4.5.2012 – 4.5.2012  23 °C

After a nice little sleep in this morning we bundled into our beast and headed fifteen minutes out of the town to Arches NP. We were greeted by quite a lengthy line up to pay our dues to enter the park.. Mmm we all thought, heavy traffic!

Thankfully, although the line up was long, we didn’t have too many issues within the park. We climbed up to the top of the mesa and started our journey of discovery. Arches is an aptly named NP, as it is home to at least a dozen different natural arches. First stop was to do a short hike thru one of the canyons. D and I decided to take the hike and M drove around to pick us up at the other end. The hike was really peaceful.. very few hikers and just nice sheer cliff faces to gaze at! We found the most gorgeous desert daisies growing in the canyon and of course snapped a shot!!

From our first stop we continued our drive deeper into the park with a plan to stop at the number one landmark in the park, the balancing rock. Probably not too surprising on what we saw at this stop!! Morning tea was a battle.. wind is blowing quite hard today and with the sand picking up, very little cover.. you get the picture!

The deeper we drove into the park the more spectacular the arches became. Our stop at the delicate arch meant a ¾ mile hike up hill to see the arch up a bit closer.. M wasn’t super keen on the walk but I’ll give it to her that she is getting more and more willing to come hiking with us! The walk up the hill meant we could see the arch from a distance.. To actually see it up close we needed to complete a five mile hike, uphill.. none of us were keen on completing that!!

Next stop was to the sand dune arch! To reach this arch we waded thru a sand filled canyon.. Just like walking on the beach only with sheer red cliffs on either side of you!! Actually, the wander to the sand arch reminded me a lot of walking in Wadi Rum in Jordan.. Sand, sand and more sand!

Last stop in the park was to the aptly named Windows.. Two large arches that you can clearly see the sky thru! Both are so large that you can easily walk thru the arches.. if not pass a semi trailer thru!! I decided to not wander up to these arches.. I was a bit over it today! But M and D went for a wander to see the arches and reported on how big they were.

We were back at the digs in time for a late lunch which meant a free afternoon for us all! A bit of a snooze, some work for me, wander downtown to go shopping, a beer at the local pub.. that pretty much summed up our arvo! We deliberately hit the sack early so that we could get ourselves happening early the following morning.. Tomorrow it’s off to see more of Southern Utah and to end up in Escalante the gateway to the Grand Staircase and not too far from Bryce Canyon!

Song of the Day– Stone Temple Pilots, Plush