Because of the one hour time difference compared to Flagstaff – Arizona has no Daylight Saving Time, Utah has - we slept some more minutes today. After this we tried the motel breakfast, it was like that in Flagstaff, just the coffee was a little better.
Then we started off for today’s tour. First fill up, then towards the Arches National Park. The weather was beautiful, not too hot, so the planned thing could take place. The park is situated only a few minutes from Moab, therefore it was a short drive only. After a stop in the visitor center we went on to explore the park. Already the first stops brought awesome impressions. Cliffs standing there lonely within the scenery – the question is always how they could stay upright there for that long time. Then we reached the Balanced Rock, a big rock balancing atop a thin cliff. Amazing!
On it went, and now the first natural sandstone arches lay before us, the so-called Windows. The North and South Windows were easy to hike to, as well as the Turret Arch. They all were wonderful to look at. After a short picnic we started for that day’s highlight. The drive went to Wolfe Ranch, were the trail to Delicate Arch has its start. This leads for about 2.4 kilometers in one direction with a difference in height of about 150 meters, what is really exhaustive in the bright sunlight – there is no shadow along that trail. After little more than an hour we had managed it, the Delicate Arch lay in front of us. The look is simply breathtaking, and we knew that the draining hike was worth it. Two brave members of our party risked the way till directly beneath the Delicate Arch – because of the down grade a not absolutely nonhazardous hike. But they came back safe and sound – after some minutes of rest and taking some photos we started our way back, which was done after approximately 45 minutes. After this we needed just one thing – water!
We went on driving through the park, up to the end of the normal streets. From that point a roughly 1 kilometer long trail is leading to the Landscape Arch, impressive by its span of about 92 meters and because it is just very thin – less than 3 meters at the thinnest point. Who knows how many years it will survive yet…
At the end all had enough from hiking for this day. Back to the motel, showering, then we went for diner. Today we had chosen the Moab Brewery. At the first moment we got a little scared – seemed that there were no seats for us anymore. But happily we weren’t right, a table was found quickly and the diner could start. That we’d really earned today! Several delicious meals were dished up, and there was a specialty in here – in this brewery beer is really brewed, and this is drinkable even for German means. That we couldn’t miss, and so we enjoyed it.
The night we spent with a photo show and some conversation, and then we all fell into our beds tired to death.
