Postcard from The Arches

The Journey Continues

The end of my journey around the Western United States was fast approaching. It was very late November…the weather is getting colder and snow was in the immediate forecast. It was about to the time I would have to head south to southern Arizona, and, more importantly, find a place to live and put down roots. And, Thanksgiving was just ahead. But, I wanted another day or two in The Arches before I left.

The Arches National Park is right up there among my favorite National Parks. I spent days wandering around from place to place and hiking on its many trails. There are over 2,000 arches inside the park, and although I couldn’t get to them all, I photographed many of them. In a few years, I would come back here and do more photography. But that was in the future.

For now, my goal was to enjoy my final days on the road and keep my shutter clicking away. Of course, every photographer knows that the best light of the day is almost always sunrise and sunset. So I would park myself in certain places at those times and hope I would get lucky with the light and the sky. Being at a great spot at sunset doesn’t always mean one will get a great shot.

However, on this one late afternoon, I got very luck with the light and the sky and got a great picture of Balanced Rock, as you can see from above. I had been at this very spot a couple of other evenings and got less-than-spectacular results. But this night offered an incredible sunset.  

On my final night, I got a hotel room in Moab to clean up and get a good nights rest before leaving for Yuma to spend Thanksgiving with my son. It was going to snow in Moab on Thanksgiving, so it was a fortuitist time to go. This year, Thanksgiving was late, on the 28th. I almost hated to leave, but it was time to find a new place to live and put down some roots. I have always had a place to call home, at least up until these months on the road. And I was feeling the need to get going on a new part of my life.

When I first started this trip, I had Tucson as my final destination. I visited the city very early in the year and liked what I saw. It felt good to me. But, I was always wide open for any other place I might find along the way. I never found one. I really liked St. George, Utah and thought about it. But I decided I would not feel comfortable in Utah. So, in the end, I stuck with my original choice.

It was a bittersweet journey from Moab to Yuma…a long drive, to say the least. I had a great time living out of my van and seeing all these new places. I had a lot of time to think and prepare for my new life as a single man in a whole new town. Frankly, I was excited about it…no fear at all. After all, I love seeing new places and Tucson was a new place to see and discover.

After Thanksgiving, I headed east towards Tucson. On my first day here, I found the almost perfect place for me to live and have been here for 6.5 years. But in three weeks, I will be moving to a new place. I am quite excited about it. I will not miss this place as the new management has driven me out. For 5.5 years, this was a great place to live. But now, all my old friends who took care of this place are gone…and the new people are slowly letting this place go to hell. But that is another story and I will happily leave this place in just a couple of weeks.

Anyway, when I found this place I was not allowed to move in for 2 weeks as they wanted that time to prepare it for me. So my life in the van was not quite over. For those two weeks, I lived in a very nice campground just off the Mt. Lemmon Highway. It was actually one of the best campgrounds I had on the whole trip. On most days, I would have coffee at my camp table, then head down the mountain to Eastern Tucson to eat breakfast and use the Internet. I also took the time to explore Tucson.

I thought sure when I came here I would find a place on the east side…but it turns out my new place was on the far west side of Tucson, up in the hills above the town. After living here a short time, I was glad I chose this side. Far fewer people and traffic up here. Lots of open space with walking trails in the desert and some great views. In fact my new place is only a couple of miles from here and is also located in the hills above the town. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Last week, I wrote about Canyonlands and offered you a Web page that featured my best photos from that National Park. This time, I am doing the same thing. I just posted a brand new page on my Website that offers the best photos from the Arches. I would be honored if you take a look at them and let me know what you think. 

Postcard from Island in the Sky

The journey from Ephrata, WA to a new home in Tucson, AZ was coming to a close…not because I want the journey to end, but rather because Winter was closing in fast and I was high on the Colorado Plateau. I’ve been on the road for a couple of months, living out of my van (by choice) and seeing news sites on a daily basis.

While camped out at the Arches, I was very near to another National Park…the Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands National Park. If you have been following this trip, you know I spent a few days in the Needles section of the park. By road, it is quite a distance from the Needles to Island in the Sky. The entrance to the latter is just up the road from the Arches, so one fine morning, long before sunset, I headed into Island in the Sky.

First, I should explain how this part of Canyonlands fits into the whole. The park is quite large, over 527 square miles. Most of it sits down in Canyons. However, Island in the Sky sits high above the rest of the park, and is a broad and level mesa to the in the north part of the park. It sits between Colorado and Green rivers. It could easily be described as a peninsula that sticks out into the main body of the park. It is the smallest section of the park, yet receives the highest number of visitors to Canyonlands…about 60%. Probably because of its close proximity to Moab, UT and The Arches.

While it is very nice, it is not as interesting as the rest of the park, although the views can be magnificent. From the southern end of the peninsula, one can see much of the park, including The Needles. Earlier, when I was in the Needles, I could easily see the peninsula that is Island in the Sky.

The reason I left so early in the morning on this day was to visit one of the park’s most famous sites, Mesa Arch, as seen in the photo above. Seasoned travelers and photographers know that when the sun rises, it lights up the inside of the arch and it positively glows a bright orange…but only for a very short time. There are no photographic tricks in this photo, this is how it looks on many a morning.

Now, I have a confession to make. This photo was not taken on the morning I first visited the park. I took it a couple of years later on another trip. The reason…on my first visit, the rising sun was behind clouds and there was no glow. Although I took some pictures, I could not bring myself to show them here. I wanted you to see Mesa Arch in all its glory.

To get to Mesa Arch, one has to park and hike about 1/3 of a mile from the parking lot to the arch. You should arrive before the sun comes up to set up your cameras. If you do this, you will no doubt find other photo fiends already there and set up, ready for sunrise. On this first visit, there were some Japanese photographers there. One of them told me they were headed back to Japan the very next day. I felt bad for them when the sun came up behind clouds. Like me,they did not get the photo they wanted.

I spent the rest of this day wandering around the Island checking out the views. There is very little to get excited about on top of the peninsula, but the views are great. The best view of them all, besides Mesa Arch, is the Green River Overlook, not far from where the Green River runs into the Colorado River. Sadly, the light this whole day was not very good and my photos did not turn out well. On my second visit, I not only captured Mesa Arch at sunrise, but also the Green River Overlook at sunset.

To see more photos from Canyonlands, please check out my brand new Web page on the park. I have just started working on a new Web site and this is actually the first page I created that is up on line. Many more to come…and if you find a few errors here or there or something that seems out of place on the links, just ignore it. All it means is that I have not completed the new pages for that section.

This first day on Island in the Sky was enjoyable, but soon I headed down to the main highway, then up into the Arches were I was camped. The weather forecast was not looking good…the first snow of the season was not far off. So I had to make the most of my time here before heading south to lower elevations an my new life. But I was not quite ready to leave yet.

More to come…

Postcard from the Arches

The Journey Continues…

After three great days at the Needles in Canyonlands National Park, I took the 34 mile drive out of the canyons to connect with Utah Highway 191…then north towards Moab. My goal was to visit The Arches National Park, a park of immense natural beauty that I had only seen in pictures. I had looked forward to this visit for a long time…and I was not disappointed.

The entrance to the Park lies just beyond Moab. I stopped first at the visitor’s center just beyond the entrance to get the lay of the land, so to speak. Just beyond the entrance, the road into the park takes you up and up and up, over 1,000 feet, into the main park. Immediately, one starts seeing magnificent vistas with towering walls, soaring pinnacles, massive fins and giant balanced rocks. And of course, there are arches...well over 2,000 of them if you can believe that. It is truly a red rock wonderland.

On my first day, I drove the length of the park road, all the way to the end. There lies the entrance to Devil’s Garden, and, the park’s one and only campground. I staked my claim to a great campsite, then headed back down the road to see what I could see this first day. What I saw took my breath away. I saw many arches visible from the road. There were also many side roads that took me to other sites like the one pictured here. This is one of the parks most famous sites, Double Arch. All around me were massive rock formations and more arches. One of the most amazing places on the planet!

Without getting into great detail, arches are formed by a combination of forces, mostly water, ice and gravity. Wind plays little or no part. Water erodes the sandstone slowly, breaking down the molecular structure of the sandstone...ice expands and contracts inside the rock, weakening it even further, and gravity brings down portions of the rock where the molecular bonds have been weakened beyond the ability of the rock to hold it together. As the park only gets 8"-10" of rain per year, this is obviously a very slow process.

Arches take a long, long time to form…thousands of years at the least. They are born, then form, then, eventually die. For the process of arch creation is relentless. Eventually the arch is weakened enough by the process that parts start falling off. Then, one day, it just collapses and is no more. A couple of months before I took this photo, the famous Wall Arch collapsed. One day it was there, the next day it was gone. Since 1977, 43 arches have collapsed. Parts of the very famous Landscape Arch fell off and were captured on a video camera by a tourist who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Everywhere in the park you can see remnants of great giant arches that are gone.

I spent a number of days in the park visiting all the sites that I could get to by car. One day I took a ranger-led hike through the Fiery Furnace, a labyrinth of canyons that one can easily get lost in, which is why I went with a ranger. The place is badly named as it is one of the coolest spot in the park on hot summer days. I also took a long walk by myself through the Devil’s Garden, all the way to Landscape Arch and other interesting arches and rock formations. Well worth the hike.

As for photography, you can imagine I took a ton of photos. My photographic guide book told me where the best places were to photograph some of the sites and whether it was best at sunrise or sunset. You just can’t beat the wonderful light these two times of day yield. If you would like to see more of my best photos of the Arches, just head to my Web Site.

I have to admit after many months on the road, one can get tired of sleeping in the back of the van and taking sponge baths to maintain some modicum of cleanliness. So, on one Sunday, craving football, a hot shower, and a soft bed, I headed into Moab to a hotel. It was wonderful. I actually stayed a couple of days so I could catch the Monday Night game. Eventually I headed back to the park’s campground…but God, those days in a hotel were wonderful! I did that occasionally while on this journey, but sometimes there were no hotels anywhere nearby, like in the Needles.

But beside The Arches, there was another nearby National Park that needed a visit. So one morning, before the sun came up, I headed there to try and capture a photo of sunlight reflecting off the inside of an arch.

Stay tuned for more…

Postcard from the Needles

 

The Journey Continues...

I've never been in a National Park that was almost completely devoid of people. But, here I was in the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park and I only saw 3 other cars here (besides park employees, of course). You could say that I had the whole park pretty much to myself, and I made the most of it.

Of course, it was November and Canyonlands is not one of the most visited parks in the system. 

It is so large that it is divided into three sections: The Needles, Island in the Sky, and The Maze. Each is quite distinct from the other. Island in the Sky is approached from the north and is very close to Moab, UT. It sits up high on a plateau overlooking all of the park and is the most visited section of Canyonlands, probably because of the views and the fact that it is the most accessible for automobiles. The Maze is approached from the west and is strictly for serious 4-wheel drive vehicles with high clearances. Ordinary autos and vans need not apply.

As for the Needles, it sits down in Canyonlands and is named for very large rock formations that stick up into the sky like needles. It has some auto accessible sites, but it also has a large number of hiking trails and 4-wheel drive roads. The best way I know to describe it is canyons within canyons within a large canyon. It also has a comparatively smaller number of visitors, probably because there is only one way in and out...a 34 mile long road off of the main highway coming in from the southeast. But, it is a beautiful drive.

My guidebook and bible for photographing Utah said the best time to photograph the Needles was at sunrise and the trail left from the main parking area in the campground, which was a little ways back from my site. So, just before dawn, I got into my van to look for the trail. It was not to be found. I went back to my campsite and, lo and behold it was right across the road from my new home. Duh!

I headed out along the trail, and after about 1/2 mile, the trail ended at a large rock formation. As I have discovered since, this is quite common in this area. As I looked up, I saw stacked rocks that obviously marked the trail high up the rock (these are called "cairns" and are also very common). So I started climbing, praying my foot would not slip and that I could get back down safely. The cairns led me along more vertical rock and through a cave formed by falling rocks, then more climbing. Finally, I came to the top and could see all the Needles in full array from the early morning light. I just started taking photos as it was a beautiful sunrise with some luscious clouds in the sky.

I was able to make it safely down and back to my campsite (good hiking shoes are a must here)...and after breakfast headed out for more adventures in this wonderful park. I loved the 3-mile long ride on a gravel road to Elephant Hill where I discovered another great view of the Needles and other amazing red rock formations. The Scenic Drive is also very nice and provided even more photographic opportunities. Much later, I was able to get some great sunset shot of the Needles. But, what I loved most was having this beautiful place all to myself. 

I never ran into anyone else other than the occasional park ranger, either driving or hiking. While I would not want to spend the majority of my life alone, sometimes it is the best thing going.

I would have stayed longer than three days and two nights to enjoy the solitude but the winter clock was running and I wanted to see more of southern Utah before winter arrived. I would love to come back here someday just for the solitude and the beauty that is the Needles.