Arches -- Part 1

I woke up one morning and decided that I wanted to see Delicate Arch again.  A couple days later, we were there looking at it up close and in person.  It was just as nice as when we saw it 40 years ago.  Since we had made the day long drive to get there, it made sense to stay awhile.  As Arches National Park is becoming increasingly chaotic and congested, we decided to see everything that Arches had to offer, before moving on to other areas.  Turns out, this involves quite a bit of hiking.  Four full days for us to hike the Arches trails.  

First up is Delicate Arch.  This is the arch you see on the Utah license plate, or at least the pretty license plate.  Their other big license plate version is an ugly advertisement for skiing.  Those of you who are bored, can google the license plates.

Now where have I seen this image before?

Bob under the arch.

Delicate Arch from Twisted Doughnut Arch.

There is of course other scenery to see along the way.  Petroglyphs are the first interesting thing.

Those are some sheer walls.

Twisted Doughnut Arch

Yes, there are some airy views along the way.

After Delicate Arch, we swung by the visitor center to get our permit for Fiery Furnace.  The park has a permit system on this hike to generate cash.  It is the latest trend in the parks.  Yes, your annual pass will get you in, but if you want to do anything, then that will be extra.  They bill the permit as a way to limit visitors and keep the visiting public from dying of heat stroke by telling us some useful information such as carry water, and the hike is hard.  The most useful bit of information for the average person, is stay off the cryptogamic soil as it is alive.  

Cool sculptures in front of the visitor center.

We still had daylight after grabbing our permit, so off we went to Park Avenue.  We both really enjoyed the towering red cliffs.  

OK, this is just the rock we were walking on, but I liked the layers and sand.

We finished up our first day visiting an area of petroglyphs and pictographs.  Lots of very cool images, that have been unfortunately marred by vandals over the years.

The following four images are an original photo of a pictograph panel, followed by a software enhanced version of the image that allows more detail to be seen.

All in all, we had a marvelous time. Next up is the Fiery Furnace.