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Arches National Park, Utah - photographs

"In the mountains
I met with Love
Saturating Being
dissolving barriers 

Wholeness in every moment
of Creation
in gratitude
and wonder"

I could never have imagined a landscape like this one before Kelly, Ann and I  drove the long 8 hour drive from Denver,Colorado to Arches National Park, Utah in July earlier this year.
In anticipation of our two day only trip, I had read about the area, but nothing would have prepared me for the sheer,dramatic physical experience of this shockingly, stunning landscape.
A timelessness seemingly untouched by thousands of years of life on earth.


"View from Windows Arch"

We were surrounded by harsh and exquisitely beautiful formations. It was easy to imagine this world being created.
The following are snippets I wrote in my diary before going to bed on the first evening of our trip.



7pm ..arriving in  Arches Park



"Balanced Rock"

Drove to Balanced Rock. 
Walked around.
 Evening becoming quiet.
Temperature dropped to 92c, but what a beautiful wind amid the cloudy sky.
Red earth, red sand.
Pine needles, smelling of pine but lemon too.
How do they grow there?
No birds.
No animals.
Only saw one black cow earlier today drinking from the Colorado River.





On to  Windows Arch for a hike.
Lots of people.
Wind died down.



Walked up the steps to our first Arch, where we took more photos.




Rain falling in the distance.
Crowds diminishing.
Small figures against red rock.
Still, so very still.Balmy.
But so still.
More tough leaves, but these evocative of eucalyptus.




Heading back from our hike to our car as darkness approaching.
Vastness above and beyond.
A peace fills the skies.

What can I offer?
Just my presence.
Just a simple gratitude.

Just being is enough.
Take nothing.
Just be.

And the rains come.
And the cleansing and the release is real.
And the tears.



Thank you.

Back to our hotel, had lovely bath. 
Bed 10pm.


And that was an experience I will never forget. No doubt a person better with words would give it a more deserving description, but that's how that evening was for me.

The following information on Arches is from the National Geographic website.


Location: Utah
Established: November 12, 1971
Size: 76,359 acres
This park contains more than 2,000 natural arches—the greatest concentration in the country. But numbers have no significance beside the grandeur of the landscape—the arches, the giant balanced rocks, spires, pinnacles, and slickrock domes against the enormous sky.
Perched high above the Colorado River, the park is part of southern Utah's extended canyon country, carved and shaped by eons of weathering and erosion. Some 300 million years ago, inland seas covered the large basin that formed this region. The seas refilled and evaporated—29 times in all—leaving behind salt beds thousands of feet thick. Later, sand and boulders carried down by streams from the uplands eventually buried the salt beds beneath thick layers of stone. Because the salt layer is less dense than the overlying blanket of rock, it rises up through it, forming it into domes and ridges, with valleys in between.
Most of the formations at Arches are made of soft red sandstone deposited 150 million years ago. Much later, groundwater began to dissolve the underlying salt deposits. The sandstone domes collapsed and weathered into a maze of vertical rock slabs called "fins." Sections of these slender walls eventually wore through, creating the spectacular rock sculptures that visitors to Arches see today.
The land has a timeless, indestructible look that is misleading. More than 700,000 visitors each year threaten the fragile high desert ecosystem. One concern is a dark scale called biological soil crust composed of cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, and lichens that grow in sandy areas in the park. Footprints tracked across this living community may remain visible for years. In fact, the aridity helps preserve traces of past activity for centuries. Visitors are asked to walk only on designated trails or stay on slickrock or wash bottoms.

There are more than 2,000 arches in the park; to be classified as an arch, the opening must measure at least three feet across. The largest arch in the park, Landscape Arch, spans 306 feet (longer than a football field) base to base. New arches are constantly forming, while old ones occasionally collapse—most recently Wall Arch, which fell in 2008.

Arches National Park contains ephemeral pools, from a few inches to several feet in depth, that are essentially mini-ecosystems, home to tadpoles, fairy shrimp, and insects. The pools form among the sandstone basins, within potholes that collect the rare rainwater and sediment.
About 300 million years ago an inland sea covered what is now Arches National Park. The sea evaporated and re-formed more than 29 times, leaving behind salt beds thousands of feet thick.
Another unique aspect of the park is its knobby black ground cover, which is actually alive. A biological soil crust, it is composed of algae, lichens, and cyanobacteria (one of Earth’s earliest life forms), and provides a secure foundation for the desert plants.
Edward Abbey served as a seasonal ranger at Arches in the late 1950s, an experience that inspired his 1968 memoir, Desert Solitaire.




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