On Monday, Oct.28th Courtney and Chris left to drive back to Salt Lake City where they were planning to visit with Chris' parents before flying back to Rochester. We met Chris' step-sister Cas for lunch in Moab to thank her for her efforts in finding us a house to stay in. We really appreciate her kindness and very much enjoyed meeting her.
The weather had turned very cold (28 degrees) in the afternoon so we went back to our house and did some long-range planning for Susie's visit, instead of hiking in the cold.
On Monday, Oct. 29th we woke up to find snow on the mountaintops around Spanish Valley where we are staying. It was freezing outside in the morning so Mom and Dad waited until the afternoon to go exploring in Arches NP. They drove to the end of the park road, at the "Devil's Garden" trailhead.
The trail leads out into the desert, a vast wasteland of sandstone monoliths and Hoodoos of varying sizes. The vastness is hard to imagine, even from these photographs, unless one actually experiences it from the trial.
The trail passes through salmon-colored Estrada Sandstone and buff-colored Navajo Sandstone fins as it gains elevation and takes hikers up into the area where the arches have formed over time due to freezing, thawing, and erosion of the rock.
The trail passes through salmon-colored Estrada Sandstone and buff-colored Navajo Sandstone fins as it gains elevation and takes hikers up into the area where the arches have formed over time due to freezing, thawing, and erosion of the rock.
Here is Mom, then Dad as they hiked up the well-worn path through the fins caused by water seeping into cracks, joints, and folds in the rock surface, and then freezing which expanded the surface causing bits and pieces to fall off. Wind later cleaned off the loose particles leaving a series of free-standing fins, sometimes hundreds of feet high.
Their reward was to find the second most photographed arch in the park, "Landscape Arch", which is much bigger and some say grander than Delicate Arch. It is wider than three football fields and much higher as well.
Their reward was to find the second most photographed arch in the park, "Landscape Arch", which is much bigger and some say grander than Delicate Arch. It is wider than three football fields and much higher as well.
A little further along, the trail was much more primitive and a great deal more challenging to the hikers as it rose steeply up a partially collapsed sandstone fin, leading to the next arch.
Partition Arch is much smaller than Landscape Arch but requires more exertion and energy to get to it. Yes, those are people standing inside the arch again! They are not supposed to be there, but they do it anyway.
There were many interesting formations along the trail to see for the first time, as my human parents hiked up to the aches and back down.
Tomorrow the outside temperature is not going above 35 degrees, so I'm not sure if we will be doing any exploring in the cold 😒.
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