For spring break this year, some friends and I headed down to Moab, Utah and tent-camped on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands right outside of Arches National Park!
We spent the day hiking around the park – and I could not believe how big the arches were and how close we were allowed to get to some of them.
According to the National Park Service, the arches form from because sandstone cracks and erodes (through wind and rain) over time. Here is a photo from the NPS that shows how the arches form!
Also according to NPS, there are over 2,000 documented arches in this park, and I saw a few while hiking. Our hikes consisted of Devils Garden (Double O, Navajo, Partition, Landscape, Pine Tree and Tunnel Arch), Skyline (Skyline, Broken and Sand Dune Arch), Wolfe Ranch (Delicate Arch) and the Balanced Rock Viewpoint.
My favorite by far was Delicate Arch. After a one mile hike straight up a rock face (okay, maybe it wasn’t straight up), we made our way along the edge of a cliff to a wide open bowl-shaped drop off. On the edge was Delicate Arch, pictured below.
As I mentioned before, I can’t believe I was able to walk inside the arch! You can see me with my arms up below!
Arches NP is also home to the Fiery Furnace – a “garden” of red rocks, pictured below.
Next outdoor exploration is Canyonlands in Thursday’s post – stay tuned!
Abbey Dufoe 
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