A day spent looking at rocks...

The three Gossips - Arches National Park

Those of you who have seen my other pictures from my trips out West know that the title of this post is not a bad thing for me. In fact, I can't think of many other things I'd rather see. We got up and drove the 5 miles from Moab to Arches National Park fairly early - I think we were there by a little after 9:00. The weather was beautiful again - it was a little chilly in the morning, but warmed up nicely as the day went on. The first part of the park is mostly rock formations like the one above, but as we got further back we began to see some of the arches that give the park its name. The first arches we came to were called Turret Arch and the North and South Windows. Aunt Rose waited in the car while I hiked the 1.1 mile loop to go view them.


North Window - Arches National Park

After we left the Windows area, we drove through the rest of the park. Most of the arches weren't visible unless you hiked the trails to see them, and since the trails back there were 3 - 5 miles over rocks and up and down the mountainside, I opted out of them. I did hike to the viewing area for Delicate Arch - a short but very steep climb which was well worth the effort to get there.

After leaving Arches, we began the long drive back down to Flagstaff, planning a stop in Monument Valley on the way through. It was kind of nice to get to see all the scenery that we missed by driving in the dark the night before. The drive was long but beautiful - cutting through red rock cliffs and for a long time I had a gorgeous view of the snow-covered mountains near Moab in my rear view mirror. We made it to Monument Valley around 4:00 and decided to take a Jeep tour. You can drive your own car through part of the valley, but the road was unpaved and very rough - once we got started I was really glad we hadn't brought the rental car down it. We shared a jeep with a very nice woman around my age who is a traveling nurse. Her assignment in Tucson had just ended, and she was doing the sightseeing she hadn't had a chance to do before heading to her next assignment in Vermont. Our guide, Leroy, took us through the Valley - stopping to let Lorena and me take pictures whenever we wanted to, and explaining to us what we were seeing.


Sun's Eye - Monument Valley

The tour took us about 2.5 hours and covered 28 miles and most of the formations in the valley. When we finished, it was sunset, and we had about a 3-hour drive back to Flagstaff. Once again, we were driving in the dark while watching for cows, horses, deer, elk, and falling rock. It was a long day, but well worth it in the end.


Sunset over Monument Valley