2019 Marks Family Vacation, Part IV: Arches National Park

Toby & I getting some evening / sunset pics of Double Arches.

Day 7 saw us leave Zion and head to Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. This is where some of the most spectacular sights of the whole trip were in our opinions, but they started well before we got to the Park. The drive between Springdale and Moab was just incredible. There were many areas that I wondered why they weren't national parks in their own rights. There were areas that were like Monument Valley but with different coloration. Other areas were canyons or mountains with layers of varying colors. There were forests as well. So much variation, color, and interest. It was truly a great drive and made us vow to go back. If I'd had stopped every time I wanted to take a picture, it would have added a whole other day to the trip. As I was driving, I didn't get any. I think Toby did and I'm eager to see how they came out and come back to this post later and link to them. (I'm going to do that with each of these posts whenever he puts up the pictures he's taken.)

We got to Arches by mid-afternoon, grabbed a map, and then went to the hotel to check in, and drop the kids and luggage off. They were tired and not wanting to do any hiking in the desert. Toby and I could not wait to get out in it. This would be our second little "Adventure for 2" of the trip. We were short on daylight, but decided we'd really push ourselves to see some of the sights that were the most interesting to us, even if not the biggest tourist attractions. That was a bonus to us as we'd have fewer people to deal with. Yes, this was another place where there were lines at times and difficulty finding parking, but we found this to be more the next day when we drove back through with the kids just to show them the highlights you can see from the car. Going as late as we did the first day, we did not have any trouble finding parking anywhere. Our photographs were rarely obscured by others. Not only that, but there were clouds at times and storms in the distance that both made for interesting light and kept the heat at bay. 

We decided we'd hit the first trail you come to: Park Avenue & Courthouse Towers which was rated "moderate." It was just incredible. Such a great way to initiate yourself into this fantastic Park. Like the others, you have no idea it's there from the road getting to the Park. Even once inside, it's a while before you start to see the big sights. Here are my photographic offerings from that first little hike.

From the beginning of the hike, you are surrounded by massive walls of rock. 

I took a pano to show how much there was at the top of the little ridge you started from. Then you start going down stairs and you realize there's even more than meets the eye here. 

I love this picture so much. Look toward the center. You can see so far and so many layers of color and interest. Also, the bits of green here and there as well as the clouds all added pops of more color but each seemed to enhance the rest. 

A wider view of that from above and which also shows how tall the walls were, but also how narrow they are.  

Another pano as we got a little further down the trail. 

I really pushed the iPhones zoom feature. Yes, I lost some of the clarity, but I still like the effect. It reminds me of a paint-by-number picture, actually. And, you can still see the colors and layers. I like it. 

Words cannot capture how excited we were on this hike. We were in awe of our surroundings. It was so incredible. 

It was not very far along the trail that the stairs ended and you were sort of on your own. There is a path, but you have to follow the "rock cairns" which sometimes are a bit hard to decipher from what might be just formations. On the way back, I veered off in the wrong direction. Luckily, Toby noticed. I was a little disconcerted by how easily and badly I got off track. 

There are so many rocks perched precariously on high. There are the famous ones, but there are so many others. One day, they won't be there any more. So many have already fallen. It's something we thought about a great deal while we were there. 

When we're out, I try to remember to stop every so often and look behind me. The view is different and you'll see things you'd not otherwise. Yes, you might see it on the trip back, but the light will be different. It's good to just stop and look all around you and take it in along the way. Also, I noted that we'd have to go back up all that we'd just come down. And, we weren't finished with the descent yet. 

I have no idea how high those walls are, but they were super high. 

We were on the trail and while this very view is above, it looks different now because we're lower in the little canyon. I liked all the deadwood and green shrubbery. Toby was just so enamored of this. I can't wait until he's finished with this set of pics. 

A little further along the trail and the sights just keep getting better.

This is blurry, but you see a darker layer of rock at top and the textures change as well. That fascinates me.

This was the floor we were walking on. It was sandy at times, but then was hard like this. I loved the rippling effect.

We were nearly where we'd turn around. We did not go all the way as we were going to drive to that end anyway by road. The view was not going to change and we needed to conserve daylight. That's Courthouse Towers, which we'd later drive by. You'll see those pics below, but this was a neat perspective. The landscape here was spectacular. You could see for miles. 

Courthouse Towers with my soon-to-be-patented paint-by-numbers technique. Look at the one way in the distance. That's Balanced Rock. I didn't realize that at the time I took this, which is one of the neat things about looking at the shots you got in detail later. Finding all those little things you inadvertently caught is a fun bonus.

Can you find Toby? He almost blends in. 

A clearer Courthouse Towers.

What did this look like before erosion took its toll? How big was this wall? How far did it go?

The more you look at something, the more you see. Here it looked like there was a cave in the rock. Did it go very far? 

We're on our way back now. The Courthouse Towers are behind us and that makes for some neat pics. 

Going up! The elevation was not as much here as we'd face in Telluride, at only about 5,500 feet; but Dallas' elevation is only 430 feet. I could feel it at times.

Back at the top of the trailhead, I noticed the La Sal Mountains in the distance. We'd get a number of good shots of them and ended up driving very near them to get to Telluride from Moab. I was so taken with this little range of mountains all alone on the Colorado Plateau. They are part of the Rockies but are far from the rest of them. Toby prefers the desert and I prefer the mountains, although we each appreciate the other very much. I like it when the two meet like this. 

Our next stop would be the La Sal Mountains Viewpoint and we got some more great pics of the varying landscape. You could see for miles and miles. Here are a few of my favorites of this set, but they are also among my favorites of this entire part of the trip.

Also at this stop, we could see The Three Gossips which you see center left. 

The storms were intensifying over the mountains making for great contrasts of light and color. 

Here in the center is formation that might otherwise blend in this time of day, but the sun and dark clouds made it a highlighted feature here.

I think this was Courthouse Towers from a different angle. Honestly, sometimes I had trouble figuring out what was what. 

A pano that's a bit too long so it distorted, but I like the colors.

A vertical pano, just because I liked the colors and clouds.

Again, stretching the zoom of my iPhone too far, but I still like the effect. Those are the Petrified Sand Dunes in the mid-ground. It's amazing how many different colors of soil you can have. It's like the shades of green in the desert foliage. 

Periodically, I'd turn back to where I'd already taken photos just to see how things had changed in terms of light and weather. I'd doing that during our Sunset and Sunrise Tours at the Grand Canyon as well. 

Here I added another layer of interest, the flatter, smoother, hard red rock I was standing on. From red, to darker red, greens, blonds, and then the blue gray of the mountains and clouds. I could stare at this all day. 

Toby was really enjoying himself as well. 

From here we drove to the Courthouse Towers Viewpoint, where we would be right next to what we photographed from the Park Avenue hike. We'd also be able to see the wider landscape and The Three Gossips.

I caught The Three Gossips in silhouette. 

What we'd see next on the horizon - Balanced Rock and The Windows Section.

From here we drove quite a ways to our next destination, Balanced Rock, which is the one I really wanted to see. There was a tiny hike there and allowed you to get very close to it. It's much bigger than I had imagined and I took a number of pics to try to give you a context of the size of it. 

This is it from the parking lot at the trailhead. Already it looked bigger than I had anticipated.

Toby capturing things as only he can. I'm eager to see this set of his. 

It's interesting how things can look so far away when you're actually just looking at them from a different angle. Here, we were still at the trailhead. 

We're actually pretty close to it. The entire trail was only 0.3 mile long. I think this gives some context for the size of this formation. 

Pano showing not just all the formations around us besides Balanced Rock, but also the sky and clouds by this point. 

As we circled around it on the trail, it was interesting to see the shape of it. At one point, it looks like a mushroom. At another, it looks wide and almost flat. And look at that sky!

Where we'd go next, The Windows Section, and where we'd have a great little Adventure for 2.

Looking up at it from almost underneath it. You know, it could fall. Someday it will.  

Bye, bye, Balanced Rock. It was great getting to know you.

Desert Ravens greeting their greatest fan, my Toby.

Of course, he had to stop and take a pic. And, so did I.

Now it was onto The Windows Section. The Windows are very popular and people were everywhere trying to get this one iconic picture that's so well-known. Toby wanted to hike to Double Arch. We parked and headed out. Once there, we noticed that people were able to climb up and sit in one of the arches. It was at least a 20 foot climb and real rock climbing - as in, you had to find little crevices for your hands and feet. We met a trio of women from El Paso and guided each other up there and took pics of each other. It was great fun. Then we got to experience a real desert sunset as we were hiking back to the car. It was just gorgeous all around. 

Those are The Windows, which we would not be getting up close to this time. 

Another shot of the stuff we'd not see.

This was our focus. We ended up parking at the lot further away. But that allowed seeing it from a bit higher up a hill and some great photos. 

So, later I realized that this was Elephant Butte - or the Parade of Elephants. I guess so. You'd have to have told me that was what they were called. 

Elephants?

This was the object of our hike - Double Arch. 

Elephants and what I was calling a "keyhole," I think they call an eye. 

Elephants and Double Arch.

Getting closer.

Hitting the trail. This is going to be amazing!

Here I was able to show a bit of the "ceiling" between them. 

We would soon climb up that wall to Toby's right. It was a good bit taller than it looks here. 

A pano showed what it was like being inside the Double Arch.

Our view of The Windows and La Sal Mountains from inside Double Arch.

Another shot with the sunset making itself seen.

One of our new friends making her way down. The light is beautiful. It was a straight drop down behind this of at least a hundred feet. When I looked back once I was sitting up there I felt my stomach drop.

The light is just gorgeous! 

I was about to climb up this. It was far more intimidating than it looks here. It really was 20 feet up there.

We made it! Now we'd have to get down. I did - not the most gracefully - but I didn't get hurt. 

Our fellow Texans. We met Texans everywhere we went this trip. We're everywhere, y'all!  

The light was playing off the rocks and clouds. We were both capturing as much as we possibly could. 

❤️

Bear with me. It's going to be hard to pick a few of these. They are just some of my favorites. The light kept changing quickly, as it does this time of day, and I wanted to capture as much of it as I could before it was beyond what my iPhone could handle. I've never photographed a sunset like this with these colors.

The sun here was a bit more golden. 

Now it was more orange. 

Toby could still get some quality photos but my time with my iPhone was pretty much over. I headed back up the hill to get the car and would pick him up. However, as I try to do, I looked back and caught this one of him really focused. 

I could still get a little light through the keyhole. 

That ended our day at Arches. We needed to get back and take the kids to dinner. Then we headed back to our very neat hotel room - it was a Hilton Homewood Suites that had a bunk bed, king side bed, and pull out sofa in a large open floor plan with a kitchen. There was plenty of room, but not enough A/C. 

Day 8 started with us heading back to Arches and taking the kids to see the highlights from the car before heading to Telluride. We took just a few more pics. 

WAY in the distance on the far left, you can see the iconic Delicate Arch. Toby was able to capture it. We were surprised to learn that it is quite a hike to get there and that really there's almost no place to get a good shot of it without hiking. That's on our to do list for the next time we head out here. There is so much more time we need to get the hikes in we want to do to see the best stuff. 

Pushing my zoom to the max. Honestly, I didn't think it was the prettiest spot, but I'd still like to hike to it someday. 

We drove the entire circular route of the Park and then went to the Visitor's Center to get a few souvenirs, fill up our water bottles, and use the facilities before heading out to Telluride. 

A raven at the Visitor's Center! 

And, now, it was mountain time. I was about to experience a town and way of life in Colorado that were both new to me. I was excited. The desert had been good to us. But I was ready for some cooler, drier (but would it really be?) mountain air. They'd been calling me for months. I was eager to answer. The final sight-seeing leg of our trip was upon us. 

Thanks for reading!