Arches would be the first of five National Parks that we would visit in Southern Utah.
Located just outside Moab, UT, Arches has over 2,000 natural sandstone arches.
Further progression took us past amazing views of contorted, eroded, colorful sandstone rock layers. We saw alcoves, points, domes, walls and even some balanced rocks. There are a number of places to park to hike or just take photos, although most of our photos are taken by Paula sitting on the bike.
"These unbelievable landforms were formed after deep underground salt deposits eroded and shifted allowing the surface rocks to weather in unique ways. The main attraction are the arches. The number is not fixed as more get discovered and are formed or destroyed by the wind and water continuingly sculpting the rock."
Of course, if you have time and energy, there are many trails out to many arches you could take. But we mainly saw a lot by never leaving the bike.
Although there were lots of tourists and cars, we arrived quite late (saw sunset in the park) and we were able to move quite well.
We also took the opportunity to get off the bike and walk through Devil´s Garden where we saw the sun set.
We even had an encounter with a resident of the Garden ...
Located just outside Moab, UT, Arches has over 2,000 natural sandstone arches.
We started our route when entering the park ... continued for 18 miles until we got to the end at Devil's Garden Road where we stopped and walked in the Garden. We then turned around and headed back completing the loop.
"The scenery at the entrance is a tapestry of red and tan sandstone. Up this wall of solid rock snakes the entry road. Near the top, a pull-off lets you look back at a geologic fault line running up the valley you just left. Everything on the west side is younger rock than anything on your side."
Further progression took us past amazing views of contorted, eroded, colorful sandstone rock layers. We saw alcoves, points, domes, walls and even some balanced rocks. There are a number of places to park to hike or just take photos, although most of our photos are taken by Paula sitting on the bike.
"These unbelievable landforms were formed after deep underground salt deposits eroded and shifted allowing the surface rocks to weather in unique ways. The main attraction are the arches. The number is not fixed as more get discovered and are formed or destroyed by the wind and water continuingly sculpting the rock."
Of course, if you have time and energy, there are many trails out to many arches you could take. But we mainly saw a lot by never leaving the bike.
Although there were lots of tourists and cars, we arrived quite late (saw sunset in the park) and we were able to move quite well.
We also took the opportunity to get off the bike and walk through Devil´s Garden where we saw the sun set.
We even had an encounter with a resident of the Garden ...
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