The morning began with getting going from camp. I had a great night that did not involve being tightly cocooned in my down sleeping bag to keep from freezing solid. It seemed down right nice out. Chilly, but nice. I got out and there was a bit of snow on the tent. The weather here is just "unfiguroutable"!
The morning light is always nice for some photos so I stopped to capture some of the rock formations on the park road. This lead to thinking perhaps I should go see if the Delicate Arch area is empty. It was!
I would have it all to myself and with good light.
The trail starts out quite typically. A good surface for many visitors to stroll over. Then it heads up and over a large expanse of tilted slickrock.
Again the wind! There is nothing here to block it. It is cold. We are talking some definite wind chill here. Fortunately, I was well prepared. I had my Red Patagonia Wind Blocker fuzzy jacket on. Perfect!
There are great views of the main park road as you climb up the slickrock. Flowers are hidden under rocks and larger junipers out of the wind. The trail is marked with many rock cairns along the way.
The trail leads you around the back of a large fin. For about a hundred yards the trail is on a small ledge above a large drop off. Note the use of the words "small" and "large". I still amazes me that the general public is encouraged to hike on these trails.
As you come around the end of the large fin on the skinny ledge trail, the Delicate Arch presents itself rather dramatically. It is perched in a large bowl of red sandstone. This in turn leads down a large chasm below a cliff opposite the arch. This is a huge area. I'm thinking the football stadium at the UofM would be dropped in easily.
The clouds had filled in rather disappointingly as I was hiking up the slickrock. At that point I was committed to the hike. While I was have fun walking around the arch and smearing up and down the sides of the bowl, the sun came out!
I was able to get some good shots from near the arch and some across the bowl up on the opposite ridge. In one of the shots there is another hiker to give some scale.
I took an alternate route back down which uses some of the slickrock and fins behind the bowl ridge to get back to the main trail. This was quite enjoyable.
The final treat of the hike is seeing some ancient drawings from the natives that used to inhabit this area. It would appear they had a small "Mickey" in their group also.
I would like to thank the Moab Public Library for the wifi connection and their facility. It is a truly beautiful facility, nicely designed. The library has an extensive collection of books and the largest free access computer system, to include wireless and wired available computers I have seen anywhere. I hope Grand Haven's new library can match this at the least.
I have shopping to be done, and then possible another hike. It is really cold and windy here today. As I have been in the library working on this, the sky is clouded over.
In the morning I have to break camp and head to Phoenix, AZ. I think it is about 500 miles and there are several things to see on the way, natural bridges, roads to drive, and best of all Monument Vally. (John Ford and the Duke made this famous)
I meet Herself (Hotness), and Cat Meow (otherwise know as the Speedster) on Friday evening after the Phoenix Suns basketball game with my brother. Then the adventures will really begin! Woo Hoo!
No comments:
Post a Comment