Arches National Park, Utah
This was my first time in Arches and Eugene’s second. I heard many good things about it so I was excited to see what was there. It was a hot day and the sun was burning strong. The first arches we went to see were called windows because when you look at them from the ground, all you see is sky. We then walked over to Devil’s arch which was pretty impressive. We climbed up a little slope and sat at its bottom and enjoyed the vista the presented itself. After several other times of stopping, getting out of the car, oooing, ahhing, breathing in the air and absorbing the scenery, we arrived at the parking lot for Delicate Arch. This arch was not visible yet and is only accessible by doing a 3.5 mile round trip hike. Due to our long lasting love for sleep, it was already 1pm, the perfect time for strenuous hikes in the desert =]. We loaded up with more than we could possibly drink, but we didn’t know the terrain or how hot it would really get. The hike led us up a long and flat rock formation, the same one Eugene attempted to ski down on the way back. We followed some twists in between rocks and went through sand pits (which were noticeably hotter) and finally, past the side of a cliff. The last turn revealed to us the Delicate Arch. It was an awe inspiring sight. Because of the fairly intense hike, there were relatively few people there. This allowed us to truly enjoy the sight as if we were the only ones there. We hiked back to our car after spending 20 minutes there and proceeded to drive on to Capitol Reef Park.
