LAST DAY AT ARCHES

I am getting ready to leave Moab, UT, and Arches National Park on Monday.  Mr. W wanted to see Landscape Arch in Arches and since it was suppose to be a relatively easy hike, we thought we would see a couple more since it was going to be our last day in Arches.

So guess what time I got up again? Yep, there really is a 5:30 am.  I wasn't dreaming the morning before after all!  We got up and were dressed and ready to go when it decided to start raining.  At this point, I would have been happy to crawl back in bed and go back to sleep.  But, Mr. W was watching the weather and it looked like the rain was going to be gone in about 30 to 45 minutes.  I drank another cup of coffee and sure enough, the rain decided to stop.

We arrived at Arches and there was an unbelievable line of cars to get in.  OK, I'm fixing (Texas verb) to get on my soap box for a minute.  We have purchased a national park pass.  A lot of people buy national park passes.  When you have a pass, you only have to show the pass and your driver's license to get into the park.  It is sort of like having an EZ tag on your car to skip going to the toll booths on a toll road.  Why do national parks not have a lane for people with passes?  Instead of having to wait for people to decide if they want to buy a day pass or a week pass or an annual pass, pay for whatever, and ask a million questions, you could drive up, show your pass and ID and go on. It would help with the back up of cars and it would help with pass holders becoming irritated at having to sit in really long lines. OK, rant over.

We headed for the trailhead for Landscape Arch and were hoping the whole time that everyone else was going to some other trailhead.  Most of them were, but there were more people there than what we had hoped.  The trail to Landscape Arch was about 1.6 mile round trip.  At the thinnest point of Landscape Arch, it is 6 feet thick.  They don't know how much longer it will be before it cracks and breaks.  They use to let people walk right up to the arch and sit/walk/stand underneath it.  They don't anymore.

Landscape Arch

See how thin the area on top is?

If you follow the trail to Landscape Arch, there are a couple of spurs you can hike to see Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch.  So, we did.

I didn't know which one was Tunnel Arch so I took a picture of both.

Pine Tree Arch

Another view of Pine Tree Arch

We hiked back to the truck and said goodbye to Arches National Park.  It is really one of my favorites.  It was amazing.  If you ever have the chance to go......GO! It is beautiful and almost unreal.  I told Mr. W that the Moab area sort of reminded me of being on the moon.  He said it made him feel like he was on Mars.  Hey, isn't it Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars?  Or is it the other way around?  Whatever it is, Arches is great and Moab is a neat little town.  You better hurry and visit.  I have a feeling in a few years, this town will have grown and commercialized a lot.  One of the RV parks we checked on closed because one of the mega hotel chains bought them out and are going to build a resort on the land.  You can bet if one of them builds, they will all come.

Some parting pics of Arches:

He loves these fins or slot canyons.  He is such a kid at heart.  You gotta love him.