Arches and Fall to Your Death Park
A place with over 2,000 natural stone arches along with tall pinnacles, large fins and rocks balancing on delicate pedestals…….
I’m talking about none other than Arches National Park located near Moab, Utah. It’s a park full of amazing red rocks that have given in to the natural forces around them. Rain and wind have eroded the rocks to their present day form and will continue to do so far into the future. Arches and rock forms will come and go as nature dictates.
I’ll start out with some of the icons that define Arches NP. First on the agenda is “Balanced Rock”, which is quite a spectacle, teetering above the desert floor with its tiny base. How long do you think it will remain balancing on its perch?
Then there’s the “Delicate Arch”. This arch is so famous that it gets its own showcase on Utah’s license plate. The picture I took is from the bottom trail looking up. I couldn’t convince the kids to do the other hike. Therefore, it doesn’t look all that impressive.
The “Double Arch” is pretty cool and my oldest climbed all the way up into the bottom part of the arch.
Walking into the slot canyon to see the “Sandstone Arch” was so amazing. It was like you were transported from the desert heat into an oasis. While there wasn’t water in there, what we found was super soft cool sand and a beautiful lush green tree inside. The socks and sneakers were immediately exchanged for sand between the toes. The arch was really neat and the kids were able to climb some of the other rock formations in the cool of the shade. It was one of their favorite parts of the park.
A few other cool formations
Look at the snow on the mountains!
There was some history of past inhabitants in the park. Some very nice petroglyphs
And a cabin still standing from a settler in 1898
If interested in the story of the Wolfe Ranch it can be found at the link. John Wesley Wolfe came all the way from Ohio in 1898 at the age of 69! Quite a feat at the time, don’t you think?
Okay, with Arches NP accounted for, let’s talk about this drop off the side of a sheer cliff, scary even-for-this-adventurous-momma place
I’m referencing Canyonlands National Park. Oh sure, at first it looks so innocent and unassuming. We stopped at the first trail and I let the kids run ahead of me. I dawdled a little bit near the car, drank some water and grabbed my camera to go join them. When I caught up with them and saw where they were climbing, I about had a heart attack. This place is not for the weak at heart. This is pure wild untamed Utah.
This is where the trail led the kids……..
I climbed up and into the boulder (it was hollow inside) and the kids were climbing around on the other side. They weren’t the only ones either. I was freaking out telling them to come to where I was. I then had them go one by one around the boulder and into the middle of the flat land.
I’m not kidding you, if they had stumbled or fallen one into the other as they were descending the inside of the boulder, they would have tumbled over the edge. I was very nervous going out of the boulder and around it myself. Why in the world the park service hasn’t marked this as being dangerous for kids is beyond me. So that was our introduction to Canyonlands NP, yikes!
And nearly the entire park was like this, these dramatic drops thousands of feet to the floor below. How would you like to be driving on this road? Yes, it’s a road called Shafer Trail. Here are some funny (after the fact) comments from others who have dared! I hope no one is coming in the opposite direction as I’m not sure how in the world they’d get by! I definitely wouldn’t be the one on the cliff side.
We hiked a trail that went up, up, up
looking down
we captured a glimpse of this peculiar site
The interesting thing about the crazy “Upheaval Dome” shown above is according to the NPS sign, they don’t know how it was created. One theory is the salt layer in the underlying formation. The other theory is an eroded impact crater. According to this technical article, the later has been proven. If you’re a geology geek like me, it might interest you but if not you’ll probably find it boring.
The best part about our hike to Upheaval Dome was the hike back down. And along the way, I found this little mountain lion waiting in a cave for me. She attacked with a, “Mommy, I have to go to the bathroom.” growl.
Now don’t get me wrong, even with the danger of falling off a cliff, the park really had some spectacular scenery. I mean look at that view below! Just don’t get near the edge. It’s reminiscent of the Grand Canyon without the necessary guard rails where they were needed.
Here’s the cutest little chipmunk ever. What can I say, I love them! This is a Hopi Chipmunk.
Canyonlands National Park is huge with over 337,000 acres! There are three main sections to it: Island in the Sky (where we were), The Needles and The Maze. They’re hours apart from each other so we only explored the one.
So with Arches and the scariest-park-in-the-world covered, where’s the crew off to next? You’ll find us at Capitol Reef eating pie. Yummy! Come join us.
Do you see the heart?
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{HUGS} from the Crew!
Why hello there lil’ cutie
