Golden Arches

Have you ever been somewhere and stood staring at what someone had produced hundreds of years in the past? We spent our early afternoon standing and touching the past. On these rocks covered in "desert varnish" the early Indians would draw the important happenings of the day. At this particular "news rock" they drew an image of a women giving birth. It's interesting to point out that the birth was feet first. According to the locals there are only six such petrogylphs of this type of image in the world. They are proud that they have one here in their backyard.

After visiting with the past we headed over to Arches National Park to see what years of water running through sandstone can do. This park has the most arches than any other park in the country. This is caused by the water slowly eroding away rock and sand to produce these magnificent structures. Its amazing to look at them and marvel how they don't just crumble under their own weight.

This one has two arches together. If you look closely at the picture below, you will see some people climbing up to get in the arch shadow. This will give you an idea of the size of these structures.

We decided to go for an afternoon hike to look at some other arches. We climbed up dirt paths, scrambled across steep rocks and finally made it to the end of the trail. At this point we were faced with a decision. Should we go back on the same trail we came on or take this other trail marked "Primitive Trail". Aside from being another mile longer it was a little less marked but promised spectacular views.

About a 1/4 of the way into this primitive trail, I have to confess that, I become a little worried. This trial clearly had very little traffic. In fact we didn't pass another person while we were on it for 1 1/2 hours. Since you are scrambling over mostly rocks there really are big trees to mark a trail with paint. So, the trail is marked with a pile of rocks like below.

I became concerned when we were walking and all of a sudden I realized that we hadn't see any piles of rocks for awhile. I looked back and luckily I saw where the trail had turned. Can you imagine if we hadn't noticed? Everything looks the same out there. We could have been wandering around, while the sun was setting, looking for piles of rocks. I became very quite while we continued, afraid that we would miss a turn. When we finally got close enough that we could see the main trail did I open up to Reta and tell her my concern. Oh, by the way, the trail had some beautiful views.

It has been interesting to compare the three parks that we have been to so far: Zion, Bryce and Arches. They are all completely different from each other and each with its own unique vistas.