Arches Day 1: Scenic Drive and Overlooks

The road from Horsethief Canyon to Moab, UT showed many signs of spring.  For the first time in our trip, the foreground was not dead (looking) trees!  There is actually a green tinge to the trees now which makes for much more interesting pictures.

Moab is a main town in this area of the state.  It is named after a biblical reference to a sea in Jordan, and it is certainly a "sea" of tourists!  There is only one way in and one way out, and both are lined with trailers and cars and trucks, all pulling ATV's and bikes.  It's a happening place!

Spring blossoms on tree in our campground

We are staying in a private campground, right in Moab, that is a little zoo-ey but it has wifi and power and water, all of which we need at this point after 4 days in the BLM dry camping area.

The Moab fault, that shows the difference in stratigraphies left to right

 John says the Moab fault is interesting because it exposes formations that don't exist elsewhere.  It definitely sets the stage for Arches National Park! We're seeing different rocks here than other Utah state parks.  John was not happy with the long line up of cars/trucks/RV's trying to get into the park.  He mentioned that 20 mins is the longest time we've ever waited to get into a National Park... in any country!  It was worth it...  We did the 17-mile scenic drive through the Park, along with several short walks and overlooks that featured some of the main attractions in the Park.  This is a mix of Look Up and Look Down views here; it's mostly Look Ups...

The 3 Gossips, Sheep Rock and Organ Rock (L-R)

The La Sal mountains, still covered in snow. Gorgeous.

Great shot of the different colours in sandstone; the white is "bleached" of iron.

Balanced rock... 3500 TONS of rock, perched on a stone platform

Sand Dune Arch, with scar from recent (2016) rock fall to left of us.

Skyline Arch

Pine Tree arch

Tunnel Arch

Lovely early bloomers (that look like Broom to me)

We bought a permit for a hike into the Fiery Furnace area of Arches for tomorrow. There are no designated trails; just slickrock and a bunch of rock walls ("fins") to navigate through.  It's a free-form hike and a different experience.