Day 18 - So Much More than Just Arches at this National Park

Thursday, June 5th, 2008

Panguitch is about four hours away from Arches National Park, so when my watch woke me up at 8am I didn’t want to waste any time. It was cold outside, really freakin cold, especially considering the fact that my Triple Threat Canyon Experience had all taken place in the mid to high twenties on the Centigrade scale. I was all bundled up in a hoodie, and was sporting long pants as I hit highway 89 in search of an eastward I-70. For most of the time that I spent heading north on the 89 I was moving across some of Utah’s quiet farm land. The drive was quite calm and peaceful with the low level clouds bringing the skyline down. I was a little worried as I moved into the mountain range near Richfield and found heavy rains, because there were vehicles heading in the opposite direction that had snow covering their roves. I missed out on that action though, because the closer I got to Arches the clearer the skies became.


























I made it to the park gates by 1pm and began my tour of the area. The Arches roadway carries you passed the many sites of the National Park as it heads north. I doddled for a while stopping at different viewpoints and exploring some of the scenic turnoffs. The south end of the park is protected by massive rock towers that stand overlooking the road. Near the beginning of the roadway is a collection of these rock towers that have formed a canyon called Park Avenue. This picturesque site reminded me of Zion’s Garden of Eden setting, so I was an instant fan of Arches.



















As I drove passed a large assembly of the red rock towers I found a great viewpoint that looked out over a field of Petrified Sand Dunes. My stop was brief at the Dunes, because off in the distance I could see a precarious balancing act that they call Balanced Rock. This fragile formation was made up of a narrowing cone-shaped base that held up a very large bolder. My bet is on glue, some sort of industrial style glue that the park has concocted to keep this balancing act alive. All this took me close to forty minutes, and I still hadn’t reached the arches yet, so even though there were more viewpoints along the way I prioritized and drove to the end of the road where the Devils Garden Trailhead began.



















The Devils Garden was littered with huge sandstone slabs that stacked up like giant dominos on their side. The trail found its way around these piles of rocks to Landscape, a 300-foot-plus Arch that stretched out across the sky. This was a sight to behold; my first arch, and it was the largest natural arch in the world. A ribbon of rock extended further then the length of a football field. Go Big or Go Home right?





















It’s amazing to think that these strange rock formations not only exist but are created naturally. The red arch cutting through the deep blue sky; my arch dreams were fulfilled, and I had only just begun the hike. This was the end of the ‘Easy Trail’; queue the strenuous Double O Arch path (like Bond it has a license to kill and is super cool… or maybe there are just two ‘O’ shaped arches hiding in the same rock face, which ever you prefer). The trail was now less of a path and more of a general direction that found its way around narrow ledges. I tip-toed and danced over the rocky terrain and climbed up and down the rock slabs to Double O Arch. It was over 2 miles to this point in the trail, and after just over an hour of hiking, while I marveled at the wall with the stacked arches, it started to rain. Typical. Perfect timing. Of course my only real worry is my camera, my precious, my precious. Luckily it was a quick little storm that was forced out by more sun, and the hike continued. On the way back, with more of a familiar step, I got caught up working on my Parkour over the rock layout. It was way too much fun, and far less dangerous than you might suspect. Three more impressive arches waited for me on my return; Navajo Arch was a thick stretch of rock that nearly formed a cave, Partition Arch acted as a porthole opening up to a great view of the park, and Wall Arch was just that, a huge arch stuck in a wall along the trail. After two and a half hours I had crushed the Devils Garden Trail and was loving this park.


















Each arch was significantly different from the last, making my return trip down the park roadway very exciting. I had three more stops planned. The first was a short run to Skyline Arch which had been significantly smaller half a century ago, but after a large chuck of the rock broke off and doubled the arch’s size, it is now an impressive monument. The day was starting to slip away from me, so instead of walking the Delicate Arch trail, I settled for the Upper Viewpoint of the Arch that many know as ‘the One from the Utah License Plate’. It’s not as long as Landscape, or as neighbourly as Double O, but it is the Archiest of the Arches. The formation stands alone on a slanted rock face, open to the world and standing tall like the frame of a door. The trail leads you right to the arch itself, I on the other hand was a valley away, still impressed beyond belief. The final pit stop was at the Window Section where the North and South Windows and the Turret Arch are gathered in a short 1 mile loop. These are big arches that act as frame-work for great landscape shots of the park beyond. An excellent finale to my Arches National Park experience.

I was on the go for over eleven hours, but when I check into the motel in Green River it felt like the day had flown by. Tomorrow I will be moving on from Utah in search of more of Mother Natures Miracles further north. Physically and mentally I am starting to fade, but when the sites are this good, it doesn’t matter; I can’t get enough of this trip.















Day Eighteen: I want an Arch in my backyard.












Just over a month after my trip to Arches National Park, the Arch Family lost one of there favourite Sons. On August 5th, Wall Arch could no longer be found. During the night the 12th largest arch in the national park collapsed and left nothing but an open gap and a pile of rubble along the Devil’s Garden Trail. I received the news while at my desk at work. It was tough to take in. Not quite a tragedy, but a serious enough shock to sit back and reflect on. Visitors to Arches know that there’s an expiration date on all the amazing structures, but for one of the Greats to disappear just a few weeks after I had walked beneath it put things in perspective for me; the world won’t wait. I was one of the lucky ones. One of the last to see Wall Arch before it became Fall Arch. Sure there are thousands of other arches that can still be admired within the parks boundaries, but it’s not the same park that I saw in early July. It just goes to show that opportunities need to be exercised. Wall Arch has shown me that there is no time to waste, I have to make sure I continue to explore this world, and pursue the adventure. There is too much to see to put it off for another day; a day when things may have already collapsed for you.