Today we woke up extra early to try and catch the sunrise through some of the arches. We started off at Delicate Arch, but soon found out that it was a strenuous 3 mile roundtrip hike, so we took the easier route and hiked the two different viewpoints instead. There was an upper and lower viewpoint, and we definitely recommend going to the upper outlook for the better view!
We really didn’t get to see much when we came into the park last night, so there was still a lot to see! The next thing on our list was to see Fiery Furnace, which was an amazing stone forest, whose iron rocks gave off vibrant reds, oranges, and other beautiful rust tones!
Sand Dune Arch was up next, and this was a really awesome trail. It was one of my favorites, because of its hidden location. The Florida girl in me loved walking through the red sand to get to many of these arches, and this trail was especially sandy.
We saw Skyline Arch as we drove in yesterday, but today we got up close and personal to it! This was Joey’s favorite! There was a really cool story behind it. In the mid-1900’s, on a really cold night, a huge chunk of rock fell out of the already existing arch and created a hole double in size!
After exploring Skyline Arch, we headed back to our campsite to hike the Tapestry Arch Trail, which extends from Devil Garden Campground. This trail led us to Tapestry Arch and Broken Arch. At this point in the morning, it was already scorching hot so I was starting to slow down and take breaks at the rare occasions we saw a shady area. We saw Tapestry Arch from afar, and walked right into Broken Arch…it was amazing!
I mentioned in my previous post about Canyonlands National Park that it was split into 4 different sections, with no connections between them (rivers divide them) Today we explored the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands. This section is right next to Dead Horse State Park, so as you can imagine it has massive canyons. It also has Mesa Arch, an Arch leads directly to a massive open canyon (you don’t want to get too close to the edge here…).
We hung around town for an hour or two until the sun was less intense. We did a little shopping at the local art shops and brought home our very own miniature sandstone arch! We headed back to the park once it was cool enough to do one more trail, Devils Garden. On our way back, we also did The Windows Loop to check out Double Arch and the two Window Arches.
Devils Garden trail led us to Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch. With this heat, and at this elevation, a short hike can really feel longer than it actually is, but we powered through it, and saw two more amazing arches!
You’d think that we’d be tired of seeing arches and rocks after these past few days, but it was the opposite for us. Every arch and rock formation was unique and distinct from one another, and we were amazed by everything we saw! This trip has truly made me appreciate nature more and how important it is to take care of it. There is SO MUCH beauty out here, and we’ve only seen half of it so far!