The Burnt-Red Formations of Arches National Park
Hello Steemians!
It's been a little while since I've done a good ol' travel post, so that's precisely what I'm going to do today.
Quick side-note: We are officially beginning to head East from Texas, so expect to see many more posts concerning the beauty of the East Coast!
If you've never the pleasure of visiting any National Parks inside of Utah, might I suggest adding this one to the top of your list...
Arches National Park
Similar to Zion National Park (which I have a post about), Arches has a very unique feeling to it that originates from the grandeur of the deep-red rock formations. There is an abundance of hikes inside the park, all of which offer vastly different views and perspectives of the expansive land.
Right as we arrived to the RV park we were staying at, we decided to make a quick trip into the National Park, even though the sun was quickly falling towards the horizon. The road past the entrance gate of the park is very different as far as roads go. You immediately ascend alongside the dusty cliff wall that eventually plateaus into the first stretch of the rusty red landscape.
We stumbled upon a feature called 'Balancing Rock', which seemed like a fairly appropriate name for the towering structure.
The sun eventually fell off the edge of the world, leaving us in darkness only relieved by faint moonlight. We called it a night, excited to see what the next day would hold.
Waking up eager, we began planning some hikes that we could easily accomplish in the afternoon/evening. We decided to head towards an area in the northern part of the park called 'Devil's Garden'. Along the road that takes you to this section, which is the farthest point from the entrance, we stopped at everything that looked even remotely interesting. We witnessed the beauty of Double Arch, The Windows, along with many other arch formations which the park is named after.
After many hours of exploring, we made it to the end of the road, our destination. Heading out on the trail, we didn't exactly have a game plan. We simply started walking to see what we could see.
The first major formation we saw was called 'Landscape Arch'. It was truly a sight to behold. Thinking about the incredible amount of time and erosion that formed this large of an arch was starting to hurt my head.
Immediately after Landscape Arch, the trail becomes a bit more...rugged...I suppose you could call it. No more simple trail to have a leisurely stroll along. It started to turn into my favorite kind of trail: hard.
Continuing along, we saw a sign for 'Double O Arch', which sounded very appealing. And, spoiler alert, it certainly was.
Although there's a rule about not being allowed to stand on top of the arches themselves, my brother and I thought it would be fun to climb to a spot the sits right next to the arch. The view from up there was quite nice. When looking down below towards where my parents were standing, the height induced a little bit of vertigo, but that only solidified the awesomeness of the experience.
And of course, after completing this trail, we made the trip over to Delicate Arch, which was in a different section of the park entirely. We made it to the arch just in time for sunset, and as you saw from the first picture in this post, the sun was hitting the red rock in just the right way the make it glow.
And that was my trip to Arches National Park! I hope you enjoyed reading about my hike, and hopefully this inspired you to plan a trip yourself!
If you want to stay updated on my trip around the U.S. and Canada, follow me! There's many more posts to come.
Peace :-)
!steemitworldmap 38.777795 lat -109.597696 long Arches National Park D3SCR
Moab is one of my favorite places. In college we liked to go there during spring break. I don't recommend it in the middle of summer, way to hot! The spring is nice there though.
I can’t imagine it in the summer! I was breaking a sweat even in December haha. Thanks for reading!
Dude these pictures are rad. I love Utah. I've explored Bryce Canyon and Zion, but sadly haven't made my way over to Arches yet. Having read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey, I have a pretty strong desire to get hiking out that way sometime...
I totally wish i got over to Bryce! We had to ration our time quit a bit, so we sadly couldn’t fit it in :-( Thanks for reading!
These arches are spectacular, I can imagine how stunning they must be to see them with your own eyes
They truly are. Everything from the color to the size of the arches left me in awe.
Hiya, just swinging by to let you know you're being featured in today's #TravelDigest!
Awesome! I appreciate it :-)
Wow, beautiful images. It's a natural sculpture! Really intriguing how these forms are created. Thanks for sharing :) resteemed on my page
Thank you so much! Really appreciate it
Wow what beautiful landscape and simply stunning photos!
Thanks! Glad you liked them
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=josiahthomas
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=the-burnt-red-formations-of-arches-national-park
Want to have your post on the map too?
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by josiahthomas from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, someguy123, neoxian, followbtcnews, and netuoso. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows. Please find us at the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you would like to delegate to the Minnow Support Project you can do so by clicking on the following links: 50SP, 100SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP, 5000SP.
Be sure to leave at least 50SP undelegated on your account.