Day 19. Arches National Park, Utah.

Wednesday, Sept 15th.

We arrived in Moab yesterday and today set off to explore Arches National Park. We missed visiting this park last year as it just didn't fit on our route. This year flexibility in our planning has bought us to this corner of Utah specifically to visit this highly rated park. Having read all about it we determined we had to be early to beat the crowds and the heat. So we jumped up at 6:00am - as Tom always says "it takes hard work to have a good time". The park was only 4 miles up the road so we arrived nice and early and rode along the lovely park road. What a difference in the scenery.

Of course, because this is a Utah Park and because the temperature is rapidly climbing we start hiking!

And catch a glimpse of our first Arch!

This is Delicate arch, seen from afar as it would be a 3 mile hike to get to it and there is lots more to see.

 Turret Arch

 South Window

Double Arch

They are all different and all stunning in their own way. Each required a short hike to get to and we really had a marvelous day to do this.

The ride through the park was amazing, with stunning views at every turn:

We even got to see some local wildlife:

As the temperatures climbed into the high 80's we made one last push with a mile and a half hike out to Landscape Arch - truly impressive and worth the hike.

 In 1991 a massive rock fell from the undersurface of this arch and so visitors can longer walk right under it - fine by me! My guess is that eventually the whole thing will collapse which will be a shame.

Finally we walked back to the bikes - by this time the temps were in the 90's and we beat a hasty retreat back to the cool oasis of our hotel room.