Arches National Park, September 2010 Windows, Delicate Arch, Devils Garden, Landscape Arch, Double-O Arch

Delicate Arch

I had to travel to Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah, west of Salt Lake City, for two weeks of flight testing in September.  We had the weekend off in between the two weeks, so I drove to Moab on Friday evening and spent Saturday and Sunday exploring Arches National Park and the area around Moab.  This was my first visit to Moab, and I immediately fell in love with the landscape and scenery in this section of southern Utah. 

I got up early on Saturday and went to the park.  My first stop was at the Park Avenue overlook.  I then drove to the Windows area, where I visited Balanced Rock, North and South Window, Turret Arch, and Double Arch.  Double Arch was featured in the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" with young Indy standing in front of the arch.

Park Avenue

I then drove to the Delicate Arch trailhead and hiked up to Delicate Arch.  You can not take a bad photo of Delicate Arch.  This arch is famous and sits on the edge of a cliff with incredible views in all directions.  It is on the Utah license plate, and the Olympic flame passed through the arch on the way to Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

 
Delicate Arch panorama

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 out to Double-O Arch is a very neat trail that runs along the narrow spine of rock fin for part of the trail, with drop-offs to both sides.

Landscape Arch panorama

I decided to explore Moab on Sunday morning, and hiked out along the Mill Creek Trail just east of Moab.  There is a waterfall with a nice swimming hole here along the trail, and I jumped from the cliff here and cooled off on the waterhole.  After driving along the Colorado River just north of Moab for a few miles, I returned to Arches for a quick late afternoon visit on my way back north.  I had to return to Dugway for work on Monday morning.  The fourth photo below looks down on the Arches visitor center, back in the direction of Moab.  The road into Arches rises quickly from the Moab fault and climbs up onto the plateau above the Colorado River.  After climbing onto the plateau, just past Park Avenue is an overlook with a huge panorama view of the LaSalle Mountains to the south-east and Windows to the north-east.  I flew one of my RC planes at this overlook and took some aerial photos, with some of the better ones here.  It was then time to head back to Salt Lake City.