Arches National Park - A Window, An Arch & Statues - Am I Seeing Things
Written: Dec 20 '07 (Updated Dec 20 '07)
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Pros: unique Formations, Tons Of Arches Many Visible From The Car
Cons: Heat, Blowing sand
The Bottom Line: If your looking for odd sandstone formation, beautful scenery and a beautiful park look no further.
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| susieq112's Full Review: Arches National Park |
I am the product of my parents. Two baby boomers that grew up in the mid-west, but yearned to travel. In that my parents started traveling long before my brother or I ever joined them and we were spaced far enough apart that we never took a vacation together (well only once and he took his family then also). So my parents spent a number of years vacationing alone, then with my brother and then with me.
The result is the fact that my parents have seen everything west of the Mississippi and most things to the east and their children have only seen half of what they have. While my brother was treated to many Utah, Arizona and New Mexico landmarks my adventures were well to the north. I ended up with about half a dozen trips to Yellowstone and was also treated to landmarks such as Crater Lake, Lassen, Mt St Helens and more. So in my last two vacations I’ve been trying to catch up and find new places that I’ve never seen before. I have a tendency to include my favorites, but I always like to add in the new also. One place I had never ventured to was Arches National Park, but I finally made it there last summer.
Location
Arches National Park is located about 30 miles off of I-70 on 191 in Utah. The park entrance is a little less than ten miles from Moab, Utah which is the nearest city that offers plenty of hotels and eating options.
Fun Fact: Arches National Park is approximately 1,161 miles from my front door and I think it was definitely worth the drive.
Bare-Bones Basics
Arches National Park is open year-round and the visitor center is open daily April through October: 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and November through March: 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Entrance to the park is $10 for vehicles which is a seven day pass. Walker/Bikers are $5 per person. As always I recommend that you pick up an Interagency Park Pass if you plan on visiting very many parks during any twelve months period of time.
Our Visit To Arches
The first place we stopped while visiting Arches was the visitor center. While not the largest the building served its purpose and introduced up to the features of the park and informed us about how the rock formations were made. The visitor center made use of many different displays hands on, video and informational boards to convey the information about the park.
From the visitor center you wind up the side of what is basically a cliff and end up on top to find some of the fieriest red rock sand stone. The first major feature of the park visible from the road is Park Avenue. Here you see red sandstone slabs seemingly standing on edge - quite a site. In this area you can choose to walk a 1 mile trail that leads through the Park Avenue Area. This trail is one-way and leads to a pull off past the area so if someone stays with the car you don’t have to make the one-mile trek back.
Just past the Park Avenue Area there are a few other spires and formations to make note of. One that I remember very clearly is the Three Gossips these three towering rocks reminded me of sentry men with tall hats on all standing together.
After this you’ll see some more interesting land formations. Further down the road is a pull off for the Petrified Dunes Viewpoint. Looking out over the area vegitation grows in the cracks but you can still see the gentle dunes of sand and what looks like a frozen sandscape. The curving hills are all hard as rock but you can easily imagine what they looked like when they were just sand dunes.
To the west of this area is what they call the Great Wall these odd rock formation reminded me of large jars with lids. As you go further into the park your eyes are drawn more and more to the Windows Section of the park. Even from a distance you begin to see the arches and windows carved into the standing slabs of rock. About midway through the park you can take a road to get closer to these features and walk a few trails around them. After looking at these features from a distance I was shocked when I saw Double Arch which features two arches coming off of one rock and connecting into the same bluff - Wow.
Moving through the rest of the park I declined to make the three mile trek to Delicate Arch which is probably one of the more popular arches in the park. There are a few viewpoints trails to see the Arch from a distance but it was oh so very hot the day we were there.
By the time we reached the Devils Garden in the northern part of the park I took the time to get out and walk a little. The heat quickly beat me and I didn’t make it far but I enjoyed the formations that I did get to see.
Out of curiosity we took a trip through the campground which was odd. Amongst the rounded and tall sandstone formations campsites seemed to be tucked were they fit. The campground had a lot of loose sand that had blown into cracks and crevices in the rocks. Overall I found the feel of the campground interesting and I would love to stay and camp in this park if I ever got the chance.
Even though I elected to stay off of most of the trials I checked a few out. Walking was a bit different on the sandy/rocky terrain and even a short walk can take a little bit more out of you especially if you combine the heat into the equation.
Most of the features we saw while visiting this park we gazed upon from our car and the scenery was very interesting to say the least.
Overall I can easily recommend Arches National Park, it like other Utah parks is a site to behold and worth checking out.
Recommended:
Yes
Best time to go: Anytime
Recommended for: Anybody
Review Topic: Overview
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susieq112
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Procrastination ~ At this rate, I'll never finish my mini-doumentary...
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