Delicate Arch

We finally made it to Arches National Park. At the "end of the road, " or in this case, the northern most point of the parks road are a series of arches all along the same trail.  Tunnel Arch was up first.

There are many famous arches, but some of the smaller, less known arches are fun in their own way.  Pine Tree Arch is small and unassuming....

...but you can walk right up to it....

...and UNDER it.  I thought that was really cool.

The longest arch.....and to me pretty spectacular is Landscape Arch. Since 1991, when a piece of the arch collapsed, the area under the arch is off limits.

If we send out a Christmas card this year, this is a serious candidate for cover photo!

The most famous arch in the park is Delicate Arch.  We first saw it from an observation point.

Then we actually did the three mile hike.  This is the final approach....

And there it is. Delicate Arch.

I didn't actually walk down to stand under the arch because the footing was a bit weird, but as you can see, Onions did!

Nearly sunset....

Selfie with a mouthful of nuts.

Canyonlands

The drive from Capitol Reef to Moab (the base for Canyonlands and Arches) provided us two options, one that took I-70 or a longer route along the Green River that took us into the far reaches of the Southeastern corner of Utah and then up the eastern border to Moab.  Always take the road less traveled, or in this case, the longer road!

Along the way, Onions read that there were bison up in the Henry Mountains, which was right along our route.  So we went off roading again, and drove about 15 miles (at around 10-15 miles an hour) up into the mountains in search of bison!

Up close (well as close as we got) to snow covered mountains.  Turns out the Henry Mountains were the last named and mapped mountain range in the Lower 48.

Documenting the animal droppings!

We saw deer and cows, but sadly, no bison.

The highlight of this longer drive was following the Green River as it flowed towards it's confluence with the Colorado River.

For some 50 miles, we were driving in the canyon cut by the river.

Once we got to Moab, we went to Canyonlands National Park.  There is a section called "Island in the Sky" which is this part that looks down on the road we just drove.  This is looking down at the Green River.

Although the famed Arches National Park was next on our agenda, we got up close and personal with our first arch in Canyonlands, Mesa Arch.

Canyonlands!!!

One last night of camping.  This time at a private camp ground.  Not nearly as serene and enjoyable a time.  All around us were bit trailers with generators (no plug in's here) as well as ATV's roaring in and out.  We learned our lesson!

Capitol Reef

Driving east from Bryce, all the sites and advice I read told us to stop by Kodachrome State Park, which sounds great, but turned out to be kind of, meh.  But along the way, we say a sign and pictures for a place called Grosvenor Arch.  It was 11 miles down a dirt road...which became a running theme of the trip.

It's actually a double arch.  Pretty cool.

The drive from Bryce Canyon to our next stop, Capitol Reef National Park takes one through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  Highway 12, which takes you through it is AMAZING.  These pictures don't do it justice.

Onions, caught in a moment of "model" pose!

Capitol Reef is a long, narrow north-south oriented park taking in the length of the Waterford Fold.  We followed the advice of one of the sites I read and entered the park through a southern entrance, along a unpaved road.  This is the orientation of the rocks as we entered.

It's hard to see, but this is the road the drives down the actual fold itself.  It's a steep set of switchbacks!

Onions, post switchbacks.  He's the one who drove it.

At the end of the day, when we finally entered the main section of the park, the sun came out.  Here we are driving into one of the washes.  This is flash flood territory.

At first, after the amazing Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef didn't make much of an impression on us.  But after a while, it grew on us.  It's a subtle amazement....it's beautiful without being flashy.  This is the Egyptian Temple.

This is Capitol Reef at its essence.

Last light along shining on the Waterford Fold of Capitol Reef.

The end of another great day.  On our way to our only expensive meal of the trip, steak for dinner.