Airstreaming the West: Trip #14: Arches National Park, Moab, Utah

March 16 - 20, 2009

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, Moab, Utah

This is one of our favorite parks. So much to see and great hikes. Just wish the campground had some electric… or water, but we managed without it for a record 4 nights. Arrived to cool temps in the 60s and a great campsite, courtesy of camp hosts Howard and Linda of RV Dreams whom Bill "met" online via their website, who held spot #22 for us. Took an 8-mile hike from Devil’s Garden the next day, seeing arches such as Landscape, Partition, Navajo (my fave cave), Double O, and (not-an-arch) Dark Angel. This was a primitive trail hike so we found ourselves climbing a rope at one point… The next day after a trip to town for wifi, we crossed the 7 miles of the Salt Valley for another fabulous hike to Tower Arch, doing about 3.5 miles. After that, we came back to see Delicate Arch, which seemed so tiny below and is HUGE when you are in front of it. Tons of people climbing the steep slick rock for the 1.5 mile trek up, and I was dragging after the earlier hike in the sun, but we did it. And glad we did. Once up there you can hang out around the “bowl” and watch people taking turns posing with the arch – hoping for your moment without them for your shot. Finally the last day we biked down to the Devil’s Garden again to see the few arches we’d missed previously. This trailhead is just down the hill from the campground. So if this weren’t enough, B decides we should leave the park and go hike Negro Bill Canyon for a 4-mile hike. A very popular spot, but it was quite hot there in the canyon for the uphill climb, but at the end you’re rewarded with a cool canyon with a natural spring. Downhill back was a slog in the hot sun and sand, but worth it. People and their dogs were piling in the later (and cooler) the day became. The last morning we went on the ranger guided walk, through the Fiery Furnace, described as: "participants will be walking and climbing on irregular and broken sandstone, along narrow ledges above drop-offs and in loose, sometimes wet, sand. There are cracks which must be stepped over and narrow places in the rock that you must squeeze into and pull yourself up and through. In some of these places, you must hold yourself off the ground by pushing against the sandstone walls with your hands and feet." Yep, that's correct. Things we learned on this trip: cryptobiotic soil, or "soil crust" -- and don't walk on it! Stay on the trail! Made of cyanobacteria, but also includes lichens, mosses, green algae, microfungi, and bacteria, it's like a rug covering the ground. It's what's holding "the place in place." They had some tall stuff there. The other is potholes and don't step in those 'cuz tiny organisms will come alive in them when it rains and they also are nature's water bowls for the animals. Love this park.

TMI: Potholes form in Cedar Mesa Sandstone because the calcium carbonate that cements its sand grains is soluble in natural carbonic acid (carbon dioxide + water). Carbonic acid attacks any weak spot or zone in the sandstone, then weakened grains are washed or blown away forming the holes.

Park Info: Arches has more than 300 arches which have developed in Jurassic Entrada Sandstone. On April 12, 1929 President Herbert Hoover signed the legislation creating Arches National Monument, to protect the arches, spires, balanced rocks, and other sandstone formations. On November 12, 1971 congress changed the status of Arches to a National Park, recognizing over 10,000 years of cultural history that flourished in this now famous landscape of sandstone arches and canyons.

Camp Arches

Downtown Bedrock. It's a place right out of his-tor-y.

Behind the camp was an arch!

These are fins. There was a nice hike right off the campground that was a good intro to this most usual landscape.

Juniper bark. What kind of life did this tree have, I dunno.

On a fin in the Devil's Garden Hike. Little did I know we'd be DRIVING on fins in a year.

I was thinking about moving into this cave; it was bright and roomy and cool. Perfect office.

Double arch here, see the little one on the lower left?

Some arches you can climb on.

Fins to the left, fins to the right -- magnificent scenery out here.

The incredible Landscape Arch. It's huge. And I think this one should be the one called "delicate."

The rope part of the hike. Doesn't look too bad in this photo but I guess we needed it.

The teeming life in a pothole. Well, ladybugs aren't really a part of that but this one must have been thirsty.

Since we're being scientific, here's some crypotbiotic soil. I borrowed this shot from the web.

The Salt Valley, we drove across this to hike to Tower Arch.

The trail up had these Easter Island-looking "hoo-doo" formations.

Hiking UP in fine sand, this was like slogging through beach sand, uphill.

Bill in Tower Arch. (It had a tower to the left I'm not showing you.)

Now, finally, the most famous arch, Delicate Arch, as seen from below. This is cool, they ought to put this on Utah license plates... maybe phone books.... billboards... U-Hauls...

There were these petroglyphs at the base of the hike. But wait -- man on a horse? These cannot be "ancient puebloan": there weren't horses here yet. Maybe he's riding a llama.

Start of the hike up. Those specs in the circle are peeps on their way up.

OK, good, now a little more to the right... Just around the corner behind me taking the shot is the...

Fabulous Delicate Arch!

Where people rest after their 1.5 miles up and admire the scenery.

Another angle of this scene. We came up from thh left of this photo -- hey, there's Bill on the left in the hat.

We call this little girl on the left "Bill's Girlfriend." She couldn't stop checking him out on the hike down. Maybe she thought he was Santa Claus. And may I say just when you think you're hiking your butt off you see these little kids zip along like it's nothing. Ah youth.

Up here, on a fin, behind the trailer, we could get cell service (tho it looks like he's using the facilities, he not.)

Stopped to check this out near the park entry on the way to town. Very interesting.

This isn't the exact part of the fault they were talking about, but you sure can see the slip.

This is real Moab: Five big guys jammed into a compact car with five expensive bikes on the roof.

Negro Bill Canyon.

Maybe you had to be there, but this was co cute with the little girl climbing out and the doggie swimming around her. She was perfectly at home climbing up that rock. no problemo.