This is our last day. We went mountain biking in the morning and into the afternoon. It was supposed to be an easy downhill ride, but we decided to make it a round-trip. Needless to say, it ended up being a grueling 28 mile ride, half of which was straight uphill. You'll notice I'm walking up the first of the hills... Then, after a nap and some food at our campsite, we went into Arches National Park to hike (for the second time) out to Delicate Arch. We heard it was pretty amazing at sunset. Although it was amazing, I think it's even better at a different time of year when the sun doesn't cast shadows onto the arch as it sets.
These pictures are from our second day. (We were there Thursday - Sunday morning, but we didn't do anything but leave on Sunday.) We spent the majority of this day hiking around to different arches, climbing on rocks, and, in general, playing. The first few pictures are of Double O Arch and of us on top of the arch. The long arch is Landscape Arch. It's pretty incredible, and just a few years ago (I think 2003), a 70 foot chunk of rock fell off the under-side of the arch making it even thinner!
This is still the second day (Friday). These pictures are of our first hike out to Delicate Arch. It is incredible! I could sit and look at it for hours!! I also caught a lizard on this hike, but then flipped out and let it go, all within about a 5 second span. It was pretty funny - at first I was amazed and proud of myself, but that quickly changed to fear that it might bite me, so I let go and ran away.
Close-up under the arch! We look like ants in the other one.
I forgot that cacti bloom! They were so pretty!
And this is our campsite. The tent didn't have a rain fly, and we were scared it was going to rain that afternoon. This is our pathetic attempt to cover the tent (the tarp wasn't big enough!) Quite a charming little location though. The other picture is of the sun shining off the rock wall on the opposite side of the road from our campsite. There were some pretty brilliant colors with all the red rock!
These pictures are from the day we arrived. We went to Double Arch, pictured first, and also The Windows, pictures last. The big arch in between was near The Windows, but I don't know if it had a name. The mountain range in the background is the LaSalle Mountain Range.
Arches is a pretty amazing place! I recommend everyone try and get there at least once in their lifetime.
