We were back in Arches National Park by 8 am,, and needed to wait in line to get into the park, for about 10 minutes. We planned to do the 3 mile round trip hike up to the Delicate Arch, so drove directly over to that section of the park. By the time we got there, at 8:30am, the parking lot was full. But the attendant said to just circle around the lot, as all of the sunrise hikers were just returning and leaving. And that is what we did.
No one mentioned that this hike was all uphill, and that you needed to go on a narrow ledge around a big mountain in order to get to the Arch. It's a good thing, too, because even though this was a very challenging hike for Peter and myself, it was definitely worth it. And in reality, the narrow ledge was slanted toward the mountain and not towards the chasm on the other side. And, in reality, there were some level areas in the hike.
Once we got to the top, where the Arch was, there were lots of people sitting and milling around. The view of the surrounding area was great, the view of the Arch was spectacular. There was, however, the fact that the Arch was located on the other side of a steep bowl of rock. The center of the bowl plunged at a continuous slant to the base of the mountain. Regardless, many of the folks were walking along the top edge of the bowl, in order to get over to the Arch and have their photos taken of them standing under the Arch. Peter and I chose not to make that final crossing. We were close enough, and had a great view. It felt really good to have made that hike--there and back. The return trip was almost worse that the ascent, as it was all down hill and hard on the knees.
On the way back out of the park, we stopped again at the Park Avenue viewpoint. Still a very impressive view.
Claire had recommended the Moab Brewery, so we went there for lunch. Good veggie burgers and beer. We spent the remainder of the afternoon in the cool library. Nice day.
Delicate Arch hike photos:
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