|
The writer Edward Abbey, who spent a year as a ranger at ARCHES NATIONAL PARK in the 1950s, wrote in Desert Solitaire that its arid landscape was as "naked, monolithic, austere and unadorned as the sculpture of the moon." It certainly is one of the least terrestrial places on this planet. Massive fins of red and golden sandstone stand to attention out of the bare desert plain, and over 1800 natural arches of various shapes and sizes have been cut into the rock by eons of erosive weathering. Apart from the single ribbon of black asphalt that snakes through the park, there's nothing even vaguely human about it. The narrow, hunching ridges are more like dinosaurs' backbones than solid rock, and under a full moon, at twilight, or watching the lightning strikes of a distant thunderstorm, you can't help but imagine that the landscape has a life of its own. While you could race through in a couple of hours, to do Arches justice you should plan to spend a whole day here at the very least. A twenty-mile road cuts uphill sharply from US-191 and the park visitor center (daily: mid-April to Sept 7.30am-6.30pm; Oct to mid-April 8am-4.30pm; $10 per vehicle, or $25 for pass also covering Canyonlands, Hovenweep & Natural Bridges; tel 435/719-2299, ), where exhibits explain the fairly simple process by which the arches are formed and point out some of the more photogenic examples. The first possible stop is the south trailhead for Park Avenue , an easy trail leading one mile down a scoured, rock-bottomed wash. If you stay on the road, the La Sal Mountains Viewpoint provides a grandstand look at the distant peaks rising over 12,000ft above the surrounding desert, as well as the huge red chunk of Courthouse Towers closer at hand. Beyond the Towers, the road follows the foot of the salmon-hued sandstone of the Great Wall . From Balanced Rock - a 50ft boulder atop a slender 75ft pedestal - a turning to the right winds for two miles through the Windows section, where a half-mile trail loops through a dense concentration of massive arches, some over 100ft high and 150ft across. A second trail, fifty yards beyond, leads to Double Arch , a staunch pair of arches that together support another arch overhead. Beyond Balanced Rock, the main road drops downhill for two miles past Panorama Point and the turnoff to Wolfe Ranch , where a century-old log cabin now serves as the trailhead for the exposed three-mile round-trip hike up to Delicate Arch , which, as a freestanding crescent of rock perched at the brink of a deep canyon, is by far the most impressive arch in the park. Three miles beyond the Wolfe Ranch turnoff, the deep, sharp-sided mini-canyons of the Fiery Furnace section form a (usually quite cool) labyrinth through which rangers lead regular hikes in spring, summer and fall ($6; reserve in advance at the visitor center). The road continues on to the Devil's Garden trailhead, from which an easy one-mile walk leads to a view of the astonishing 306ft span of Landscape Arch , now too perilously slender to approach more closely. Several other arches lie along short spur trails off the main route; seeing them all, and returning from Double O Arch via the longer primitive trail, requires a total hike of just over seven miles. Arches' only campground ($10; water only available mid-March to Oct) is across from the trailhead; all its first-come, first-served sites tend to be occupied by early morning in season. Permits for backcountry camping , allowed anywhere that's a mile from the road and half a mile from any trail, are issued at the visitor center.
|
Arches National Park 
