Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips. ~ Proverbs 27:2
Today was the final trail in Arches National Park. Just a short 11 ½ miles. We went how far?!? No wonder my legs were tired by the time we got home!
The weatherman has promised us another scorcher today, and we’ll be outside for most of it, so when we started out, we left in our hot-day clothes. But let me tell you what! It was only 57⁰ when we left home, and I decided (wisely in the end) not to wear a jacket of any kind. It wasn’t too bad in the sun, but a chunk of our hike in the beginning was not only in the shade, but the wind was blowing! I was freezing! Hiking briskly may have gotten us there quicker, but it didn’t help warm me up. I had my hands fisted at my sides, and breathed through my clenched teeth a lot for the first mile or so.
It was good we left home before 7am, because by the time we finished up around 12:30pm, it was blazing hot. And we passed some people who were just starting. They must be made of sterner stuff. I wouldn’t’ve survived.
Still, it was a great hike, and included some of just about everything – – vistas, arches, sand, flat-land, rock climbing, small trees, and critters! Several of them!
So whadaya say? Shall we get started?
Here’s where we’re headed today, except for Tunnel and Pine Arches because we did those the other day.Into the cold we go!This was probably the coldest part because the wind was whipping through. Shiver . . . .You can only imagine how huge this arch is in person!Wow! How scary for those underneath it at the time! Can you imagine?!?Getting closer.From the information on the board, it seems you used to be able to get up underneath it if you wanted. You can bet we woulda been there! Now they keep you a good distance away.There was some discussion at this point about where the trail actually went.We found our way eventually, but only by following other’s footprints.Look at that! An actual tree! : )This is Partition Arch.We had seen this deer on our way to Partition, but she wasn’t interested in having her picture taken. Seems she’s changed her mind. At least for a moment. : )In search of the Double O Arch.Really?!? We have to scale that rock?!? Yep. All the way to the top.Made it. Now what?Oh, come on!Fine! Here I go!Looking to where we came from.Turn back around and try to figure out where the trail goes from here, because it looks like it stops at the end of this rock.We managed to get down from up here without any trouble.This was a nice overlook, but the Black Arch was so far away there was no way to take a picture.Is that considered an arch or a window?There’s the Double O! And now we know how it got it’s name! Wow!The trail heads over there somehow.Blaine walked through the arch, looking to see if there was some way to get to the top one, but there wasn’t. But note where the arrow is pointing. We’ll be sitting over there soon. And what an exciting time we had!Blaine took a few pictures before he came back and invited me to follow him.This arch is very nice from the front, but it’s spectacular from the back!
And now for the exciting part! We plopped down on that rock I showed you for our mid-morning snack of a shared banana and some trail mix. We noticed that once all the people left, a squirrel was roaming about around the arch, but as soon as we opened our trail mix bag, guess who came calling?
Here he comes, in stealth mode!Blaine tossed a peanut half we had dropped, and once he’d finished that . . . .. . . . he was suddenly right in front of us! Soooo cute!And exceedingly friendly!We thoroughly enjoyed the pleasure of his company. But all good things must come to an end. We had a trail to finish before the sun melts us away.That’s our next destination, the Dark Angel as seen from the Double O.One last picture before we head on over.Looking back to the Double O.Look how huge this rock is!
We never found the hidden petroglyphs that were supposed to be somewhere around the Dark Angel. We looked for a long, long time, crawling over and around rocks and walking between stone walls. Nada. ☹
Okay. We give up. We have to move on. : (These two Ravens seemed to be a couple. They were actually cooing softly to one another. Awwww . . . .You’ll never find it unless you zoom in and start a grid search, but I spotted something on that wall as we were walking by . . . . . . a heart! What in the world?!? Pretty cool!I don’t see it . . . “Hey, Terri! Turn around! It’s over here!”Heading back to the main trail.A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. It’s not so simple for me to step over these things. : )There’s more snow up in the La Sal mountains now! That just happened in the past day or two!Well, this was fun . . . Nope. Can’t walk it.Time to sit and scoot. Actually it’s more like a crab walk. : )Yeah. There’s a cairn there, but we also turn here. Whew!And once we turned, look where we’re headed!Carefully!Made it through the first part . . . Ta da!!Now it’s your turn!
Piece of cake for him. : )Yeah. This is our trail now. lolAnd now we’re walking through hot sand.But just look how beautifully the wind has sculpted some of it!Almost back . . . We came upon this woman with a whining infant on her back. At least she had it under an umbrella. I don’t know how far they walked, but as we passed by, she looked very hot and sweaty, so I can just imagine how the baby felt.As we neared the parking lot, after our loop portion was complete, we ran into more and more people.
What a terrific way to spend a morning!
We ate our lunch in the parking lot, inside the Jeep again, then headed for home and air conditioning.
