What draws us into the desert is the search for something intimate in the remote.     ~Edward Abbey~

As I mentioned in previous posts, we are in Moab for 3 nights to enjoy the two National Parks located at its doorstep – Arches and Canyonlands.  Our first foray took us into Arches – A: because it was the closest and B: because the weather hasn’t been cooperative and we were afraid the long range views of Canyonlands might be obscured by low clouds and rain.

We were in line to enter the park by 10:30 amazed that even in October we had a 15 minute wait to get through the gate.  To say the weather was dismal is an understatement – gray, cold at a steady 48 degrees, and rainy!  Nevertheless, we knew that it would still be breathtaking and frankly, the low clouds added an ethereal quality that would be missing on a bright sunshiny day.

President Hoover proclaimed Arches a national monument on April 12, 1929 and its status was changed to a national park in 1971.  It has the largest concentration of natural sandstone arches in the world sculpted over time by water, ice, and extreme temperatures.  It is amazing to see and I can only imagine that a geologist would be in hog heaven!

The drive is an out and back road that leads you to the rock formations and we spent a little over two hours here.  One could easily spend much longer exploring the trails that take you up on some of the rocks but the rain hampered that for us.  But the way I see it, this gives us a good reason to visit this way again!  Enjoy the pics, there is a bunch!!

Dramatic Sunset Back at the Campground