Arches & the Four Corners

Today we got up early to beat the 100 degree temps in Arches National Park near Moab, UT. One of the first interesting features we saw was this bee-hive looking rock formation.


Here is the Courthouse Towers just after entering Arches National Park. These towers are majestic and awesome! Some of them resemble human figures, arms folded across chest, meditating to ???

We drove right to the Delicate Arch trail head and started hiking the 1.5 miles out to the arch. It was already hot!!! We climbed just under 500 feet and had to rest several times. I would not want to do this hike in the afternoon.


Once we got to the Delicate Arch it was very much worth the hike. The area just begs my heart and feet for a more lengthy playful exploration. Not today though. Another time for sure!

A man who did not speak much English snapped this shot of us! I tried to be clear when I said "please do not back up any further!". He was on the edge of the cliff behind him. He said something like, "yeah, that would be nice".....in broken English.

Here is a 360 view of the Delicate Arch area.

Afterwards, drove to Devils Garden to check out that area. Wow! This area pulls me into it. I want to break every "don't hike off the trail" rule I can here! To bad I have a great appreciation for the livelihood of Criptobiotic Bacteria that chooses to live on the desert ground. We hiked into see Sand Dune Arch and took some pictures. We did not go far because of the and the time, but it is a really awesome area. I've been here before in 1994, camping for a few days. I appreciated then, but I still want to come back. Maybe not in July though.

Then we drove to the Windows area and took some video. This area has several arches that I had explored on a previous trip. Just like the rest of the formations here, it is totally awesome! (The travel monkey we purchased in Tucumcari NM is getting much better riding on the roof top and taking video. We are not allowed to show him or name him because of the agreement we signed at the road-side flea market. "Fleas!"....yeah no kidding!)

I do have two geologic degrees. I better at least snap a picture of the Moab fault. Yeah, I used to be able to discuss this topic, but too many years working in remote sensing and GIS have fogged my memory. But, it is exciting and I know I could pick it back up if I had to. Geology Rocks!

Okay.....we stopped for a couple smoothies and a hot coffee. Yes! I needed to stay awake since we were driving 2.5 hours to the border or CO, NM, UT, and AZ. We needed to put some feet into AZ for the first time. So, we are off! We purchased some liquid gold before we headed out for a measly $4.29, "85 octane" mind you too! Is that legal? And before long we went through an area where we were earlier. I swear the gas had increased 20 cents during the day. I don't remember it being this much, $4.48. Did something happen while we were out?!

Here is the feet in AZ shot after the long drive!

The drive back to Durango. The views continue to be awesome!

Once we got back to our campsite and made some dinner, we drove out to a gravel road for a little star gazing. It is hard to take pictures of that, but it was crystal clear!

Gas mileage update:
Since I had the car service done in Albuquerque, our gas mileage has gone up 8 miles per gallon! Wow! What a difference.