Pictured is Delicate Arch, if it looks familiar, it's because it's on the Utah license plate. And it's the most famous of the 2,000 sandstone arches in Arches National Park, the final national park of this series. We didn't have time for Canyonlands. Another time, perhaps. To get to that arch, we hiked over a mile and a half--it was a steep climb. And it's easy to get lost, but piles of stones are placed on pathway as markers. It's a stretch to call it a trail, because much of the surface is solid rock.
Over on the right is that same arch from about a mile away from a park road. It doesn't seem so big, does it? But it's 52 feet high. When you look at that picture, you probably understand why Delicate Arch was colloquially known by cowboys as "schoolmarm's breeches" and "cowboy's chaps."
Besides the license plate, the arch appeared on the Utah 1996 centennial stamp. The relay carrying the 2002 Winter Olympics torch passed under the it.
Arches are formed when softer rock is worn away by erosion. The harder rock, in this case the perhaps incorrectly-named Delicate Arch, remains. For a while that is. Erosion will wear away the arch too. Nature always wins.
Next: Petroglyphs
A final look at Capitol Reef
Butch Cassidy
Chimney rocks
Fruita
Capitol Reef National Park
The controversial Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
A final look at Bryce
Different scenes of Bryce Canyon
"Hell of a place," Bryce Canyon
Red Canyon
Cedar Breaks
Taylor Creek Trail
Kolob Canyons
The geology of Zion National Park
Overview of Zion National
Moqui Cave
Arizona's White Mesa and roadside stands
The dogs of Kayenta
Monument Valley at sunrise
Monument Valley at sunset
The road to Monument Valley
The monument is closed and in the wrong spot
More of Mesa Verde National Park
Mesa Verde National Park and the Ancients
Gerald R. Ford Memorial Highway
Flatlanders battle the Rocky Mountains and a car gets altitude sickness
Buffalo Bill's gravesite
Buffalo Bill's Scout's Rest Ranch
My rattlesnake sighting
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