ARCHES AND CANYONS

July 5-6, 2013

July 5:  This is a picture of Landscape Arch in Arches National Park.  It may be hard to tell from the photograph, but the arch spans about 290 feet from end to end and is thought to be the longest rock arch in the world.  It was a nice hike up to the arch.  At one time the trail led right up under the arch.   But in 1991, some hikers were sitting close by when they heard a cracking and then what sounded like a thunder clap.  They were hearing the sound of a huge section of the arch breaking away (on the right side where it looks the thinnest).  The trail under the arch has been closed since then.  A photographer actually caught a photo the event and it is on display along the trail to the arch.

Landscape Arch, Arches National Park

July 6:  Today we drove into Canyonlands National Park.  This is a view down into an area of the canyons where you can drive down into it.  Notice the car driving on the dirt road in the photograph.  It is over 1600 feet down a sheer cliff if you don't pay attention and drive off the road.  (Not a good time to be text messaging.)  You can see the road at the bottom of the canyon as well.  We didn't take this road because our little car doesn't have four wheel drive or a very high clearance.

Scenic drive, Canyonlands National Park

This is a picture from a point where you can see the Green River that helped carve out this area of the park.  The Green River meets up with the Colorado River within the park and is a popular place for whitewater rating because at the confluence the rivers create a lot of turbulence.  You can see a dirt road along the white rim of the canyon.  The road stretches 100 miles along the rim and takes about 2-3 days to traverse.    The area is really awe inspiring because it is just so vast and extreme.

Green River Overlook,  Canyonlands National Park

Tomorrow we will leave the Moab area and travel south to Monument Valley.