Arches National Park

Arches National Park is located eight miles north of Moab in eastern Utah and preserves 76,679 acres of high desert on the Colorado Plateau. First established as a national monument in 1929, Arches National Park was established in 1971. The park is punctuated by rocky ridges, canyons, fins, towers, monoliths, pinnacles, and more than 2,000 arches, the largest concentration of natural arches on Earth.

So why all the arches? Most of the rock in the park is sedimentary: particles of clay, sand, gravel, and/or cobbles cemented together with minerals like calcium carbonate. Water can dissolve those cementing minerals. The rock layer on the top of the arches is more porous than the rock layer below it. Water drains through the top layer but not through the lower layer where it spreads out along the seam between the two layers. As water dissolves the cementing materials along the seam, it creates weaknesses in the rock eventually forming a hole. Over time, gravity and the elements expand the hole into an arch. Many arches lie along a line of layers of porous and non-porous rock below it.

After entering the park, one of the first stops along the scenic road is Park Avenue. The trail follows a wash through a spectacular canyon and ends one mile later at the Courthouse Towers overlook. There you will also find the sandstone monolith, The Organ, as well as a trio of towers known as the Three Gossips.

The Windows Section of Arches National Park is home to the largest concentration of unique rock formations in the park. Some arches are called “windows” when they frame a great view. North and South Windows are side-by-side and lie in the same rock wall. Both frame spectacular views of the plateau beyond them. Just to the south of the windows is Turret Arch and nearby Bicep Arch isn’t always seen because the sun has to be just at the right angle to see light through its arch. My favorite arch is actually a pair, Double Arch, which probably started as a pothole with water seeping down through the porous rock above and dissolving the rock below. Double Arch is unique and offers spectacular views of the blue Utah sky when you walk underneath and look up through the opening.

The boulder atop Balanced Rock is estimated to weigh 3,600 tons – about as much as 20 blue whales. The rock features in the park can take thousands of years to form, but they can disappear very quickly. Such was the fate of Balanced Rock’s former sidekick called “Chip off the Ol’ Block”. Made of much softer rock than its towering neighbor, Chip collapsed into rubble during a storm in the winter of 1974.

Delicate Arch is perhaps the most famous natural stone arch in the world. Around 1906, a photographer took the first know picture of Delicate Arch. It has become a symbol for the State of Utah, the American West, and the National Park Service. The arch is unique, isolated, and seems to defy gravity with its dainty shape. Today, you’ll find the image of Delicate Arch on postcards, logos, souvenirs, and even the Utah license plate.

The Native Americans who were the earliest inhabitants of the region found the arches to hold special meaning. In the Zuni language, the arches were called Ay-yu-cheeten meaning “very powerful and unusual” and held shrine status with their people. For the Ute, the arches were important fixtures on the landscape for time-keeping, star-watching, and other cultural practices. Near the trailhead to Delicate Arch is a petroglyph panel which has excellent images of hunters on horseback and bighorn sheep. The presence of horses helps date the images because the Utes didn’t acquire horses from the Spanish until around 1580. Early white settlers like Civil War veteran John Wesly Wolfe were ranchers raising cattle and sheep on the native grasses. Later arrivals were searching for riches with mining of precious metals and then uranium.

At the northern end of the scenic road is the Devil’s Garden region of the park. It is home to the only campground in Arches as well as a very popular trailhead that leads to numerous landmarks including Tunnel and Pine Tree arches which are easily viewed from the trail. A little further up the trail is Landscape Arch which is the largest arch in the park with a span of 306 feet. In 1991 a rock slab 60 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 4 feet thick fell from the underside of Landscape Arch, leaving behind an even thinner ribbon of rock.

Just south of Devil’s Garden is Skyline Arch which sits high on a sandstone wall and provides great views of the sky through its span. The Sand Dune Arch trailhead is not far from Skyline Arch. After a short walk from the parking area, the trail spurs to the east through cavernous sandstone fins. Walking through deep red sand, you discover Sand Dune Arch tucked away inside the high walls. The trail continues across a large meadow to Broken Arch which is still standing but has a large fracture down the middle. If you continue on the trail through Broken Arch, then you come to Tapestry Arch which is flanked by a trio of pro-arches.

I visited Arches National Park while staying in Moab, Utah which served as a basecamp for visiting the surrounding parks. While in the Moab area, I also visited Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park which will be the topic of my next posting…so stay tuned!