ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, UTAH

July 27^th:  Today was only a four hour drive to Arches National Park in Moab, Utah.  I knew little of this park when I started out and perhaps one of the lesser known or visited parks because of its remote location.  What a wonderful surprise!  The red rocks with oddly shaped outcroppings and dry, desert scenery were stunning.  The temperature reached 104 but did not feel that hot.  No humidity.  It occasionally sprinkled but evaporated as fast as it fell. 

Water, ice, extreme temperatures, and underground salt movement are responsible for the sculptured rock scenery of Arches National Park.  It is difficult to imagine such violent forces or the 100 million years of erosion that created this land boasting one of the world’s greatest densities of natural arches – over 2,000.  The arches co-exist with towering spires, pinnacles and balanced rocks perched atop seemingly inadequate bases.

The underground salt bed is the most significant contributor to the eroded monoliths.  Thousands of feet thick in places, this salt bed was deposited across the Colorado plateau 300 million years ago when a sea flowed into the region and eventually evaporated.

   

 

  

Back at our new park site, Molly had green grass under her belly for the first time in a long time and gnawed contently on a bone.  I’m going to bed soon, feeling tired. 

It was a long night, sleep eluding me for the most part.  At first I was frustrated by my sleeplessness but was soon guided outside my trailer into the moonlight and looked upward into the magic of clear skies, twinkling stars and a full moon emitting light than danced off the sandstone arches in the distance.  I sat there for some time pondering prehistoric inhabitants and, in particular, the lives of Native Americans who were inextricably tied to the desert landscape and depended on the vagaries of Mother Nature for their survival.  They had to understand every nuance of the environment and utilize this knowledge to acquire the food, water, and shelter necessary to live.  I believe the Native Americans studied this same celestial display every night, and knowing less than we do today about its science, directing their survival by a spiritual guide to its secrets – just as we do today with space ships and radio sound waves. 

    

July 28^th:   In spite of only a few hours of sleep, I felt rested and ready to go.  We have a long drive to Provo, UT.  I settled into a rhythm of the open road and my own thoughts while Molly napped.  She figured I could not possibly get lost on a straight road.  The desert scenes today are majestic compared to the barren desert we would travel tomorrow.  I suppose our camp site in Provo, UT was nice but I slept through it.