A National Park Unlike Any Other: Arches

When Wind Erodes Sandstone

Arches National Park is not just unique among other national parks in the US.  Arches, in eastern Utah, is home to the largest collection of natural arches in the world.  Let me reiterate, it has the most arches and the highest density of natural arches in the entire world.  The US does not need to be number one in everything, but in this micro category we certainly are.  

Getting ready to take in all the arches of Arches National Park.

Natural arches occur when sandstone cliffs, monoliths, or other raised structures are eroded very slowly by wind (eolian erosion).  This is kind of rare to find although not impossible (see my post about Timna Park in Israel), because usually water (fluvial) erosion dominates.  The Grand Canyon is a perfect example of what happens when sandstone is eroded by water, erosion occurs in a top down way that slowly cuts into the rock below it.  Since wind is less subject to the forces of gravity, it can erode from the bottom of a rock formation up, forming an arch.  However when water is around, it usually dominates erosion with top down (fluvial) erosion occurring much faster than bottom up eolian erosion.  This means for natural arches to form there needs to be relatively soft rock (like sandstone) in a relatively dry area, and a lot of time undisturbed.  As it turns out eastern Utah is very dry with a lot of soft sandstone (it used to be at the bottom of the ocean accounting for all the sandstone).

Taking in some of the other eolian erosional features made features of the park.

I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of arches in the park.  Aside from all the famous/large arches listed on the map, newer baby arches perforated the rocks and cliffs everywhere.  At one point no matter which direction I faced while turning in a circle a number of arches were within my vision at any one time.  I felt like I did not have enough time to give each arch its mandatory amount of contemplative starring.  

One of the window arches.  I guess it kind of has the shape of a window.  It is impressive none-the-less.

Arches National Park is organized around a two lane road, which cuts through the park to a dead end.  A couple of spurs break off of the main road to other famous arches like the window arches and delicate arch (the most famous and most crowded).  Most of the trails to see these aches are relatively short and flat, making the arches easily accessible.  The total active hiking time for the window arches was less than fifteen minutes, and the trail was a loop eliminating the need to backtrack.  The two exceptions had to be delicate arch and landscape arch.  Delicate arch can be seen from the parking lot, but it is really small.  Originally we planned to make the hour trek up to it and back, but after observing the crowd around it decided to skip it in favor of landscape arch.

An arch that may have a name I an unaware of.  There are too many to keep track.

The trail to landscape arch was truly deserted.  We visited Arches in November, which is well into the off season, and did not see huge crowds of people in the park to begin with.  However, we saw maybe two others in total on our hour hike to landscape arch and back.  The hike while not difficult, but was quite sandy.  Who would have thought with all the eroding sandstone formations there would be sand everywhere?  Hiking through the shifting sand was just enough work to warm us up (again it was November) without making us sweaty.

Arches, arches every where; it is impossible to see them all.

Once we got to landscape arch we spent more time starring at it than any other arch in the park.  This was partly due to my need to get a photo of me doing an arch in front of an arch (see below) but also due to the grandness of the arch.  It was huge.  Unfortunately there are no trails that actually take visitors through the arch.  As the largest it is one of the most likely to cave-in catastrophically at any moment.

Blending in with landscape arch, the largest and I think most impressive of all in the park.

In all we spent about four hours in Arches National Park before bolting across the road to Canyonlands National Park.  I never felt bored or rushed.  The easy access of the short trails and close cutting roads make it easy to get around quickly, leaving more time for gazing than driving.  Due to the ease of getting around, uniqueness, and just general awesomeness, arches is one of my favorite national parks, and I would argue one of the best in the US.

Part of the trail to landscape arch.  It is pretty flat, with some small rises and a lot of sand.

One last fact!  I did not realize this until re-watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in preparation for my trip to Petra, but Arches National Park is the setting for the first scenes of the movie.  In the first scenes Indiana's boy scout troop is on a camping trip, when Indiana discovers people searching for a famous golden cross.