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Published: April 24th 2013
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Hello again all - its Wednesday today. (I should be doing pilates and badminton with the girls - hope you all had a good game.)
I am 2 days behind so I better catch up - and have hundreds of fotos already so it's a bit of a job to whittle them down - but I will.
Sunday Pat and I set off for a 2 day trip to Utah to visit Arches and Canyonlands National Parks near Moab. It's not quite quid pro quo that I drove him and Velma around in Sussex and to Canterbury when they stayed with me and he is driving me a 540 mile round trip ---I got the best part of the bargain I think.
All the way there I am saying "Wow wow wow "- declaring my amazement at the scenery - I am sure Pat is fed up with the same old comments. And I loved the yellow warning sign by the side of the road - I have seen signs for cattle, deer, cassowary birds, kangaroos and camels but never one that said EAGLES ON THE ROAD!
And then we got to the entrance to Arches .....
I was stunned and amazed and wowed by all the wonderful rock formations , the colours against the bright blue sky - we took a scenic road round the park - stopping off at various points and taking a few hikes...so it took all day. Some of the hikes to Arches were pretty easy walks and the tracks are good and well marked- all helps to keep folks from tramping around all over the delicately balanced desert soils and destroying the flora. In addition to the fab rock shapes I loved the twisted trunks and branches of the scrub oaks - and driftwood lying about.
Our major hike was to Delicate Arch - on the sign for the track it said 1.5 miles to Upper View Delicate Arch- so we thought - easy peasy only an hour to get there and back !!!! No way - I should have read the blurb in the Arches Info sheet which said " strenuous walk over slick rock climbing steadily for 1 mile with exposure to heights, follow the rock cairns " at the top of this smooth rounded rock face there was more trail and a rocky ledge ( great views
looking down!!!) before you arrived at a ledge above Delicate Arch. At the bottem of the trail I had looked up at this rocky face and saw all these dots moving about and said to Pat - surely we don't have to go up there - maybe they are just folk wandering about!!! Little did I know. However the trek was worth it to be up there on top of the mesa looking down at Delicate Arch and now I know what treking 1 mile up over slick rock feels like.
After more photos we turned back and trooped down - and that was bad enough... but we made it and in 2 hours. And also I know to read all the info first - there was a shorter "lower viewpoint 15 mins" - bit I bet that wasn't nearly so exciting. And we weren't finished for the day - we had another area to explore with a another hike to see Landscape Arch - now a very thin long arch ispan since lots of it came down about 10 years ago.... warning signs tell you what to do if you heard "popping and rumbling sounds" and rock was
ready to fall again - BLIMEY - I survived the Christchurch earthquake - I don't want any more scares like that!!
A drive into Moab to our motel and straight away we need a beer and some grub - so off we went to be fed and watered - and just about still standing I was off to bed - the hot tub beckoned but I was too knackered.
So all in all it was a fantastic day and it's defo one of those places everyone should go - there are about 2000 arches in the park but we only saw a few of the most magnificent ones.
Here are the fotos from Arches and I will put the Canyonlands day on another blog in case you get bored.
love to all. xx
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Down the lonesome highway
Beauty around every corner. You're getting closer to us and we look forward to meeting you. Wish you had a picture of the sign! Yes, wow, wow, wow is all that needs to be said.