We started off the day as early as we could muster considering we had a two-hour drive into Arches ahead of us. The day was overcast, which was needed relief from the sun on our faces from the day before, but I was a little worried about the conditions for photography. We made our way into the park and quickly found ourselves stuck behind a large tour bus and many cyclists. Rather than fighting the crowds and getting frustrated, we slowed ourselves way down letting them all get ahead of us.
As the clouds let go of the sky and the sun poked through, we made our way deeper into the park to our first real experience with these beautiful arches. This place was crazy busy, I tried to use the restroom but got yelled at because I missed the hour-long line and everyone thought I was trying to cut. Like all the parks, if you work hard enough, you can always find a place to have a moment alone. We found our spot around the backside.
When on trips such as this, I always try to fit in a hike to stretch the legs from all the driving. We decided to hike into Delicate Arch rather than seeing it from a mile away at the viewpoint. It was around now that we wished the sky was still shrouded in clouds, it was hot. The heat made the hike feel twice as long with hot air. To our great relief, the wind picked up quite a bit cooling us off once we got to the arch. Again I ran around taking pictures while Brittany soaked up all she could in a quiet moment.
After checking out the petroglyphs on the way back, we headed out towards our last destination while blasting the AC. We got out of the truck and started walking towards Sand Dune Arch, and my legs felt like jelly, but once we saw what we were getting into, a new excitement came over us. We were in a thin narrow slot canyon that eroded through these massive sandstone rocks above ground. The air was very cool inside and beautiful.
On the way back to Palisade, we decided to take the slower road along the Colorado home. The drive was stunning as we weaved back and forth between giant rock walls and the slowly meandering river. We stopped a few times to stretch our legs as Brittany dipped her feet in the river and at one stop we stumbled upon more petroglyphs just mere feet off the road.
Photography Date: 5-14-17
Writing Date: 5-24-18
