We arrive at Arches around noon - our 8th National Park on our Trek thru the Parks. The drive from the Park Entry to the end of the road...where the campground is situated is about 18 miles. A 45 minute drive thru a most mysterious landscape.
When we reach the campground, we find it to be "sold out". Unbeknownst to us, this Park actually takes reservations for campsites! Our plan all along is to wander in to our next destination and then figure out our sleeping arrangements. Luckily there is a Hampster Inn down in Moab...about 5 mile south of the Park. Terry is spared the tent!
Arches is geologists dream containing the worlds largest collection of sandstone arches, fins and freaky formations. The Organ and the Tower of Babel (pictured above) are two of the first impressions as you enter the Park.
To create these formations, one must go back 300 million years and add two most important ingredients - water and salt. Add a little wind and blowing sand and you've got the makings of Arches National Park.
Back in the day, this region was covered with shallow seas that had a habit of drying out, filling back up and drying out again. This process repeated itself twenty-nine times. During each cycle, deposits of salt and sediment began piling up.
Eventually, the seas departed, the earth's crust uplifted and millions of years of erosion washed away the salt deposits littering this area with a fabulous assortment of rock formations.
Fins
Fins to the left. Fins to the right. You're not the only rock around! Arches is full of "fins". Slender rock formations that stand tall throughout the park. The "fin" is the foundation for the development of the arches you see here at the park.
There are two primary ways arches are formed. The first is through a process called acid dissolution. Rainwater mixed in with atmospheric carbon monoxide creates a weak acid that attacks the calcium carbonate in the sandstone of the fins. Over time, the acid wins out and eats a hole in the fin. Mix in a lot of wind and blowing sand and the hole grows into an adult arch!
Our first trek in Arches takes us on the trail to Landscape Arch (in the background), Double O Arch and to Dark Angel. We get an early start and avoid "rush hour" as this is one of the most popular trails in the Park.
The two "must see" arches for us are Landscape Arch and Delicate Arch. Our plan - take in Landscape Arch in the morning...that's when the sunlight is at its best angle. Trek up to Delicate in the late afternoon as that's the best time to shoot the most famous Arch of all. The Park Directory gives you an excellent read on the best time of day to photo shoot the Park's many arches.
Trail to Double O Arch
Although not strenuous, the trail to Double O Arch takes you along a ridge with a pretty steep drop off if one should get a bit too close. Notice the fins on the right!
Not exactly the right time of day to shoot Double O. But what the heck. This is only our 2nd arch and the Park has over 2000 "holes in the fins"!
These two arches were most likely formed by the second method of arch building - frost wedging. Water works its way into the cracks in the sandstone during the daytime hours. In the cold season, the water freezes at night, expanding and begins to chip away at the rock until a hole forms. Throw in some wind and blowing sand...a few million years and voila...Double O Arch!
Continuing on after shooting Double O, the trail ends at this tall spire named Dark Angel. How the heck did this huge hunk of rock remain standing when all else eroded away? And there are thousands of formations like this! Stand alone sandstone sculptures of spires reaching hundreds of feet into the sky. Great spot for breakfast!
Trail to Sand Dune Arch
Photography 101. ALWAYS take spare batteries with you when shooting the Parks (or for that matter...when shooting anything)! As we depart Sand Dune Arch on our way to Delicate Arch...I'm about to take another photo when suddenly my camera craps out. Dead battery. "Where's the back up battery?" my lovely bride inquires. Back at the Hampster! Crapola! Run to the car. Haul butt down the hill. Retrieve the freshly charged battery. Race back up the hill and onward to Delicate Arch. Whew! Good thing it crapped out before we made the trek up to Delicate!
When naming Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch...I believe they got the names mixed up. This looks to me to be a Landscape Arch. And Landscape Arch is much more delicate than this one! The mile and a half trek up to Delicate Arch is a bit strenuous...but most of all, this being the world's most famous arch...beware the many TourBus loads of anxious ArchSeekers. Most of them seem to be from foreign countries and don't understand that the best shot of this particular arch isn't standing directly underneath it!
ArchSeeker after ArchSeeker had to pose directly underneath Delicate...spread their arms out as if they were about to take off flying...and then dillydally around for what seemed an eternity under the arch...all the while frustrating us "professional" photographers who were simply trying to get a shot of the damned thing WITHOUT a body posed beneath! Finally...the Seekers were called back to their Buses and we pros were able to get in a couple of shots before the next group arrived.
The guidebook says visit the Windows at the end of the day...so as the shadows begin to draw longer, we made our last arch visit of the day. The best viewpoint for these two arches is from the Turret Arch Trail...not the Windows trail. Back to the Hampster and then off to Canyonlands tomorrow.
"Skech" yer all the next time. Until then...happy trails!
Yay I've been to Moab too! Awesome pictures guys!!
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