Arches National Park, Utah

Arches

For a place called Arches National Park, with a purported 2500 natural stone arches, there seemed to be a surprising lack of arches where we drove.  There was a twenty minute wait to get in to the park just because of an over load of people coming in, so my dad decided to turn on AM 1610 AKA Arches Radio, which was basically saying, “There are wild animals. Don’t climb on the arches, don’t, don’t, don’t, blah blah blah.”

When we finally made it in, as I said earlier, there were a lot fewer arches than I expected.  I imagined that there would be arches all over the park, but no, there were only three or four in sight.  Eventually we decided to hike a trail that would bring us to eight arches. 

1. The trailhead was a paved path that cut through a huge rock. Eventually the pavement ended and turned into dirt.

Tunnel Arch

2. Tunnel Arch was our first arch, so naturally I was excited, but when I saw it I was mostly thinking, “How did that happen.” I also wondered if it was an arch or a bridge. According to “The General Dictionary of Geology” a natural bridge is “an arch‐shaped rock formation produced by weathering and/or erosion.”  I took that to mean that a bridge is carved by water whereas an arch is formed by wind, sand, and anything else that hits it.

Pine Tree Arch

3. On the walk to Pine Tree Arch my mom and I traded ideas about why it might be called Pine Tree Arch.  I was hoping that there would be a pine tree growing down from the top of the arch upside down.  The truth wasn’t quite as cool.  There was just a pine tree growing behind the arch.

Landscape Arch

4.Landscape Arch was a skinny arch that looked like it might collapse at any moment.  
Unfortunately there was a rock wall behind it, so it was a little hard to see.

5. Double O Arch looked a lot like the other arches except that under the main arch there was one little arch that we could walk through.

Double O Arch

6. At the intersection we decided not to go out to Dark Angel Spire and just take the primitive loop back.

7. The Primitive Trail turned out to be a lot of fun. There were some tricky parts in it, but those were the best. The first major obstacle was a slick rock covered in sand that we had to slide down. My dad and I had no trouble at all. We slid down and helped the other people that were trying to get down. There was one older couple who we had to support as they slid down. My mom, who didn't have as good of traction on her shoes, we needed to spot to make sure she didn't slide out of control. The second major obstacle was a large stone wall. At this point the couple we had helped down the last obstacle decided that enough was enough, so they turned around. There was another guy who was already on the wall and wasn't really able to get up or down. If I had to guess I would say he had a major fear of heights, and this wall was 30 or so feet tall. Since his wife was already at the bottom of the wall he needed to get down but was having a lot of trouble, so once again we climbed down the wall a little bit and helped him shimmy across and down. The third obstacle was honestly the most fun. There was a warning at the beginning of the trail saying that one section often filled up with water and was hard to cross when full.  The fact that there was water actually made it more fun for my dad and me.  I decided the easiest way for me would it be too try and run the wall. Although it may look hard, running a wall actually can break down to basic physics. If you can gain enough momentum to create a centripetal force, you can run on a vertical surface until the centripetal force wears off and gravity takes over. If you put a marble in a balloon and blow up the balloon you can spin the marble on the side using the same concept. The only difference is that the marble has a continuous source of motion, that being you. When you try to run a wall you have to make sure you have enough momentum to make it all the way, otherwise you fall and hurt yourself. For me it was a little bit easier. I had a sloping surface to run up before hitting the vertical and a slope to the ground so it was an easier entrance and exit.

After that it was an easy trek back to the car and home to some much deserved Phish Food.