Story & Photos By Stan Wawer
As national parks go, Utah’s Arches is one of the small guys. It is also one of the most surreal, with its sandstone monoliths and ever-changing arches.
Nothing tops the Grand Canyon for spontaneous awe, but the 119 square miles that make up Utah’s Arches National Park gives you a lot of bang for your buck, your mind ringing with superlatives as you hike the rugged trails.
Arches’ 73,000 acres has that “Wow!” factor, with its more than 2,000 miracles of nature — arches, spires, pinnacles, fins and balanced rocks.
I recently visited Arches for the first time. I don’t know what took me so long. After all, I’m a national parks kind of guy. I’ve been to most of the National Parks west of the Mississippi and many of them east of it. Arches’ state neighbors, Bryce and Zion, were on my radar screen years ago.
The scenery in Arches is an ever-changing one. Ice and water, persuasive forces of gravity, along with time constantly change the configuration of an arch, create new ones and destroy old ones. Arches usually form slowly, but quick and dramatic changes do occur. In 1940, a large boulder suddenly fell out of Skyline Arch, almost doubling the size of the opening. The arch now has a span of 72 feet and a height of 33.5 feet. On Aug. 10, 2008, Wall Arch collapsed.
The park is full of such stories. On Sept. 1, 1991, hikers thought they heard cracks of thunder from distance clouds, according to a Ranger at the Visitor Center. Visitors resting under Landscape Arch, one of the park’s signature arches, noticed loud cracking and popping noises overhead. They fled as small rocks tumbled from the slender 306-foot-long span. Moments later, a 60-foot-long rock slab peeled away from the arch’s right side. When the dust settled, 180 tons of fresh rock debris lay scattered on the ground.
Arches was born of seeping salt, which began about 300 million years ago. Saltwater from a nearby ocean flooded the area. The water evaporated, leaving a deposit of salt. Constant flooding and evaporation left deposits of salt that, over millions of years, became thousands of feet thick. If that wasn’t enough, along came debris that washed over the salt from the higher elevations.
Debris was eventually compressed into rock and along came domes, cavities, faults and anticlines. As rock deposits slowed — between 60 million and 10 million years ago — erosion began in earnest. Good old erosion opened cracks in anticlines beneath the rock. Eventually the salt valleys began to collapse, setting the stage for the formation of the arches and what the park has to offer to today’s visitors.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon (yes, that Richard Nixon) signed into law an act of Congress designating Arches as a national park. In 1998, the park’s area was expanded by 3,140 acres to include Lost Spring Canyon, bringing the total to 119 square miles.
Sunrise and sunset are the best times to view the arches and the many monoliths, including Park Avenue. The sheer walls of Park Avenue reminded early visitors of buildings lining a big city street. Rising majestically, these geologic “skyscrapers” tell the story of three important rock layers. These layers began forming more than 150 million years ago as tidal flats, desert and beach deposits. Over time, more layers of rock, covered these deposits. Tremendous pressure from this rock compressed the buried sand into sandstone and cracked it. As erosion removed the overlying rock, the layers now exposed began to weather.
Within thepast 2 million years, erosion of the cracks in the Entrada has left vertical slabs like the rock wall in the picture on this page. These slabs, called fins, are the first step in arch formation.
Park Avenue Trail is an easy hike along a canyon floor, offering close-up views of massive fins, balanced rocks and lofty monoliths.
Wear comfortable footwear — hiking boots, cross trainers or good walking shoes — in the park. If you are going to see the many arches up close and personal, you will be hiking on some rugged trails and over beach-like sand. Delicate Arch, another of the park’s signature arches and one they predict could collapse at any time, is a rugged three-mile hike with an elevation gain of 480 feet. Rangers suggest you take at least one quart of water per person. Believe them. It’s a tough hike and summer temperatures can easily reach more than 100 degrees. It is hiked best and seen at sunset.
Arches’ wild and eclectic landscape is best viewed in the spring or fall when temperatures are mild. If you can stand the cold of winter, the intoxicating arches and monoliths glow white with snow.
Courthouse Towers, the Three Gossips, Devils Garden, Parade of Elephants, Tower of Babel and Sheep Rock all can be seen from the main park road.
Year-round activities abound inside and outside Arches. Hiking, photography, four-wheel-drive trips, wildlife watching and camping all can be done in any season. The park is open 24 hours a day, year-round and, except for Christmas Day — Dec. 25 — a park ranger is available during visitor center hours.
Arches National Park is a photographer’s dream and a place where you can spend hours or days contemplating nature’s wonderment.
Getting There
By Car: If you are traveling from the West, take I-70 east to the 191 south to the entrance of Arches. If you are coming from the East, take I-70 west to the 191 south to the entrance of Arches.
Where to Stay
Moab is a great little town with excellent accommodations and restaurants. Arches is only five miles north of downtown and Canyonlands National Park — Island in the Sky District— is just 32 miles away. The Colorado River flows through Moab and offers a multitude of outdoor experiences, including rafting.
For more information on Moab, go to www.moab.net. For more information about Arches National Park, go to www.ohranger.com/arches.
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