We got up early and got to the Arches NP just after 8:15. Turns out it wasn’t early enough (to avoid a nasty run in with Mr. Sun – but more on that later). We stopped for a little bit at the visitors center, and found out more about the park. Turns out this part of the US (southern Utah, Colorado, and northern Arizona and New Mexico) was heaved up 5000 feet about a gazillion years ago, after serving repeatedly as a huge prehistoric sea bed (think lots of salt). Eventually, a dome of salt formed under a layer of sandstone, and when water worked its way through cracks in the sandstone, it eroded the salt and the rocks above collapsed and eroded. What got left behind (for us to marvel at) are giant “fins” of red sandstone, much of which got eroded into arches and as many shapes as the human mind has the capability to imagine and label (everything from organs to gossips to Park Avenue).
We drove 15 miles through these “fins” that sliced hundreds of feet above an ancient landscape (that included petrified sand dunes) and found a parking spot at the Wolfe Ranch/Delicate Arch Trailhead. It was only a mile and a half to the arch, but the signs said take at least a quart of water per person, and to expect strenuous climbing and part of the pathway along a cliff edge. It was 10 am and already nearly 100 degrees when we stepped off toward the Wolfe “Ranch” (more like an outpost on the moon, really) and the famous arch featured on all of the Utah license plates.
We wondered who could have endured the harsh life of a ranching family in the middle of nowhere. The little one room cabin and half buried stable look remarkably intact, so their remarkable courage is all the more evident, given their Spartan living conditions. Just beyond the hut were some Ute petroglyphs – which were cool, even though everything else was baking. We kept walking. And walking. Over a half mile of barren rock we climbed upward – and then we walked another half mile along the ledge of a drop-off toward the famous arch. We stopped a couple of times to drink our very warm water and rest, but rounding the corner and seeing the arch was worth the trouble, especially because of the breeze that cooled our sweaty foreheads.
Though we enjoyed looking smugly at the people climbing up as we walked back down, the hike robbed us of any spunk we had left for seeing the rest of the park in that heat, so we drove to Moab to find a Subway – which we did – before heading back to camp and siesta time. The wind kept me on my toes, repeatedly blowing off the reflector shields, but I finally found the magic and enjoyed a wonderful nap. After an early supper, we returned to the Arches and drove to the trailhead that would take us to see the Landscape Arch, a narrow 300 foot arch that shed 60 tons of rock in 1991 and is now barely 6 feet wide at its narrowest spot.
Along the way, we saw the Pine Tree Arch and walked between the huge, silent fins. The setting sun looked beautiful on the rock formations along the mile long path, and we enjoyed looking at the narrow, thin arch that will probably succumb to gravity soon. We waited and waited, to no avail =) As we walked back to the van, we heard a bunch of coyotes howling to mark the setting of the sun, and saw one of the lion mice scurrying across our path, probably in search of a scorpion whose head it could enjoy for supper.
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