We visited Arches National Park in 2007 and had hoped to do the same this year. However, with the contract job terms, it now looks like I will be working part of the time that we had planned for traveling.
This new photo gallery is from our 2007 travels. We were on our way home and had planned three nights and two days visiting the national parks in the Moab, Utah area. One of the two days was spent at Arches National Park.
It was our second visit to Arches. The first one was even briefer — just an afternoon, I think, on our way home from one of our vacations in the early 90s.
The day started out a bit windy and chilly. It was Karen’s birthday, September 24, 2007.
We took a couple of short trails. One of them went to — and around — Balanced Rock. The other trail was in the Windows Section and went to North Window and South Window Arches, as well as Turret Arch.
After lunch, we went to the Delicate Arch trail head parking lot at Wolfe Ranch. The trail is 3.0 (4.8 km) miles round trip. A short side trail leads to some petroglyphs.
There is no shade on the Delicate Arch trail and much of it is over open sandstone called “slick rock.” The National Park Service recommends at least a quart of water per person.
The trail is marked with rock cairns. At the end of the trail is the most famous arch in the park, Delicate Arch, which is used as a background for Utah license plates.
Even though the day started cool, by the time we were done, it was plenty warm and neither of us had any water left, though I had nursed mine until the very end. If it had been a warmer day, we would have needed more water.
