Arches National Park, Devil's Garden

Today was our first visit to the Arches National Park. The Three Penguins rock formation rising over the visitors’ center guards the entrance to the park. The road leads up a steep climb along a red rock wall into the land of over two thousand arches and many magical creatures.

After the initial ascend into the park, we could see beautiful vistas opening up on both sides of the road. We were driving right next to beautiful red rock formations, and the snow covered peaks of the La Sal Mountains glistened in the distance.

We drove to the Devil’s Garden area of the park and set off on a 7 mile loop hike. The first arch we saw was the Landscape Arch, apparently the longest arch in the world. After many rocks fell down from the arch in 1991, the path leading under it has been closed. One park ranger we talked to thought the Landscape Arch might collapse any time. As we continued down the trail, we saw several more arches, including one of my favorites—the Navajo Arch.

At one point we hiked over a relatively narrow ridge with views opening up into green valleys on both sides. The Double O Arch crowned the end of the trail. We took the primitive access trail leading through Fin Canyon back to the parking lot.

In the evening we visited Dead Horse Point during sunset and got a glimpse of the Mesa Arch in the Canyonlands right after the sun has set.