Arches National Park

Summer Vacation 2017, “Out West!”

Day 11:  Moab, UT and Arches National Park

1. 1)Celebrated Mass at St. Pius X Catholic Church
   

2. 2)Arches National Park in the 105-degree heat of Moab, UT
   

3. 3)Pool time
   

4. 4)Dinner in Moab
   

5. 5)“Moonset o’er Moab” photos by Abby
   

Photos:

Arches National Park is one of Utah’s five National Parks, and it is beautiful.  And it likely also helped inspire some of the Road Runner and Coyote shows.

The park is an in-an-out one - one entrance, one main road, with a couple branches.  You climb in elevation as soon as you get through the entrance, and once you’re “up over the top, the scenery explodes all around you!”

We saw:

1. -Balanced Rock
   

2. -Delicate Arch, from the valley looking up (if not for the heat we could have walked right up to it
   

3. -Keyhole Arch
   

4. -Hikes back to the 306-foot wide Landscape Arch
   

5. -amazing scenery everywhere
   

An ~120-degree panoramic view.

Balanced Rock

Delicate Arch

The hike back to Landscape Arch... you can see it ~ .8-1.0 miles in, and we walked in about another half mile for the family photo.

The GoPro capturing me capturing images of a dried tree on the iPhone, with Olloclip lenses.

More pictures from the hike to Landscape Arch

Landscape Arch

The hike back to the van.

Some yellowjackets enjoying some spilled soda.

This photo of Balanced Rock is my favorite from our visit, in part for the deep coloring, in part for the angle of Balance Rock, and in part that the one on the right looks like one of the Moai statues on Easter Island. 

Some final images, on the drive home

This is a description of what causes the coloration of the rock, as shared by a friendly and helpful Park Ranger, in the Visitor’s Center.

Summarized:

1. -Red rock is caused by oxidation, and that the red is from Manganese and Iron
   

2. -Green rock is iron, reduced... the iron gets or loses an electron as water flows through it, changing its color
   

And then we drove back to the hotel, to cool down in the pool.

Note:  we captured all other photos using ProCamera, by Cocologics.

See also http://vanvooren.us/Photography for more photography links

Links to the rest of this travel journal:

1. 1)Out West 2017 - Highlights 1
   
   

2. 2)Out West 2017 - Highlights 2
   
   
   
   

3. 3)Out West 2017 - STL to Cheyenne
   
   

4. 4)Out West 2017 - Cheyenne to SD to Devils Tower
   
   

5. 5)Out West 2017 - Climbing Devils Tower
   
   

6. 6)Out West 2017 - Devils Tower to Cody
   
   

7. 7)Out West 2017 - Yellowstone NP - Day 1
   
   

8. 8)Out West 2017 - Yellowstone NP - Bison
   
   

9. 9)Out West 2017 - Yellowstone NP - Yellowstone Falls
   
   

10. 10)Out West 2017 - Yellowstone NP - Day 2
    
    

11. 11)Out West 2017 - Yellowstone NP - Grand Prismatic Spring Video
    
    

12. 12)Out West 2017 - Yellowstone NP - Old Faithful Video
    
    

13. 13)Out West 2017 - Yellowstone to Grand Tetons to Jackson
    
    

14. 14)Out West 2017 - Mad River
    
    

15. 15)Out West 2017 - Jackson, WY
    
    

16. 16)Out West 2017 - Jackson to Park City
    
    

17. 17)Out West 2017 - Park City
    
    

18. 18)Out West 2017 - Park City to Moab
    
    

19. 19)Out West 2017 - Moab, UT
    
    

20. 20)Out West 2017 - Arches National Park
    
    

21. 21)Out West 2017 - Moab to Vail, CO
    
    

22. 22)Out West 2017 - Vail, CO
    
    

23. 23)Out West 2017 - Vail to DEN to STL to home
    
    

Arches National Park

Day 11 - Sunday, June 25, 2017