Day 7 Part II : Arches National Park

Out of all the parks, Arches was one of my absolute favorites. Kids LOVED it, they wanted to go back.
Arches has the highest concentration of natural stone arches in the world...2500 at last count.
 It is AMAZING to see them and to hike around them and see the natural and awe inspiring beauty.  It is amazing to think that these arches took millions of years of erosion to create. Like anything, arches have a life cycle. Eventually the arch will become too heavy for itself and fall.

The Three Gossips

Believed there used to be an arch connecting these two structures.

baby arch

Balancing Rock

We hiked around North Window and South Window arches and then over to turret arch.

taking a water break at base

Turret Arch:

Can you see us??

view of north and south

view of North and South

hiking down from turret arch

After these two arches we headed over to Double arch. As we were in the parking lot getting more water and putting on more sunscreen,  we heard a honk of a car horn.  In drives Charles brother Robert and his family. Behind them are more family members. (nieces and nephews, another sister, a sister in law etc...)  It was an impromptu mini reunion before the reunion.  We all hiked to double arch together and had a little fun.

This was one of my favorite arches to climb. the view underneath was incredible.

unofficial mini reunion...

charles, enjoying the rewards of his climb.

he says its magnetos helmet...I say it looks like found porn.

various other things:

herd of elephants

Delicate arch. This is a freestanding arch. Again, thank goodness for a telephoto lens. We didnt have the time or energy to hike all the way out there.

zoomed in 

not quite as zoomed

still further away. Little zoomed

you can see how far we were from the delicate arch

zoom lens on delicate arch

Other Stuff:

On the way back to Monticello to the reunion, we were driving  and the clouds started thickening up and rain started moving in.  We caught the clouds halfway up the mountains.

All in all, one of my favorite days of vacation.

Day 7 part I : Wilson Arch

Day 7.  halfway through our AMAZING vacation. This was the day we were to go to the family reunion in Monticello UT. We didn't have to be at the Bed and Breakfast until 7pm, so we got an early start and headed out towards Moab, UT and Arches National Park.
While we were in Cortez, CO we met a nice family in the pool/hot tub at the hotel.  They told us about Wilson Arch, just outside of Arches. It was a "do not miss".  SO GLAD WE LISTENED!
As you are driving towards Moab, it is on the right hand side. Just a gorgeous giant arch off the side of the road.  You can climb it and chill for awhile. It was kind of a difficult hike to the base of the arch, especially with Peter and his mobility issues.  But he did a great job with help, and the boys got their first taste of Arch Country. We spent over an hour here exploring and hiking the arch.

WIlson Arch

Peter heading up

Almost There

Made it to the base!

Me and my boys 

Charles and the boys

Me Charles and Peter. Photo courtesy of Finn.

Me and CHarles (Thanks Finn!)

View from under the arch

You can see the parking lot and how high we climbed

Under the arch

heading back down

Also on the way to arches is CHURCH ROCK.

Other formations:

Looks like the start of an arch...in about a million years