Day 6: Delicate Arch (Wednesday evening)

We tried to take a short nap to prepare for the Delicate Arch Trial. Mike slept but Bree was bothered by the noisy upstairs neighbor. We don't know what he was doing but he seemed to either be jumping up and down on the bed or stomping around the room. Either way, Bree didn't nap. We got up around 5pm, grabbed a sandwich and headed back to the park. A lot of people were leaving the park but we were surprised when we got to the Delicate Arch Trailhead to see so many cars. By the time we lathered on the sunscreen and packed the bags (telephoto lens + ultra wide lens + video camera + 3L camelback backpack + SLR camera with wide lens + small digital camera + 3 x 1L water bottles + tripod) we hit the trail around 6pm. Luckily, the sun was going down and in and out of clouds, tt was still mid 90's though. The trail was 1.5 mi straight uphill. The first 0.5 mi is "defined trail" and after that the guide said "the trail becomes less defined, follow the cairns along the slickrock." Cairns are small piles of rocks that the National Park uses to indicate the path. There is special soil in Arches, which is very fragile, "Biological soil crust or "cryptobiotic soil" (bacteria, moss, lichens, fungi, and algae) grows everywhere except on rock." So it is very important to stay on the maintained trails as footsteps can damage decades of growth and take just as long to recover.

We headed up and it was a tough 1.5 mi! Bree had to stop often, although not tired, the elevation made breathing harder. We made it to the slickrock which was odd to hike on. It has a barely visible path and is just a large expanse of domed rock. We passed lots of people coming back down, elderly folks and young kids, so we figured if they made it we would be able to. We finally hit the leveling off point high in the rocks and followed a 200 ft section along the rock edge before we turned the corner to see the arch.

It was quite amazing. Delicate Arch stands alone in front of a large depression. It is quite a large arch and the hole in front of it creates an ampitheater shape around it. There were dozens of people there when we made it up. Surprisingly it only took us 50 minutes to reach the top. There were professional photographers all set up and waiting for sunset and lots of amateurs. There was a sign at the head of the trail that warned against being an "arch hog." Lots of people wandered down there to take pictures in front of the arch, some were slower than others but it was a seemingly endless stream of people. All the professionals had to wait to snap a quick picture as people exchanged spots under the arch. Mike went up on a ledge and had to wait almost a half an hour to get the shots he wanted. Bree grabbed the camera and climbed down into the bowl and around to the other side of the arch. The pictures were quite amazing from both spots. As Bree climbed up on a rock to get a different angle, the lens cap fell off and began to roll away, she was sure it was headed over the edge but luckily it turned and didn't make it all the way down. As we were waiting for the light to change at sunset, we took some self-portraits in front of the arch and relaxed. There were quite a few "nature enthusiasts" that climbed up on high ledges and hoodoos to get different views. There was also a large Raven that begged for food and got quite close to people, almost like he was posing. Bree managed to snap some photos with the Raven in the foreground and the arch behind him.

As it got later, the light changed and Bree headed back down into the bowl to try and get some more shots. Not so patiently waiting for some Japanese tourists who were hogging the arch, Bree managed to be in just the right spot as the sun finally made it out from behind some clouds. While the arch was lit, you could hear everyone snapping away and Bree climbed around the bowl clear to the other side so as not to miss an angle.

We finally headed down around 8:15pm. The light was going to just get worse and we didn't want to try to traverse the trail in the dark. We were surprised how many people were on the trail heading up. Some looked like they couldn't physically make it up the trail, and definitely wouldn't make it while the arch was still lit. On the way down we kept telling people how much farther they had, kind of hoping they wouldn't try to get up there and back in the dark. One couple didn't seem like they were going to make it and said they had two girls following them. Farther down the trail we found them and tried to encourage them to catch up with their folks. The girls said they could do it but just hadn't expected to go on this hike. We noticed they had no water and we asked if their parents had any. They said no so Bree suggested we give them one of our old water bottles. The Rangers suggest two liters of water per person to do the trail and this family of four had none! We gave them a liter bottle and since it was cooler it should last them. The girls were really thankful. We headed back down the hill, finally reaching the bottom a little before 9pm. There was a short hike off the main trail that took you to Ute Petroglyphs. Bree really likes petroglyphs now and was quite excited. Because it was almost dark we had to set up the tripod but managed to catch some shots.

When we got back to the car, it was still in the low 90's. We headed back into Moab looking for dinner. We stopped at a little Mexican restaurant called Miguel's Baja Grill right before they closed. We got in at 9:45pm and they closed at 10pm; by the time we left we were the only customers. The food was really good and the margarita's weren't half bad. We even have half of Mike's M.O.A.B. (Mother Of All Burritos) mixed in with the remains of Bree's Portobello fajitas for tomorrow.

Now we are full, have rinsed off our layers of dust, sand and sunscreen and are heading to bed. Tomorrow we're heading to Canyonlands!