West Into Utah

Hello everyone!  We made it to Utah yesterday afternoon.  The weather has been beautiful in the morning and early afternoon, with some spectacular lightening storms in the late afternoon.  You can see the lightening bolts stretch from the ground all the way to the sky.  It's pretty exciting to drive through.

We left Colorado by 9 a.m., so the weather was still nice.  There were some postcard-worthy sights along the way to Utah. 

 

We stopped at a viewpoint area and I walked up a steep path to take some pictures.

 

 

We arrived in Moab early enough to head up into Arches National Park.  This is the first time we've been back here in sixteen years!  It is more beautiful than I remember it.

 

I did a little research into how the park came to be.  There are layers of salt under what is now Arches National Park that liquified under pressure  and shifted.  This caused the sandstone to push upward in large blocks.  Through the process of erosion, narrow canyons formed in these blocks.  The canyons are called joints.  The resulting thin slabs of rock are called fins.

 

 

 The electric blue sky provided a breathtaking backdrop for these massive stone monoliths.

 

 

As rain and ice chipped away at the silt layers holding the sandstone together, pieces of the fins broke away, forming pits.  Over time, enough of the sandstone fell away to form windows, and finally, arches.  This is Skyline Arch.

 

 

Today, we hiked a half-mile up an impossibly steep rise to be rewarded with a view of the park's most iconic arch, Delicate Arch.

 

 

Then, there are the hoodoos.  Hoodoos are irregularly shaped pillars of rock.  They have eroded unevenly, creating all sorts of whimsical structures.  One of the most recognizable pillars is Balanced Rock.

 

 

I wouldn't want to be under it when it finally falls.

 

 

This looks like it could be a group of women.  (Then again, maybe I've been out in the sun too long.)

 

 

 Some of the lovliest colors can be seen in the late afternoon light.

 

 

It's time to call it a day.  Tomorrow we're heading out early to hike to a few more arches.  See you again soon! 

 

Until next time,

Terri

 

 

Comments

[Kathryn]

Breathtaking. You capture the rock and the light so well...and it DOES look like a group of women!

[Carol King]

What gorgeous pictures. It makes me want to go right back there. I'm glad that you're having good weather and enjoying yourself. Thanks for all the photos.