Arches Part 1: Strange Planet
Moab is a town for people who love to have fun outdoors. It’s surrounded by huge sandstone rock formations, and you can see the snow-covered La Sal Mountains in the distance. It’s just minutes from two national parks (Arches and Canyonlands) and a state park (Dead Horse Point). You can come to Moab to hike, bike, camp, climb, off-road, raft, and cross-country ski. And then you can go to Main Street for cool restaurants and shops. After tiny little Page and Panguitch, bustling Moab felt like the big city.
We had just one full day in Moab, and the activity of choice was hiking in Arches National Park. It was a sunny, cool morning - a day made for a convertible - so we drove with the top down (Steve likes to call it “driving topless”).
Driving into Arches was like what I imagine it might feel to land on Mars. The reddish-orange rock formations were otherworldly. There were towers and fins and petrified dunes. Although the park has over 2,000 natural stone arches (the largest collection in the world), we could glimpse only one arch from the road. We grew eager to go out on foot to see more.
Oh, we did stop at the Visitor Center, which had exhibits about the history, geology, and ecology of the park. My favorite park denizen was the grasshopper mouse. Talk about an intrepid eater! “Though she be but little she is fierce.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
