Arches National Park - Day 2 - Hiking to the Arches
We started the second day in Arches NP at 7:00 am. The temperature started in the 40’s. Our adventure ended at around 1:00 pm with temps in the 60’s…It felt great. We hiked to eight arches and covered about 7.5 miles in total. Today’s post probably includes too many photos and a few videos, but deciding which ones to include is like picking our favorite child. We love them all! We just hope you guys love them too.
North Window
North Window was our first arch to see this morning. The early morning sun shone right through this arch making for a beautiful and victorious photo. Where is Rocky when we need him?
South Window
South Window
South Window and North Window
Frontside of Turret Arch
I climbed up to this arch to show how enormous it is.
Backside of Turret Arch
Double Arch
These two arches actually formed at different times, but it is weird that they share one side. It forms sort of a triangle of arches. I tried to climb up to the second arch, but it was just too steep and I chickened out.
The 3 mile round trip hike to Delicate Arch
Delicate Arch Hike
The Delicate Arch hike was the most challenging today. Not only because it was the longest, but also because it included many different geologic formations: smooth domed rock, bolders, deep sand, cliffs, etc. This photo shows Don sticking closely to the rock side as he made the final climb to Delicate Arch…He doesn’t like heights!
Petroglyphs
We saw these petroglyphs on the hike to Delicate Arch. We’ve seen petroglyphs in Mesa Verde National Park and these seem pretty sophisticated compared to those in Mesa Verde. The Mesa Verde petroglyphs were from 600 AD vs these in Arches which are from the 1800’s. It was interesting to see how their artistic abilities matured.
Delicate Arch
It is kind of a bucket list item to hike to Delicate Arch before sunrise and catch the sun in the middle of the arch. We thought about trying it, but decided against it. After seeing how difficult the hike was, we were glad we didn’t try it in the dark.
Delicate Arch
We had to wait for close to an hour for our turn to get this photo. I was worried how my hair looked for the photo until I saw this and realized we would be too small to even tell what we looked like.
Tunnel Arch
Tunnel Arch is one of several arches that you can see from the Devil’s Garden Trail. The entire trail is about 8 miles and parts are very primitive with rock climbing, water wading, slick rocks, and sand dunes. We opted to only do a part of this trail to see Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, and Landscape Arch.
Pine Tree Arch
Pine Tree Arch was the second arch that we saw as part of the Devil’s Garden Trail.
Landscape Arch
This is the largest arch on the planet! It spans 290 feet.
Landscape Arch
Landscape Arch was the third arch that we hiked to on Devil’s Garden trail. It was also our last hike of the day. We saved the best for last.