Long over due trip!
I left Friday after work with my boy and pointed the truck south. I have been through Moab many times but never visited any of the sights. A nagging regret that needed to be satisfied! We arrived late and had an issue with hotel; my reservations were made two months prior but the National park service decided to do a free entrance weekend and every hotel in town was over flowing. Once settled in for the night we were up at 6:30 am and eating breakfast shortly after. I meet with a new friend and we hit Arches first. My original plans fell through and I had expected a few more people to join me so I made the best of it and we decided on visiting the Devils Garden and hunt for The Dark Angel! Arches is quite the large park and it takes quite a while to navigate through because of all the distractions along way. We started around 10:00 am at the trailhead and the first arch we ran into was Landscape Arch.
Next was Partition Arch.
Navajo Arch after.
Double Arch.
After Double O arch the trail verse to the left and you cross open desert to The Dark Angel!
A beautiful formation and a great place for a sun burst!
After visiting for a short time we headed back towards the trail head to see the rest of the park.
Double O from the north side.
There is a large fin in the middle of the trail that offers a incredible view of the Snow capped La Sal Mountains.
Landscape arch again!
We made it back to the truck after the 7 mile round trip and decided to visit Delicate Arch next.
This was the busiest Arch by far and it took quite a long time to wait for the selfie crowd to get out of the way long enough to snap a picture or two. I had to crop the above pictures quite a bit to eliminate the interlopers! Since we had to wait we decided to catch the sunset.
We hiked down from Delicate and headed for dinner; once dinner was out of the way we headed back into the park to try few star shots.
I was in bed just after midnight and planned on heading to Canyonlands to take the iconic sunrise shot at Mesa Arch.
After being squeezed between 30 or 40 other photographers I took a few shots and headed back to the hotel for breakfast. Soon after w were back in arches to see a few more arches.
Balance Rock.
Up close of Balance rock.
And my absolute favorite, Double Arch!
We left for home shortly after, a great trip was had by all!
