and look to the right that you see two more in a formation over to the side.  And it's not until you start the trail to those two arches that you see the South Arch (if the other is the North One).

I like Arches National Park because most of the drive is low, and you're looking up.  I like that much better than the Colorado Monument, where you drive up and look down.  That freaks me out.  And when I'm freaked out, I pester Jeff and the kids to be careful.  It's not fun, but I can't help it. This is why we're not going to the Grand Canyon on this trip.  I am convinced that Henry will fall in.

The hikes around North and South Window were amazing.  We got a family photo in a place I was okay to stand, and then I took a picture of Jeff and the kids in a place I wasn't okay going to.  I'm going to try to work up the nerve to do it before we leave, because it would make for a great family photo.  Baby steps...

We drove out to the Delicate Arch view point, the most famous arch in the park, and the image that's on the Utah quarter.  We looked at it from a distance, at the lower viewpoint.  Once again, until you turn a corner, it looks like another vertical formation.  I'm sure it's gorgeous up close, but I don't think I'll be doing that hike.  Jeff might.

We watched the early part of the sunset at the Park Avenue section of the park and I took a few pictures.  Jeff was thrilled to see West Virginia license plates on the truck next to us.  As Henry and I were taking pictures of the canyon, Jeff chatted with the West Virginia folks.  They're from Wheeling.

After that, we headed back to the campground.  Just like in Grand Junction, they have these nasty biting gnats here that travel in swarms.  The kids and I sprayed ourselves with Off at the park, and that seemed to work fine.  They're here at the campground too, so I sprayed a little yard fogger and lit a citronella candle so I could sit outside and enjoy the cooler weather and the beautiful sky. 

Eventually, Ruth and Henry came out to join me and we looked for stars.  Henry spotted the Big Dipper. 

The best time to be out and about in these parts is early morning and late in the evening, so I better call it a night and get some rest.