Today was glorious, and not only because of our exploration of Arches NP. We had a 10:00am entry permit (required) to enter the park), so we were able to sleep in a bit, have a leisurely breakfast, and not need to pack up the car for the next leg of the trip. I’m personally really liking the idea of a condo or B&B over motels (when you can find them) as it provides more visiting time and perhaps the potential to create your own meals vs eating out. Tonight is roast pork loin and roasted vegetables. And gelato.

But back to Arches—The day began with a short walk to Skyline Arch, impressive for many reasons not the least of which is a huge chunk of the arch that dislodged from the arch in 1940 and fell to the ground. It looks like it just fell, as you can tell:

We proceeded on to the Devil’s Garden area of Arches—the end of the road, literally—which offers several gorgeous hikes, all of which we did at least in part. We visited Pine Tree Arch, Tunnel Arch, Landscape Arch, and Navajo Arch. At that point, the trail became “primitive,” heading up a fairly steep sandstone fin to an area that would require some hand over hand scrambling. Discretion being the better part of valor, that’s where we turned around. Some images:

Final stop of the day was a visit to the Delicate Arch viewpoint, of which there are two—one that is about 100 feet of paved, flat access and the other which is about a mile (the way we did it) of some steep access up to a nice view across a valley to the iconic Arch. And that did it for our visit to Arches. Tomorrow, it’s off to Newspaper Rock State Historical Monument and Mesa Verde NP.