2. Arches National Park

Yeah, ok, this is about the thirtieth time I've been to Arches National Park in the last ten years.
What can I say? I like this park, and I wanted to show Linda what a cool place it is.

We arrived in Moab in the early afternoon, just a some thunderstorms were boiling up west of town.
 We headed to Arches after checking in at the motel, hoping to catch some sunset light on the rock formations.
We did a little better than just one color of light...we got a whole rainbow.

I was running around like an idiot trying to get the right angle of the rainbow behind Balanced Rock,
 one of the signature formations in Arches. Granted, its not an arch, but its still pretty impressive.
 That rock could fall down tomorrow, or it might fall down in another thousand years.
The rainbow, however, only lasted for ten minutes or so.



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Rainbow over Balanced Rock.

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Goofing around with fun formations in the background.


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Balanced Rock silhouetted against the setting sun.

Below left:  We returned to Arches two days later, getting up before sunrise to get to a specific perch near North Window Arch to await the rising sun.
Alas, I was thwarted by both another photographer (who got up earlier than we did) and the sun (which didn't get up from behind the clouds at all.)
Below right: the view from the rock perch on a day when the sun was out in 2005, with my nephew Marc added as scale (he's so helpful).
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Above, The view from the perch towards the LaSal Mountains, with some sandstone needles added for good measure.

Below left, the small perch near North Window Arch. Its not easy getting out to it, but the shot is worth the effort.
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Above right, my traditional shot of my wife standing near Double Arch. Definitely an upgrade.
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The 2007 version of "Turret Arch framed by North Window Arch". Oh well, I guess I'll just have to come back. Darn.
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A National Park Service Jeep Liberty, decked out in full NPS regalia.
I asked about the Jeep at the visitor center, who said the vehicle is used for
both frontcountry and backcountry patrols.

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Above, after our adventure at North Window, we headed out into the sticks of Arches.
We zipped down the gravel Salt Valley Road towards Klondike Bluffs (this was the same
road that Randy and I took in 2001 and managed to get a flat tire...no such mayhem this time.)
We did, however, come to a side spur that looked interesting, at least until we got a closer
look at the obstacle at the beginning of the trail and decided not to risk cracking an oil pan.
We eventually exited the park from the north, returning to Moab for a hearty breakfast at Denny's.

Next...Into Canyonlands



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© 2007 Brilla Nucleonics Imaging Systems Division