Day 17: Ahh! Arches!!

What I failed to mention in the previous posting was that even though our Passport stamp for Arches says August 28th, we actually did visit it all three days. It's just that we visited too late to go to the Visitors Center. I mentioned the rainstorm that was occuring during our very first visit. Well, the next night we drove in to watch the sunset. The rock formations looked very different with the change in light conditions. Different shadows, altered contours, brighter hues. We first drove over to Delicate Arch, the iconic arch that is on all of Utah's license plates. Since it's on the east side of the park, it looks its most charming in the late afternoon. We hiked a 1 mile trail to a viewpoint near it.

Then we drove northwest (boy, the sun's glare was hard to cope with!) through areas such as Fiery Furnace, Sand Dune Arch & Devils Garden Trailhead. The late day light conditions made everything look so beautiful. The twilight-into-darkness drive all the way back through the park was so mystical. A crescent moon was following the setting sun, & some of the planets & stars were beginning to glimmer. Just magical.

The next day, the 28th, we went back into Arches, getting our Passport stamp finally! Then we drove back to areas we knew we wanted to explore more, such as Cove of Caves & Double Arch, which a very near each other, and Devils Garden Trail, which we didn't dare walk the previous early evening due to the mountain lion warnings. We were a little sad to leave the park, this time for the last time. It's impossible to fully describe Arches - it's definitely a destination that must be experienced first hand.