"The trail continues through the arch"

Evening, Campers! It's Silver Cliche' here with you again. And tonight is night two of three at Arches National Park just outside of Moab, Utah.

Well, today was a down day for us. We decided we needed a day where we didn't go into town to shop, we didn't spend hours driving around to sightsee, we just planned and did nothing much. For me that meant trailer maintenance (a little cabinetry repair, a small wiring project, check all the tire pressures, retorque all the bolts on the hitch and trailer wheels, etc.). You never know when the folks from "Good Trailerkeeping" magazine may swing through the campground... I wouldn't want to be caught with my bolts untorqued. I also made a batch of pita bread which should last us through... oh... about lunch tomorrow.

I also took a short hike along a trail that starts and ends here at Devils Garden campground. Let me just share some pics that I took on that hike with you and call it a night.

This park is called... what?... class?... anyone?... Right! Arches. And it's called that because it if full of... what? Right! Sandstone arches. So I went an photographed some for you.

This one is actually over the trail I hiked today (with a sign on either side that reads "Trail continues through the arch"). The window is about 20' tall and 30' wide:

 

These three were visible in the foreground at the start of the trail:

 

And in the distance including the ridge from which they eroded closer to the end of my hike:

 

Here is one that shows clearly how the arches form. A section of this "fin" (thin sandstone ridge) is clearly eroding in the form of an alcove. If this alcove had been in a larger canyon wall in... oh... say the year 1200 it might have had a pueblo built in it. However, it isn't in a large canyon and it didn't form then, so eventually the enlarging alcove will break through the back of the fin and form a window arch. Each arch in the park (there are over 2,300) has a unique name. I'm proposing this one be named "Pamela Anderson Arch" when the time comes. Had it been an arch when the parks arches were catalogued and named, I'm thinking we'd be be calling it the Mae West arch already.

 

Here is a shot of the campground from a high point near the end of the trail. You can actually see our home on wheels. It's on the left side of the road about halfway up the hill. There our two Airstreams in adjacent spaces. We are the one higher up the hill with our side perpendicular to the camera.To the left of this frame are three "fins". These are the long, tall, narrow sandstone formations that abound in Arches and that are the formation into which arches form. If you look closely at the fin on the left of this frame you can see two emerging arches, a large one near the ground and a much smaller one near the top. These have not broken through yet, but one day will add to the tally of arches in the park.

 

And finally, rocks and trailers are not all there is to see here. The prickly pear cacti are in full bloom. Here are some of the rainbow of colors that dot the red sandstone powder sand that forms the trail I walked this afternoon.

 

   

That's it for tonight.

Later!

SC'