Arches NP - Day 2

Hello Everyone,

On Sunday, Oct. 27th Chris stayed home with me since I can't go on hikes in the national park with everyone. 

Dad and Mom and Courtney all went to Arches NP and stopped at the"Park Avenue" trail to take a hike. The stone monoliths along the valley resemble the skyscrapers of New York City, that is how it was named. The hiking trail runs along the valley floor for about a mile, ending in a dry wash that runs through a culvert under the main park road at its end.

Along the trail, there is a unique balanced rock several hundred feet above those who dare to walk beneath it. The sky darkened as it grew cloudy and the temperature began to drop quickly while they were there hiking.

This feature is called "The Three Gossips" since it resembles three medieval dressed women conversing by the side of the road.

 Mom and Dad took turns taking pictures with Courtney as they neared the end of the dry wash.

Courtney took a rare picture of our parents together in the same setting. It looks like they at least like each other.

In the afternoon in spite of the threatening weather and the drop in temperature, all four of them left me home and went back to the park with the intent of scaling the steep hiking trail up to the premiere attraction of the park, "Delicate Arch".  The arduous trail ascends a bare rock face mountain, up to a cliff and around a ledge barely wide enough to navigate on a good day. It was very windy and cold on that Sunday and the drop-off of over one hundred feet with no guard railings of any kind. 

This forced Dad to turn back because of his aversion to heights, in spite of him leading the pack to the top.

This is the path along the cliff edge, barely three feet wide, and hundreds of feet down.

The view from the top was spectacular, especially the arch.

 Delicate Arch, perched on the edge of a sheer cliff, is among the most photographed and easily identifiable attractions in the National Park system.

Courtney was freezing because the sun was nearly down but posed for a picture, and later Mom took another with her husband Chris. They were planning to stay up there to get some photographs of the sun-set and the Milkyway after dark. 

As the sun began to set it grew dark very quickly.  But it was too cloudy to get good pictures and too cold to stay up on the top of the mountain for very long.

Dad and Mom left as soon as it started to get dark, ahead of Chris and Courtney, because they felt uncomfortable descending the trail on the slick rock in the dark.

Fortunately, everyone had headlamps so they were able to navigate the steep trail in the dark without any mishaps, along with some other small groups. Below is a picture my Mom took of the last groups to reach the bottom, with Chris and Courtney among them. As you can see it was pitch black.

Tomorrow Courtney and Chris are going back to Salt Lake City to visit with Chris' parents who live in Park City, before returning home, but in the afternoon we will explore some more of Arches National Park😀.