Arches National Park

   Arches struck me as a wonderfully alien world. Its an open gallery of sandstone sculptures- painted in red and orange water colors. Splintered towers- both massive and fragile- hang against the desert sky. Ramparts of wrinkled red rock stand alone like the walls of ruined forts. Huge shark fins of sandstone jut up from the stark landscape.
It feels like Mars.

   This is one of the "Court House" towers, seen from along the Park Avenue trail. The Park Avenue trail is a short hike from the viewpoint down a canyon of red rock.


   One of the walls bordering the "Park Avenue" trail. The sandstone rows with rounded tops (like giants knuckles), along the bottom of the picture, may one day become isolated rows of stone fins, as erosion widens the cracks seperating them.


   Entrada, and Navajo sandstone laid down on a ancient seabed have been eroded into the marvelous wierd formations that fill the park. This shark like fin may have been one end of a collapsed arch.

   This Balanced Rock was seen in the third Indian Jones film. In the opening sequence, a troop of boyscouts is riding underneath, seemingly oblivious to the danger. Naturally, when I saw the movie I assumed it was a special effect matte painting.

More balanced rocks, like Gods own sculpture garden.


   This is Tower Arch, an Arch with a tower directly behind it- like a giants belt buckle. Its a lot bigger than it looks here. To reach Tower Arch you have to take a unpaved road, and hike the final few miles. Small rock cairns mark the trail. Even a few hours in the desert make you appreciate how inhospitable it is.



Nearby to Tower Arch there are more of the characteristic rows of sandstone fins in the distance. Here seen edge-on. These may become arches if the sides, and middle wear faster that the top.




   A moderately strenous hike brings you to Delicate Arch. It is a U shaped loop of stone, about four storys tall. The loop is only about three feet in diameter at its narrowest point. It sits on a shoulder of a hill, looking ready to topple at any moment.king ready to topple at any moment.



Arches is just north of Moab in the State of Utah.
Other Arches Links