Our Last Days in Arches....

After our day of hiking Fiery Furnace, we decided to take it easy on Tuesday. We drove back to The Windows to hike the short trails around the arches located there.First stop--Turret Arch.

Then it was on to South Window Arch.

We followed the primitive trail behind North Window and around to Double Arch. At the foot of Double Arch was a group of students on a field trip. They had paints and paper for an art project.

After viewing Double Arch, we decided to drive into town for lunch.

 While in town, we did a little shopping before eating pizza at Zax.

That evening we drove to Skyline Arch just outside Devil's Garden to watch the sunset. As we waited for the sun to go below the horizon, we caught site of some never before seen petroglyphs!

Then the sun began to sink.

 It was a gorgeous sunset!

 The next day was our day to hike Delicate Arch.The trail climbs over 400 feet in elevation from the parking lot. The red rock you see behind Bob is part of the trail.

 This shot is looking back toward the parking lot.

 After you go over the rise, there is still more climbing!

 Delicate Arch is the arch on many of Utah's license plates.

 After resting and enjoying the view, it was time to head back down the trail.

 That afternoon, we enjoyed Happy Hour behind Sol.

 We only had 2 more days in the park. Our next hike was Tower Arch. It is located out a gravel road on the southwest side of the park.

 After you leave the parking lot, it is an uphill, rock scramble to the top of the ridge.

Then the hike pretty much levels out until you get close to the arch.

We hiked to Tower Arch in 2012, and we enjoyed it as much then as we did on this trip. It is one of the few hikes in Arches where there aren't a lot of people hiking with you.

 The rock formations are different everywhere you look. This was taken under the arch.

 The arch is so big, it is difficult to get it in one picture.

 This was taken with a flash, Bob looking out the arch.

 To get under the arch, you have to walk between 2 short fins, then climb some rocks.

 We enjoyed the hike and went back to Sol to plan our last adventure in Arches.

Our last day we decided to hike the primitive trail to see how far we were from the wash when we turned around on Sunday. No, we didn't take any pictures. However, we were surprised to find that the slippery ledge was the last obstacle on the primitive trail! If we had gone past that, we would have been in the wash leading to the parking lot! MAYBE next time we will be able to do the entire trail! As it was, we only missed about 75 feet of completing the loop!

Fiery Furnace--Day Three in Arches

To hike Fiery Furnace, you have to have a permit. Only 75 people are allowed to hike the area a day. During the summer months, a ranger leads the hike, but that ends October 1. We knew we wanted to hike the furnace so while we were at Ken's Lake, we went to Arches to purchase our permit--which included watching a video on the hike.

So off we went to hike Fiery Furnace. There are small brown arrows placed on the rocks to help you find the trail. Several places you are encouraged to go off trail just to explore. This is one of those spots...we followed a wash to a dead-end and found a pool of water from the rain earlier in the week.

 There was a lot of rock scrambling involved in this hike,

 Not to mention tight squeezes.

There were a lot of cool sights along the trail. And yes, the morning started off cool enough for jackets..

Most of the trail was going up, down, and over rocks.

 Not to mention, going between fins.

 Eventually, between hiking and the sun, we had to take our jackets off---they were too warm!

 At this point, we had to sit sideways on the ledge and put our feet on the opposite wall to skooch through the rocks.

 Then came another tight squeeze.

 Oops, time to go over another rock!

 Rest time and time to take in the views.

 Hmmm, could it be another tight squeeze?

I wonder which way the trail goes? Sometimes the arrows were difficult to find and you had to backtrack to find them.

 Here we go again!

 The trail was great and it was challenging! Bob and I both enjoyed hiking Fiery Furnace!

Hiking in Arches---Day 2

Sunday dawned windy and cool with a slight chance of rain in Arches. We decided to drive around to see some of the sites. We stopped at the parking area for Fiery Furnace--we had a permit to hike it on Monday. The trail goes through the red fins and it gets it name for the fiery red color when the sun shines on the fins.

Our next stop was the Upper Trail to view Delicate Arch. For some reason, we didn't take any pictures. Maybe it was because we knew we were going to hike the trail to Delicate Arch later in the week.


We continued on our drive to Garden of Eden just outside The Windows area.

 A lot of people don't stop to see this, but if you walk up the rocks, there is another arch visible that you can't see from the road.

Yes, I enjoy walking up the rocks to get a better view of the area.

 

As you can see from the pictures, the weather cleared up and we decided to go for a long hike! We went back to Sol and prepared to hike to Double O Arch! It is a long hike, but well worth the views you get of Arches!

 The first arch you see on the trail is Tunnel Arch.

 In the same area, is Pine Tree Arch. Guess how it got its name?

Landscape Arch was our next stop. It is the longest arch in the park. Bob gives you some perspective as to the size of the arch.

Then it was time for some rock scrambling. We had to climb the fin and walk along it to continue the trail. There is quite the drop-off on either side.

We enjoyed the views while we hiked.

Double O Arch had the sun shining through. The sun and clouds change the look of the park on any given day.

Now Bob and I are quick to change our plans....soooooo, we decided to hike the primitive trail back to the parking lot. It was not too bad until we got to the place we had to slide down a rock and then walk around a slippery ledge to get to the trail in the wash that leads back to the parking lot. Well, we made it down the slide to the logs that blocked the chasm.

And we stopped to watch people ahead of us try to maneuver around the slippery ledge. That is when we decided to return the way we came! It was just too scary watching people slip on that ledge! So, we had to crawl back up the sliding rock to head back to Double O Arch.

 Once again, we had to traverse the fin. It is quite the view going across the top of the fin!

Once we made it to the end of the fin, I celebrated! Going down was much easier than going up!

For a day that started out cloudy and yucky, it turned into a great day for a hike and we were EXHAUSTED when we got back to Sol. We had hiked over 7 miles!

Tomorrow--FIERY FURNACE!!