Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Day 28, September 12, Return to Arches

We headed back to the end of the road in Arches National Park to see Landscape Arch. The parking lot was packed! This 1.6 mile trail winds through tall fins of rock before opening out to a beautiful vista. Landscape Arch, at 306 feet wide, is one of the world's longest stone spans. 
On the way back, walking through red sand as fine as dust, we took side trails to Tunnel & Pine Tree Arches. This added 0.5 mile to our hike.

Next stop was the "Fiery Furnace", named not because is hot, but for the warm glow seen on the rocks in late afternoon. (below) On the way back to the Visitor Centre, we passed by a formation called "The Three Gossips" (right)
After leaving the park, we took a scenic drive along the Colorado River to see some Indian Writings, called petroglyphs. Petroglyphs are pecked into the rock and are thought to be 3000 years old. Not sure if they will show up in the photo, but there was a panel of images extending 125 feet along the road.
The final drive was to the Red Cliffs Lodge, which houses the Moab Museum of Film and Western Heritage. It was interesting to see how many movies and commercials were filmed in the area. The lodge itself was awesome! http://www.redcliffslodge.com/

No comments:

Post a Comment