Arches National Park, Utah

Delicate arch at sunset
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Archie was very happy to go to his own national park, especially after we had visited Stanley Park in Vancouver. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon to take a hike up to Delicate Arch (the unofficial symbol of Utah) and see the sun setting over it before checking into Redstone Inn, Moab.

Great in theory but  actually the trip was fraught with problems; the hike was only about 3 miles in total but it was all steeply uphill over rock and as the sun dipped lower we got completely lost in the rock crevices. Eventually we found the trail again and joined about 50 other people, perched at the edge of the red rock basin surrounding the arch. There was an older couple sitting behind us eating granola bars (and farting effusively), lots of geeky blokes with high end cameras and tripods, and a sprinkling of chilly looking Australian tourists. Unfortunately the sunset was marred by low clouds on the horizon (it had been clear and sunny all day) and the whole thing was rather disappointing.

Walking back from Delicate Arch
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Next day we returned to do a longer, but happily more fruitful, hike. We saw lots of Arches, including Landscape Arch (confusingly, this is the most delicate arch as part of it collapsed in 1991), Wall Arch, Partition Arch and Navajo Arch from which we scrambled up some rocks on the advice of another hiker and saw the most amazing view out over the park. We have been really lucky with the weather on our journey so far and today was no exception, it was a beautiful clear sunny crisp day. After a picnic next to Windows Arch we are heading off to Bluff, our next destination, where we are due to meet our friends Elodie & Charlie for the next part of our trip.