ZION NATIONAL PARK trip
Oct. 20-28 2018
PART 7
Arches National Park!
As we drive through the park, you'll see a variety of interesting formations like this.
I think this is looking down at the road we were just on.
Another view of this national park that folks elsewhere can only dream of.
More scenery of the park.
Arches became a national monument in 1929 and a national park in 1971. It's full of monoliths. A monolith is like that thing on The Electric Company that crumbled to the 2001 music.
Native people began living in this area around 8000 B.C. Settlers who came in 1855 were so ill-prepared that they soon left.
I got some of the information about this park from the National Geographic Society. Cue the stirring theme music from their 1990s TV specials!
Still more park scenery!
The park has one main road running through it, which sprouts a few smaller roads. I don't know the exact location here.
Another example of the great formations at this park.
We're on a trail that lets us see the popular Balanced Rock. Visitors were walking along here, chompin' some gee. The rock is 128 feet high. A smaller rock nearby collapsed in the mid-1970s - and Balancing Rock eventually will too!
An ominous warning on this road.
The beginning of Cache Valley Road. This road is so primitive that another sign warned that a 4x4 was required.
I think this is Cache Valley Road, which I inspected a little bit on foot.
At center left is Delicate Arch. Ooh, it's delicate! When I heard it mentioned, I was reminded of when my 6th grade science teacher lectured the class about breaking the microscope slides. "Delicate!" she warned. This 52-foot-tall natural arch is one of Utah's most iconic sights. Believe it or not, the National Park Service once planned to apply a clear plastic coating to the arch, but this idea was so incredibly idiotic that it was nixed.
Whatever trail this is, it was too strenuous for me to go any further.
This fine scenery continues.
More!
A nice overlook at Arches.
We hone in on the terrain at left.
The Great Royal Tim continues his road travel through Arches.
I'm not sure what trail this was, but I couldn't make it much further. The park map lists the trails and says one of them is "great for kids" - but it says nothing about adults, especially adults whose limbs go numb if they walk more than 10 feet. On all the trails on this trip, I was the only person resting while everyone else was able to continue.
One of the many amazing arches that fills the park.
You can see yet another arch among these formations.