roadtrip 2019     

Arches National Park is just off the highway about 15 minutes north of Moab, Utah. Moab appears to have the highest concentration of Jeep Wranglers per square inch in the Cosmos, and one of the most heavily-visited parks. There is, at times, a several-hour wait in line (two lanes) to get to the entrance station, and some of the parking lots for the trails leading to the arch formations, despite being huge, are full and overflowing down the sides of the road where signs say "no parking." The park service is aware of the problem and"working on it." The locals are unhappy because they cannot get into the park on their doorstep. Most would favor a big lot at the park entrance with shuttle-only service into the park as they have at Zion National Park, but the park service says that is not going to happen. Again, I am not sure what the answer is... there are just too many of us and these natural areas cannot handle the traffic they are getting let alone any more. And we visited in June; the peak season is October through May.

Turret Arch is part of a trio of the more famous arches in the park: North Window, South Window, and Turret Arch.

Not sure how I got this shot with all the people there... oh, now I remember! I pointed the camera up!

How does that rock stay wedged up there? Looks small, but the arch is huge and that rock is big.

The trail does not lead right up to the arch, which makes a big difference. A big chunk of rock fell out of the left side of the arch in 1940, making the arch itself roughly twice the size it had been. The current span is 71 feet. These are huge structures that are changing all the time. Mostly, the changes are imperceptibly slow, but sometimes they are suden and dramatic. Just a reflection of life itself.

Lots of these.

The trail to this one was a bit of an uphill trek.

Text and images copyright 2018 Thomas D'Alessio and Jocelyn Boor