Arches National Park, Utah 1

(9/14)

Today, we began the second half of our trip. From here on, we will be in redrock country. Arches National Park was our introduction, and we were awed by what we saw. It is one thing to see pictures, as we had done, but there is no substitute for being here, surrounded by these intensely colorful and massive rock formations.

First came the high red cliffs. We saw these for miles along the highway, even before we reached the park.

Red sandstone from the age of the dinosaurs forms cliffs in many parts of the country. Here it also forms fins and arches. The sandstone layers here were bowed upward by movements of thick salt deposits below them during mountain-building. The sandstone not being flexible, it cracked in parallel lines. Weathering widened the cracks until parallel fins of sandstone were left standing.

The massive hard sandstone at the top was undercut as the less-resistent layer below it eroded, allowing arches to form within the fins. In places, the fins were also weathered into pillars, with the resistant top layer forming a caprock.

The most photographed of the arches is called Delicate Arch, for its memorable shape. We avoided a strenuous hike by shooting it through the spotting scope.

The largest of the arches is called Landscape Arch. It is over 300 feet wide and 100 feet tall. It has eroded so much that only a thin span is left, and that could go at any time!

Even though we only spent one day in Arches, we will do two more posts to finish the story of this very photogenic park.