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Published: July 31st 2018
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Red Hued Delicate Geological Rock Formations; For this Fall Break 2017, I decided to take off a few states from my list of 50 States of the United States. This also gave me the opportunity to tick off 3 National Parks from the 59 recognized Parks in the United States. Driving from Arizona - Utah - Idaho - Montana - Washington - Oregon - California and back to Arizona. Talk of the great American road trips.
Wilson Arch: When we entered Utah, we made a stop at Wilsons Arch; Natural Sandstone Arch in Southern Utah.Our drive to Salt Lake City from Flagstaff, AZ was going to be rather long and monotonous, so we decided to make a stop at Arches National Park, seeing as it was already on my Bucket list as well as the 59 recognized national parks in the US, that, I'm slowing ticking off. Our first attraction down US-191, Moab, happened to be this giant arch, also known as Wilson's arch even thought its legal name is just Wilson Arch. Standing at over 90 feet tall, it is eye catching and quite inspiring once one climbs up to its bottom from the view point off the
highway. Named after a local pioneer named Joe Wilson, the entrada sandstone is a testament to nature's beauty. Over time superficial cracks, joints, and folds of these layers were saturated with water. Ice formed in the fissures, melted under extreme desert heat, and winds cleaned out the loose particles creating smooth and almost superficial looking surface on all sides of the rock.
Arches National Park: Arches National Park is one of 59 recognized Federal Parks in the United States. Since I have been trying to cover all 59 parks in the past 10 years, I was excited when, during our fall break road trip, we were able to stop by and see this highly reviewed park. In my case, it became a fascination since I watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1999 when I first relocated to the US. The scenes were so captivating that I, found myself wondering if I would ever see the land, let a lone hike it. Well, that happened and I'm a happy camper.
The Balanced Rock was closed off for some reason, I did not pay attention to the details; I imagine it was for road repairs. We however
saw the main formations including Double Arch, Delicate Arch, Landscape Arch. Archaeological record puts it at the top of the worlds largest concentration of natural sandstone arches, an archaeologists candy store of sorts. It did seem to me that the children who visited with their parents were having more fun at the park than their adult parents. The formations are truly impressive and eye catching. For a landscape with barely any green, it sure pulls the eye.
We did the 2 hour scenic drive and made stops at the recommended view points. Naturally the more exciting way to see the park is on foot, we hiked to double arch after hiking landscape arch. Both were great to see.
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