Arches National Park

Before getting into the core of the day's sightseeing, Arches National Park, I should mention that Junior Nomad redid his return flight schedule in the park itself. As a result you will have more pictures from this trip than if he had left the following day as originally planned. His decision was swayed by the incredible beauty of the place.

Anyway, Arches is an amazing place, but not without its risks...

The single biggest risk is dehydration. We consumed something like 12 bottles of water, which were vital in 100+ degree heat and 7000 feet altitude. A lot of the pictures we got we had to hike for.

Here's another frieze.

Here are some ruined sculptures. Someone dropped a rock and broke it and they seem to be pointing at it. I think they're trying to work out who's liable.

As mentioned in earlier posts it's amazing how your mind tries to fit what it sees into an existing framework to make sense of things. Or at least mine does...

I bust out laughing when I saw this.

I mean, come on! I have no idea how it remains standing. It would be number one on my list of comedy rock formations.

Here's one of the very best place names in the park.

It's not Burning Steppes or Searing Gorge, but comes close. At least we know where some designers could be getting their inspiration.

Here's my attempt at still life photography as art.

Please feel free to print it out and frame it.

This was a formation called Sand Arch or something, but I think of it as the Foyer of the Gods. It reminds of the intro to the Martian Chronicles TV show where the people are moving through what looks like pyramids or temples and they are dwarfed by them. There are no people in this picture but if there were they would be tiny.

This is the definitive arch of the park. We hiked about a km to get there and back which was flat and easy except for the heat.

This the the Delicate Arch. It's cute and tiny. We hiked about a km to get within range to see it properly, except this time it was uphill. BTW, the heat was still on.
You can't really make it out but there's a chasm separating the viewer from the arch, and the arch itself seems glued to a pretty steep face of rock.

Here's another ridiculous construction which seems like it should topple at any minute. The picture is at a slight angle so look at the foliage to orient yourself. Or just tilt your head about 15 degrees to the left.

To close out here's a shot of another random arch.

The park is definitely one of the high points of an excellent trip.