Day 7 (August 13, 2023): The Colorado and The Arches

After seeing a new national park per day for the last four days, you might think we’d wake up this morning feeling a bit tired of it all!  But noooo… We had The Arches before us today, and the excitement at seeing one of the USA’s top national parks was heart-pounding.

So you can imagine our shock and horror when we arrived at the entrance to the park, just outside Moab, where we had spent the night, and realized we were supposed to have made a reservation to enter! Being a Sunday, we figured we were doomed.  We got in a long line and eventually a park ranger told us there were some spaces still open for the day.  We had to leave the park to get a cell phone signal, but we eventually did, logged into the reservation site, and lo and behold, we got a spot for 10AM!  

A nearby State Park along the Colorado River provided just the right amount of time to explore a fascinating area on the edge of The Arches.   In the end, all worked out well:  we loved our views of the Colorado River Recreation Area, and we entered Arches National Park at exactly 10AM.

The Arches has an 18-mile Scenic Drive, with two main routes off that Drive.  We decided to head right to the end of the line and work our way back towards the park entrance.  So what you will see below is our tour of the park, starting from the end and working to the entrance (with the exception of a few pics at the very entrance). 

By 3:30PM, we had seen a lot of arches and other amazing sights and were ready to head to Richfield, Utah, a 2.5 hour drive westward.  We had originally planned to spend the night in Moab and drive all the way to Las Vegas tomorrow.  But sober second thought made us realize that was simply too far to drive in one day.  So completing the Arches > Richfield distance today made a huge dent in the distance to Vegas.

As if our eyes and brains had not been saturated by the magnificence of The Arches, the route to Richfield held even more eye candy!  Every turn, every viewpoint on that mountainous route made us stop to snap pics.  (And added to our driving time!). By the time we pulled into our hotel in Richfield at 7PM, we were exhausted by the day, as wonderful as it all was.

We found a place for a quick supper and then headed to bed to be ready for another early rise.

There are a lot of photos below, but it was impossible to cut any of these out.  We hope you will understand!  And please be reminded that the scale of these sights doesn’t really transfer via the photos.  Each arch, each mountain, each rock formation is more massive than you might imagine.  Enjoy!

The Colorado River Recreation Area, just outside Moab, UT:

The mighty Colorado River.  Don’t be deceived:  it looks calm, but it’s a fast-moving river!

If this was Manhattan, the scale of this would still dwarf the Macy’s flagship store!

Our trusty orange Nissan Kicks got us around quite comfortably!

The Arches National Park (At 2000+ natural arches, this is the world’s largest collection.):

1. Along the switchbacks leading away from the park entrance:

These reminded us of welcoming guardians watching over the park!

The sweeping view of the canyon looking out from the switchbacks

2. The Devil’s Garden (at the end of the 18-mile Scenic Drive.  We are working from the end of the Drive to the beginning.):

Entering the Devil’s Garden, which is a trail leading to a number of arches.  We only had time to do a portion of the trail, to see two arches.

2A.  The Tunnel Arch:

2B.  Pine Tree Arch:

3. Tapestry Arch and area:

In 98°F, you have to find shade wherever it presents itself!

4. Skyline Arch and area:

5. Sand Dune Arch and area:

We were surprised at the number of dead trees we saw at the Arches and in a couple of the other national parks. Apparently, winters haven’t been as cold the last couple of years, which means the beetles are more prolific and are having a greater impact on the trees. And the summers have been much drier, leaving the trees with less resources and strength to fight off the beetles’ impact. The net effect is a lot of dead trees, such as this pinyon tree, one of the most common types in the park. 

The cluster on the left almost looks like a set of toes!

6. The Fiery Furnace:

This is part of a labyrinth of narrow sandstone canyons  that, possibly depending on the light, resembles a fiery furnace. 

7. The Delicate Arch and area:

Given the temperature and the 1.6km uphill hike required to climb this iconic arch, we opted to see it from a distance!

The Delicate Arch has been an emblem of the Park, the adjacent city of Moab, the State of Utah, and at time has even served as the emblem of the entire US National Park System! It is, as the name suggests, delicate and could collapse in our lifetime. 

In this same area, we got a good sampling of green landscape. It almost looks like that hydro-seed sprayed on construction areas to grow grass. Some people think it’s green because of a presence of copper which, as we often see from the copper roofs of buildings like our Parliament Buildings, turns green in time. However, it actually has to do with the presence of the minerals illite and chlorite in the soil. 

8. The Garden of Eden and area:

Pothole Arch

9. The Windows and area:

9A.  Set of three arches:

The set of three, all together

From left to right in the overview, this is arch #1 - North Window

From left to right in the overview, this is arch #2 - South Window

From left to right in the overview, this is arch #3 - Turret Arch

9B.  The Double Arch and area:

The left-hand section above is called The Parade of Elephants.

The stunning Double Arch.





The structure on the right reminded us of a lion’s head.

10, The Balanced Rock and area;

11. Petrified Dunes:

12. Courthouse Towers Area. (This is actually the first section of the park, but since we are working from the end of the Scenic Drive towards the entrance of the park, this is being presented last.)

The Tower of Babel

The Organ

The Three Gossips

 

The Courthouse

Sheep Rock (notice the top of the structure - it resembles a sheep lying down). 

Park Avenue: After you do the initial series of switchbacks, upon entering the park, this is the first major set of structures you see. On the far left, we thought it looked like a giant paw. Towards the right of the photo, it’s small, but you can almost see a pharaoh’s head.

And that’s the end of The Arches!

The route from Arches to Richfield:

Green River.  Notice the incredible burrowing job the highway builders did to create this pass.

Green River.

Black Dragon Canyon

Eagle Canyon

Ghost Rock

Castle Valley:  In 1847, Mormons fled to Salt Lake City, Utah, following Brother Brigham Young, in search of religious freedom. Young called his followers to settle all over the Great West.  His last call to settle was made in 1877, when he asked followers to settle Castle Valley, Utah, a harsh place no one wanted.  Many who heeded his call were young and in search of a better life. It was a brutal existence for those settlers in Castle Valley. They eventually made it work, however.