The sun was beginning to rise as we made our way to Landscape Arch. Just before the arch we ran into a herd of surprised mule deer. The light was poor because of all the low clouds, so we continued towards more distant arches on a fun trail through the sandstone formations. We passed this melted ice cream... I mean eroded sandstone on the way to Partition Arch:
After exploring Navajo Arch and scrambling on the nearby rock, we continued on the trail to Double O Arch.
The sunlight had finally broken through the clouds when we got to the Double O, cleverly named for the two arches on top each other. A closeup view of bottom arch:
We decided to skip the side trail to Dark Angel spire, and continued on the 'primitive trail' towards Private Arch. The primitive trail was even more fun than the civilized one!! It wound its way through towering sandstone fins, over sections of slickrock, and through some dry washes. Did I mention we hadn't seen anyone all morning except for a couple of photographers near Landscape Arch? We passed a number of flowering cacti on the hike:
After a little while, we took the side trail to Private Arch:
Private Arch is deep inside a labyrinth of sandstone fins, and I imagine it gets its name from the remote location and the fact that you can't see it until you're practically right next to it. After exploring it from all angles, we returned to the primitive loop and passed some more photogenic cacti:
This lizard briefly posed for a photo before scurrying away:
As we got near Landscape Arch, we finally ran into some other hikers. Once at the arch, my ultrawide lens came in handy to frame the 290 foot long span. This is probably the second most iconic arch after Delicate Arch. Since 1991, a number of slabs have fallen from the arch making it thinner and thinner. Of the visible arches in the park, I imagine this one will collapse in spectacular fashion first.
Done with our morning hike, we ate a late breakfast (or early lunch) before driving to the Double Arch.
The Double Arch maybe the most impressive in the park. An awesome amphitheater has formed below the two arches; it's a perfect place to admire the contradiction that is the arch. It's seemingly massive and robust, but also delicate and airy. Like a number of other people, we climbed into the window briefly to admire the view in the other direction:
On the way back, we realized we had seen most of Arches in a 24-hour period. While there is definitely backcountry we didn't explore, and you could climb through the areas of sandstone fins for quite along time, we had seen almost all the major sights and hiked the major trails. We stopped by the Courthouse Towers on our way out of the park:
After scoping the Three Gossips, Sheep Rock, and then Park Avenue, we found ourselves looking for something else to do.
We decided to go for a drive into the La Sal Mountains. On the way out of Moab we passed some range beef in the road, and then spotted this cactus after pulling over to take some photos:
We were driving on the La Sal Loop, a 60 mile route from south of Moab to the Colorado River east of town. Hungry again, we drove up a narrow twisting road to the empty Oowah Lake campground, looking for a place to eat. After a little picnic, we took a short steep hike to Clarks Lake. Right before the lake, we saw a large herd of elk that quickly vanished into the forest. I think this was the first time I've ever seen elk in broad daylight that weren't in a National Park!
After our little excursion to 9000 feet, we drove on under increasingly cloudy skies. In a perfect confluence of fashion and place, we passed the Hazzard County Trail while I was wearing my Hazzard County Jail t-shirt:
After that high point, we descended back to the Colorado River under stormy skies. The canyon felt menacing and foreboding now as the storms made everything dark and dreary.
After an incredibly long wait for the water to boil (thanks to a merciless wind), we ate our second mediocre dinner in the past two nights. We would travel to Flagstaff tomorrow before visiting the Grand Canyon on Wednesday.
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