Arches National Park Moab, UT - May 10-11, 1999 Home Pictures Questions Links Books <- Back | Next ->

Arches National Park has over 2000 natural arches and bridges. While the park has little evidence of ancient Americans, we just couldn't resist taking a couple of days to explore this beautiful landscape. Maybe they hunted for food here, or perhaps they thought the arches were some spiritual symbols. We had been to Moab several times, and never visited one of the most popular natural sites in the country. Many photographers have captured beautiful pictures of this place, but they will never match the experience of hiking to Delicate Arch yourself, or taking in the wide panorama of this area.

Pictures

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Delicate Arch is the most photographed and most popular of the many arches, but there are dozens of beautiful views in Arches National Park. Utah by Ann Zwinger, David Muench (Photographer) Full of large full-color photgraphs of Utah's beautiful desert and mountain landscapes. Balanced Rock looks like a mushroom cloud from this angle with the sun behind it. Double Arch can be reached by a very easy hike from the Windows area, and is very well worth it. One of the arches is the highest in the entire park, and one of the widest (the closer one). North Window and South Window, from the west. Some people say these look like desert eyeglasses. We agree! Best Easy Day Hikes : Canyonlands & Arches (Falcon Guide) by Bill Schneider List DON'T STEP ON THE CRYPTOBIOTIC SOIL! Cryptobiotic soil is the black crusty stuff you see in the foreground. The prefix Crypt- comes from Greek (& Latin) meaning hidden. So, cryptobiotic soil is "hidden living soil." The black crust is the dried slime from algea. This soil is very delicate, but very important to the desert. It helps hold the sands together to slow erosion, which helps plants grow and that gives animals food and shelter. If you are in the desert and see cryptobiotic soil, don't step anywhere near it. Wolfe Ranch, on the trail to Delicate Arch, was established in the late 1800s by a Civil War veteran. John Wesley Wolfe operated the ranch with his family for about 20 years.

Questions & Answers	[ Top ]
How does an arch form? First, cracks form in the surface rock through earthquakes. This allows water and wind blown sand to get inbetween and erode the softer rock underneath the sandstone. After enough of the soft rock is gone, gravity will make some of what's left fall, leaving the harder rock above forming an arch. (drawings from the NPS official guide to the park)

Links	Related Field Trip Pages
Arches National Park - Official Park Service site Utah Guide - Arches National Park A pictoral guide to Arches, with some good descriptions Geology of Arches Some pictures and descriptions of how arches are formed

Resources Check these out from your local library, or buy them here. When you buy books here, you get the same great Amazon.com price, and help keep these pages going.	[ Top ]
Learn More! Find books about Natural Arches at Amazon.com