Arches National Park

(There's no Favorite Five Friday today... playing catch-up instead!)

After the Grand Canyon we visited Moab, Utah. If anyone is looking for a fun place to take their family on vacation, I can't recommend Moab enough. Wow. That is all I have to say! Okay, maybe that's not true. Moab is right smack dab in the middle of a couple of amazing parks and there is so much to see and so many activities to do. There is hiking, biking, sight seeing, interpretive centers, camping, ATV trails, off-roading, fishing, boating, white water rafting, and self led audio driving tours of the parks.

A neat interpretive center, museum and gift shop. This is also where you pick up the (rented) CD for the driving tour. You just pop it into your CD player and it gives you turn by turn driving directions, points out facts along the way and makes sure you see everything you would want to. It tells you when it is most worthwhile to walk to see certain arches or the lengths and difficulty of the walks as well, also whether or not you will be able to see the arch from the car at any point.

The Three Penguins






Park Avenue


It was October so this little stand of trees along a stream was showing off fall colors.


The beginnings of a new arch.






Balanced Rock




Balanced Rock is huge! If you want to see these amazing wonders, definitely visit the park as any of these amazing formations could tumble some day. One of the arches in the park actually fell several years ago, so they know it's bound to happen to more as the elements beat against them. New arches are being formed by the elements to replace the old, but these famous old formations are breathtaking!




See the arches? The park has over 2000 natural sandstone arches. I think this might be Parade Of Elephants.


See the climber?


There she is! We know she's a she because we could hear her crying "Just pull me up!"


See the scrambler?


There he is. That's The Mr.!


There is a man on the top of this pinnacle.


Turret Arch


Turret Arch closer up.






I think this is one of the Windows arches.


A lot of the arches have cracks like this, see the boulders wedged in there?








Double Arch








See the Mr.? Double arch is gigantic and breathtaking.


I think these are pinnacles of The Fiery Furnace. When I am looking at photos taken almost a year and a half ago, it's hard to figure out what I am looking at sometimes! Anyways, The Fiery Furnace is a dangerous place to hike I've heard, and it's suggested you stay out unless you are very familiar/professional, or have a guide or Park Ranger with you.


The original home on the Wolfe Ranch. If you like history or learning new things like I do, click the link!


Not actually petroglyphs, but Uti rock art. Learn about the difference between the two and who drew this here. These are at the Wolfe Ranch.


Delicate Arch is the most recognized of all the arches. It is freestanding. It is on the Utah license plate. It's on a stamp. It's pretty famous! It's also known as "The Chaps" for obvious reasons.








Walking between two fins. The part The Mr. is just entering is slim enough that you need to go sideways a bit to fit though. Very fun!




Walking between the fins leads you to Sand Dune arch. This is a perfect play spot for a family. Perfectly soft and deep sand and nice and cool because it's so shaded.


A beautiful sky is the best ending to a great day!