10/12/01: Hiking Delicate Arch Trail (3 miles round trip):
Well, I'm back in southern Utah again. The main thing is I'm out of Colorado and its mountains. Things are getting colder there and the snows have started. I70 was closed the other day to anyone without snow chains. Rifle season is open for elk in Colorado and I didn't want to be in the mountains with the cowboys popping away at anything that moves. Orange vest and hat not withstanding, I wanted my old butt somewhere else.
Last night was in the upper 30's with a wind strong enough to rock the truck for 20 minutes or so. I stayed in bed until the sun was up and shining on me before I got up. I'm camped where I was the last time in the area, 10-12 miles north of Arches National Park on US191 behind a little tiny butte on BLM land.
The Delicate Arch Trail passes by the Wolfe Ranch. This is a tiny little one room house with corrals and a small food storage cellar underground. The trail is level for a while with a turnoff to view some petroglyphs. These are of a lone rider on a horse, a dog and some long horn sheep. The trail then ascends moderately and the rest of the way is on slick rock.
The trail was really crowded with people on this October Friday. Many older people, some in their 70's and one couple had to be in their 80's. Good views of small buttes and valleys the entire way. Much of the trail has worn its way into the red sandstone leaving a small trough.
1.5 miles at the top of the trail is Delicate Arch. 150-200 feet high or so and 40-50 feet wide it stands all by itself with no support around it. Great views of snow capped mountains in the background and buttes off to the right. Smooth sandstone levels descend into a valley below. Another descent takes you to a natural amphitheater.
10/13/01 Hiking Tower Arch Trail (3.4 miles round trip):
A night in the 40's wasn't too hard to take except for the constant truck noise on US191. The drive towards Moab is great though, except for all the telephone and electric lines.
This morning I decided on the Tower Arch Trail way to hell and gone back in the Klondike Bluffs. An 8 mile drive over embedded rock and loose sand with no shocks had my eyeballs rattling around in their sockets. A 10mph wind kept the temperatures in the 50's most of the morning as I cloudless blue sky looked on.
After a sharp ascent of 50 yards or so the trail leveled off and then began a gradual descent, down and down and down. At least I got views of new mesas, buttes, jagged bluffs, pillars, spires, columns and monoliths as I headed for the valley floor. The trail then turned upwards and I struggled up a 30-45 degrees sand slope. I found taking little tiny steps with my feet a little farther apart made the going a little easier. Except that I looked like I had a load in my pants.
More pillars, columns and spires, some with rounded tops, greeted me at the top. They call them the Marching Men because they're all straight and aligned. A few feet past the 4X4 cutoff trail I found Tower Arch. 50 feet high and 100 feet wide it also had a 50 foot thick top. This is crowned by a 50 foot tower rising from the top of the arch. A solid wall of red sandstone provides a backdrop for the arch.
10/14/01 Hiking Devil's Garden Trail (8 miles round trip, 10 with loops):
Last night was pretty mild, only in the 40's. Truck noise didn't abate.
Today's trail is the Devil's Garden Trail, way at the end of the Arches National Park road, past the campground. Lots of arches. .5 miles brings you to Landscape Arch, 306 feet wide but only 75 feet high. This is one of the longest natural rock spans in the world. 100-200 yards farther on is Wall Arch. About 75 feet wide and 50 feet high you look up at it from the trail below.
The trail alternates most of the way between sand and ledges. A fork leads off to Navajo and Partition Arches. Navajo Arch (.3 miles) more like a doorway into a narrow canyon on the other side and is only 50 feet wide by 15 feet high. This arch is mostly in the shadows in the morning. Several really old, twisted junipers nearby.
Partition Arch (.2 miles) overlooks a valley below and mountain ranges beyond. Great for pictures. Then of course we have our joggers passing by. In this case it looked like a young teenage couple. Black Arch must have broken but still offers a great view of rock formations below.
Double O Arch is two arches on top of each other, really interesting. While changing film, I dropped the completed roll in the sand. I carefully blew the sand off so we'll have to see how the pictures turn out. I guess it could have been worse and been the camera.
Double O Arch is basically the end of the trail but I continued on to Black Angel, a 250 foot pinnacle. Back at Double O I turned onto the primitive trail with a sign warning the trail was difficult. As it turns out it did mean difficult which is not the same as strenuous. One section was moderately technical. A steep, smooth slick rock section required some care in negotiating. I was heading down the rock which often is more difficult than coming up. I had my walking stick today which helped when there was no hand holds.
.5+ miles along the Primitive Trail I came to a turnoff for Private Arch. .5 miles along that trail led to a pretty arch 30 feet high by 50 feet wide. It was down in a canyon with another canyon on the other side. Makes you wonder how the wind gets down there to erode the sandstone.
Views abounded along the entire trail, not even counting the arches. All sorts of rock formations above and below. Additional views of buttes and mesas farther off and mountain ranges in the distance.
Near the end of the trail (or the beginning) are two more loops to Tunnel Arch, a big hole poking through the side of a big wall and Pine Tree Arch. This is a pretty arch with junipers and pines surrounding it.