Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, January 2014

Islands In The Sky, Windows, Delicate Arch, Devils Garden

I had to travel to Salt Lake City, Utah for business in mid-January and start work on a Monday. I was coming from Yuma, Arizona where I had just finished some Shadow flight testing, and I finished on Friday.   Rather than fly all the way home and then back to Salt Lake City, I flew from Yuma to SLC on Friday, and spent Saturday and Sunday in Moab, at Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

I arrived late into SLC on Friday and spent the night there. I drove to Canyonlands on Saturday, and visited Mesa Arch and some other points in Islands In The Sky for a few hours, before going to Moab for dinner and my hotel.  There was a crew filming a commercial at Mesa Arch on Saturday afternoon.

I got up early on Sunday and went to Arches.  My first stop was the Windows area; the same film crew from Saturday was filming at Turret Arch on Sunday morning.  I then drove to the Delicate Arch trailhead and hiked up to the arch, spending quite a while hiking all over the area around the arch.  I starting at the high ground across the canyon from the arch itself, then crossed over, dropping into the bowl below the arch, and finally went back around the trail to get above the arch at the main viewpoint.

I headed back for my car, and drove to Devil's Garden, where I hiked out to Landscape Arch and then on to Double-O Arch.  The trail was icy, but I had expected this and bought some crampons in Moab. 

After watching sunset in the Devil's Garden area, I headed back to Delicate Arch for some night photos, and finally drove back to SLC on Sunday evening, getting in very late for work on Monday morning.