The afternoon sun baked the dusty trail as we made our little walk towards the shade provided by the Double Arch attraction. The trail and arches were full of other visitors longing for a photo and we added to it.  The dryness of the region was always present and our water bottles needed to be replenished.  I found myself in the middle of crisscrossing rock arches thinking of the many sandcastles I've built while playing along a beach.  This was a new perspective of arches I had made out of sand.  Carefully placing my hand and feet in small rock indents, I scrabbled up to the bottom of one the arches.  Exhaling slowly, I motioned for my camera to be passed up to me.  A different perspective, a different view greeted my eyes.  It seemed as though I was always surprised here.  Delighted with views the arches provided.  How was it that this was our last stop.  I passed my camera down and plotted my descent.  My foot stretched down, finding a ledge, then the other foot.  My hands feeling for holds, inching my way down until I reached bottom.  We made our way back to the parking lot and past climbing the small hilly trail until we reached Turret Arch.  Flat wide steps carved out of the rock led to the arch like a forgotten entrance to a castle door.  Imagining it was a doorway to another world just there.  The fencing scene between the masked man and Ingo Montoya in the Princess Bride came to mind and we climbed.  Around to South and North Window the path led us and I had one last view of this amazing place.















 

Delicate Arch is almost a pilgrimage for people visiting Arches National Park. The parking lot fills up in the morning emptying out in the afternoon.  A stream of people start making their way up the smooth slope towards Delicate Arch.  Few stop at the remaining "larger" cabin of Wolfe Ranch to peer inside.  Fewer still stop at the petroglyphs instead bypassing them for the main trail.  Both are worth stopping at.  Its hard to imagine being able to scratch out a living ranching in this area.  The vegetation is few and far between.  Water for cattle is there but not much.  A drought would end everything. The trail is mostly in the sun with the shade being right at the end.  Though this trail is mostly on hard pack rock and we pretty much followed everyone else, there are cairns to mark the way.  Once at the arch, it was extremely busy and it required creative angles to block everyone out while getting a view of the arch.  Once we were done with visiting this arch we decided to visit Sand Arch and take the loop trail to Broken Arch.  Sand Arch is another very popular arch due to the fact that its a short walk to the arch.  Kids plopped down with toys and played in the shade as parents took a much needed break.  Everyone took turns under the arch taking photos and one needed to be quick to snap a photo of the arch without people.  Doable though.  I was surprised at how many people did not hike to Broken Arch.  This loop trail lead us right under the arch.  We encountered just a couple of people but really felt like we were alone on this trail. And then we came upon a sign leading us to Tapestry Arch.  Making our way over small rock domes we found ourselves at the base of Tapestry Arch and a perfect spot for a quick nap and a snack.  We continued on to Devil's Garden Campground and then back onto the trail towards Sand Dune Arch.  This might be my favorite part of the trail.  As we slowly climbed up and then threaded our way through a slot canyon between fins, the snow on the La Sal Mountains were the perfect backdrop to hot sandy hike.  Twisted Juniper bushes gave a pop of green color against the orange rock and the purple mountains.  It is a hike not to be missed and we were alone on it.