Next day we went to the Arches national park. It is just outside of Moab, about 6 km to the north along a winding path near the Colorado River.
Many millions of years ago, a thousands of feet high salt bed was deposited at the bottom of an ocean that flowed in this place. The ocean evaporated leaving behind the salt bed. Later this place became a desert during which time the Navajo sandstone was deposited on top of the salt bed and eventually the Entrada sandstone on the top. Upheaval in the ground pushed up the layered rock and then rain, ice and extreme temperatures caused erosion of the softer lower layers and resulted in the forming of arches, spires, fins and balanced rocks.
There are over 2000 arches in this park. The smallest is 3 ft and the largest is 306 ft. The largest arch in the park is the Landscape Arch. As time goes by some of the older arches erode and fall while new ones keep forming elsewhere. 43 arches have collapsed since 1977. It is not allowed to climb on any arch in this park. This park was designated as national park on 12 November 1971.
You can visit the prominent arches in this park by car using the Arches Scenic Drive. It is 30 km long. We stopped at the Shiprock, the Courthouse, the Petrified Dunes viewpoints, and the Balanced Rock. This looks like a large rock placed on the narrow top of tall rock. It was formed from a single large rock when the softer middle portion was eroded away. In the course of time the large rock on the top will fall off. Nearby there is a butte called the Elephant Butte because this rock formation looks like a herd of elephants. Since there are no elephants native to the American continents, the people here are very much attracted to them. We came across such Elephant Buttes in other parks also.
Towards the east end of the road there is a section of many arches called the Windows Section. Apparently, some scenes in the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade were shot in this section of the park. One has to walk 1.5 km to get there. At the end of the trail there are three arches – the Turret Arch and in front of it there are two arches side by side called the North and the South window arches. Slightly to left of the Windows Arches, there is a Double Arch that is formed by two arches connected at one end, like Siamese twins.
Every arch in this section is nature’s architectural wonder. Later we visited the Panorama point and then the Devils Garden. There are three arches here – the Broken Arch, Sand Dunes Arch, and Skyline Arch. Broken arch fell recently due to forces of nature. Information about the arch demolished by nature is given on the display board on site showing a picture of the original arch and describing the process of formation and destruction of arches.
After that we visited the Tunnel Arch and then the Pine Tree Arch. There is a pine tree growing right at the center of this arch that looks really beautiful. Perfect for a photo! The largest arch in the park is the Landscape arch and is 2.5 km away from the parking lot.
For sunset we were headed to the most popular arch in this park, the Delicate Arch. This arch is also far from the parking lot and is located at a height of about 5000 feet and requires a walk of about two kilometers uphill to see. I was tired after a whole day of walking in the blazing sun. It seemed impossible to climb up all the way before sundown, so we skipped this hike and chose to view it from a lower point that is easily reachable. This viewpoint is specially created for disabled and elderly people who will not be able to walk up to this arch. That is so thoughtful! While in Pune, there are no easy sidewalks or preferential treatment for the elderly.
In the evening we took a stroll on the main street in Moab and visited some art galleries and then had nice Chinese food for dinner. In the morning we got up early to head to the Monument Valley with a stop at the Natural Bridges National Monument on the way. This monument has the second largest natural bridge in the world. The largest natural bridge is also in Utah in the Glen Canyon called the Rainbow Bridge.
Meera's Travels 