Summer Ramblings - Arches National Park Day 2

There was a lot to see in Arches National Park that we just didn't have the time or energy for on our first day in town. So the next morning we headed back there. We had invested in Senior Passes for the National Parks, and that small investment has really paid off (only one per car needed, but the pass does require photo ID when presented; it is a lifetime pass, cost $10). The Senior Pass makes it easy to go to all the parks we want to go to, and as many times as we want.

The first thing we did was to let Harry walk the entire path through Park Avenue. It took him a long time to do that, mostly because he was taking video of everything, including some "tide pools" that had little brine shrimp, or something like that in them. While he was doing that walk, I had the opportunity to study the three gossips more closely, and read the signs which alerted me to the presence of the fallen arch. After that we headed for the Devil's Garden, the one major thing we had not seen the previous day. At the entrance a park ranger was talking about the four kinds of sandstone present in the park. The day was hot but we had a goal of reaching the landscape arch. The last photo in the series shows us in front of that arch. We saw a number of others along the way, and also found the juniper trees quite interesting. Apparently they will let parts of themselves die to preserve the rest of the tree. Many of them were obviously very old. It was very hot and there was virtually no shade, but the walk was worth it. We understand that there are other arches further on that are worth seeing, so we'll try to go back when it's a little cooler, since it was not the easiest hike - there was plenty of uphill path to negotiate.

By the time we finished with the Devil's Garden, we were tired, so we went into Moab to have lunch. We chose Denny's, which turned out to be short-staffed, so service was very slow. But we emerged well fed and refreshed, ready for our afternoon trip to Canyonlands.