Moab – Arches National Park

We ventured into Arches National Park twice during our stay in Moab. No problem getting into the park either time. It’s great having an annual pass to be able to come and go at our leisure.

On our first visit we drove to the Windows Section. Along the way we made several stops. The first one was to see the Moab Fault. After reading the sign we tried looking for it but we could not find it. We did however get to climb up on a big rock, but nothing like we would encounter soon.

The next stop was the La Sal Mountains Viewpoint. You could still see some snow up on the mountains. A better view was turning around and seeing the red rock protrusions and focusing on “The Organ”, the “Three Gossips”, and “The Courthouse”.

Absolutely breathtaking!

Our third stop was at Balanced Rock. We were able walk all the way around the rock that is balancing:

The final stop of the day was to view “The Windows”, both North and South, the Double Arch, and to see the “Turret Arch”. The difference between arches and windows is that arches occur near the base of the rock wall and windows are found well above ground level.

Check out these photos of the Windows:

Pretty cool,eh?

Can you see the elephant?

The Double Arch is just as it sounds – two arches within the same formation:

A short walk away was the Turret Arch. Spectacular rock formation:

On our second visit to Arches, we drove all the way to the end of the road and parked in the Devil’s Garden parking lot. From there we hiked up to see a number of arches. The first stop was Landscape Arch:

Very long arch.

The next one that we hiked to was the Navajo Arch:

Beautiful arch that you could walk through.

Another one that we walked to was the Petition Arch:

We decided to keep hiking and went to see the Double 0 Arch. Another 1.8 miles, but we heard that it was worth it. On the trek there, the path took us on top of a rock fin – very fun part of the hike:

Although it was a bit scary as the wind was blowing.

Check out this arch:

This picture is that arch:

It’s all about perspective!

I didn’t think the Double 0 Arch was worth the time and energy, but the hike itself was very nice!

After returning to the truck (5.8 mile hike) we drove over to see the Delicate Arch. The first stop was at the Lower Delicate Arch Viewpoint:

We could see people far in the distance people (looked like ants) walking around the arch itself. We decided to drive to the parking area and hike up to the arch. Another three miles, uphill on the way up and then down the huge rock face. Check it out:

What a great hike!

Our final stop was to view the Petroglyphs at Ute Rock:

Exhausted, we headed back to the Busse Bus and put our feet up for a while.