Utah & Arizona Part 1 - Arches National Park, Moab, UT
The trip didn't start exactly as we planned. Our 5.00 p.m. flight to Salt Lake City(SLC), Utah was delayed by 4 hours. If you have a two year-old at hand, you know what that means. So Miss Cranky-pants makes good of the extra time and decides to drain all of her energy at the Seattle Int'l Airport play area for kids, and then by what would have been her bed time she boards the flight and lets herself be heard by every single passenger on-board for about an hour before reluctantly drifting off to sleep, in my arms. We were already debating on weather it would still be wise to drive to Moab tonight from SLC as we had originally planned. We knew of the snow prediction for the night, but we were supposed to be safe in a cozy Moab hotel room by then. As Delta Airlines had a different plan for us it was time to review our itinerary and make alternate arrangements. Driving unfamiliar mountainous roads in unfamiliar cars in snow-storms with a toddler in the back-seat are exactly what fool-hardy adventures are made of.
Further, Faults in the salt bed made it even more unstable and ultimately led to the formation of the famous arches. Owing to the faults in the salt bed that made it unstable, vertical gaps formed on the rock cake above. Over time, relentless erosion by nature formed lone standing fins out of the rock cakes. Further erosion led to the washing away of the weaker sections of the rock fin leaving behind the stronger ones forming in to an arch. This, geologists say could be the history of the Arches National Park as we know it today, they concede that the evidence is mostly circumstantial. But of course how can anyone be certain? This is one story that is probably as old as the Earth herself. Only these rocks can tell the story that's been shaping from many 100s of millions of years ago. Even dinosaurs, our predecessors couldn't live to tell it. Only time will tell if we will.
Even as we contemplate these majestic forms, its easy to forget that this is not the end. When it comes to earth's natural art-work, erosion is the ultimate ruler. Its slow and relentless activity though unseen to the naked eye, will eventually change these rocks and arches in the years to come. As if to remind us of that the Wall Arch collapsed in as recent a time as August 2008. It had been there ever since Man could remember - a time-less solid rock standing the testimony of Time. Then one day it fell down. May be this is what is going to happen to the rest of the arches too. The Delicate Arch - symbol of the state of Utah - sure looks like its next on the line. Its beautiful beyond description and hopefully it will stay like this all our lifetimes too, but the Landscape Arch with its wafer-thin top looks all but ready to crumble any day. Some time in the 1940s a huge chuck of rock came away from the top of the Skyline Arch making the arch even wider.
There are great places to trail and camp inside the park. The ticket is valid for 7 days from the date of purchase. We took the ones that lead up to the Lower and Upper view points of the Delicate Arch.
Further up north was the Devil's Garden Trail head that has trails to Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, Landscape Arch and Double O Arch. We walked down to the easier trail to the Tunnel and Pine Tree Arches.
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| Windmills on the way to Moab |
When we landed at SLC Int'l Airport at midnight our worst fears were confirmed. So we quickly rented a car and drove to Spanish Fork, about an hour's drive from SLC and checked in to a hotel. Thankful for a good night's sleep and free breakfast, we headed for Moab. Although 13 to 15 hours behind schedule already, we were not in a hurry. We had all day to reach Moab. The ride up to there gave us our initial glimpses of the Utah wilderness. Needless to say it was beautiful. We had not seen nature in such a form before, and it was refreshing to see different colors for a change. Washington is green all year round, and moreover it hardly ever snows here. And its not as if we get to see a lot of Fall colours in the Evergreen State either. And so when Nature presented Herself in a completely different form, shape, colour and countenance we loved and embraced her all the way for the next 11 days. We checked in early and rested our nerves once again in preparation for the next day. By now we were 24 hours behind schedule but had forgotten all about it. If we had driven to Moab last evening according to our initial plan, we most certainly would have missed the scenic drive which more than made up for the airline imposed delay. Thanks Delta.
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| Scenic drive |
Arches National Park is a treasure trove of natural beauty, aptly called as the 'sightseer's mecca'. Apart from the fact that it is the home of the highest density of naturally formed arches in the world, there are intriguing natural rock formations every where you look. Beautiful salmon coloured sandstone in the process of taking shapes and formations from 100s of millions of years ago. Continuous erosion from wind, water, rain and ice through millions of years carved out these rocks in to the shapes that we see today. Geologists hypothesise that this place could have been covered under sea about 300 million years ago and that over time the sea some how evaporated leaving behind hundreds of miles of salt bed. And then over millions of years, wind and water deposited various kind of rock and sand debris on top of the salt bed. These debris then solidified and formed rock on top the salt bed which came under immense pressure from the rock. This made the salt bed unstable and caused movements in the bed that caused rocks to push up to form domes and cavities that caused whole sections to fall under.
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| Pictoric representation of Moab Fault |
Even as we contemplate these majestic forms, its easy to forget that this is not the end. When it comes to earth's natural art-work, erosion is the ultimate ruler. Its slow and relentless activity though unseen to the naked eye, will eventually change these rocks and arches in the years to come. As if to remind us of that the Wall Arch collapsed in as recent a time as August 2008. It had been there ever since Man could remember - a time-less solid rock standing the testimony of Time. Then one day it fell down. May be this is what is going to happen to the rest of the arches too. The Delicate Arch - symbol of the state of Utah - sure looks like its next on the line. Its beautiful beyond description and hopefully it will stay like this all our lifetimes too, but the Landscape Arch with its wafer-thin top looks all but ready to crumble any day. Some time in the 1940s a huge chuck of rock came away from the top of the Skyline Arch making the arch even wider.
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| The Delicate Arch as seen from the Upper view Point. The actual Trail up to there is a strenuous one |
There are great places to trail and camp inside the park. The ticket is valid for 7 days from the date of purchase. We took the ones that lead up to the Lower and Upper view points of the Delicate Arch.
Further up north was the Devil's Garden Trail head that has trails to Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, Landscape Arch and Double O Arch. We walked down to the easier trail to the Tunnel and Pine Tree Arches.
Skyline Arch was on the way to the Devil's Garden Trail head. We got a beautiful view that was close and the lighting was brilliant too. Park Avenue Trail head view point, the La Sal Mt view point and Fiery Furnace view points were some of the first ones we saw. They all provide spectacular views and scope for lots of pictures. Every angle we turned to looked like a million-dollar shot particularly The Balanced Rock and The three Gossips. On the way out we got a peak at the Sand Dune Arch. Wilson's Arch which was actually outside the National Park presented itself to us the next day while we were on our way to the Four Corners.
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| Balanced Rock |
It truly was an unforgettable experience to come to this time-less place and be a part of its history in our own small way by being one of all the beings that at some point or other has been through here.
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