It was our last day in Moab. We had driven through Arches National Park multiple times over the past several days and had gotten to see several of the arches and other features up close and personal. However, there was a popular section of the park which we still wanted to visit, Devil's Garden.
Devil's Garden is a region of sandstone fins that extends for several miles. A number of the fins have eroded to produce arches. The most well known of the arches in Devil's Garden, and our target for this trip, was Landscape Arch. It is about 0.8 miles from the trailhead, so it would require a bit of hiking to get to the base of the arch.
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| Trail head area of Devil's Garden showing some of the fins (picture by Sanjay Acharya, copied from by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil's_Garden) |
Devil's Garden is at the end of the 18 mile park road.
That drive, plus the relatively late opening of the restaurant in the hotel put us at the trailhead at approximately 8:30. Although early was not absolutely critical, it would hopefully be cooler than later in the day (forecast high was to be about 100) and it would hopefully improve our chances of finding a parking place. By 8:30 it was already quite warm, at least in the sun. There were also lots of people, but fortunately there were still plenty of parking spots.
Actually we were quite lucky to be here when we were. The entire area had been closed for 11 days earlier in the summer (June 16-26), including all access to the trails, to add 45 additional parking spaces or a 40% increase. That included re-aligning the road for angled parking and the construction of tour bus and RV parking. I am very glad our trip put us here after the reopening. It would have been a shame to miss this part of the park.
We got everything assembled and were off through the fins.
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| Entrance to Devil's Garden |
The narrow track through the fins was very short and we were quickly onto an open, well-maintained trail. It was an enjoyable trek with lots of birds high in the rocks above us.
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| Rock wall along the trail to Landscape Arch |
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| Interesting tree beside the trail |
We had only been on the trail for about 20 minutes when there it was ahead on the left, Landscape Arch.
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| Our first glimpse of Landscape Arch |
It is hard to tell at first from this distance, but the arch is huge. It has a span of 290.1 ± .8 feet, a height of 77.5 ± .5 feet, a width of 18.0 ± .5 feet, a thickness of 6 feet, and an opening breadth of 295 feet. There has been an ongoing debate as to whether Landscape Arch or Kolob Arch (in Zion NP) is the largest natural arch. Using laser technology and the standard definitions for natural arch dimensions established by the NABS (Natural Arch and Bridge Society...who knew such a society existed?!), a team found the above dimensions for Landscape Arch in June 2004. Kolob Arch was subsequently remeasured and found to have a span of 287.4 ± 2 feet. Landscape Arch wins with a span of 290.1 feet!
However, all of this may be a moot point. Landscape Arch is nearing the end of its life. Since 1991, three slabs of sandstone measuring 30, 47, and 70 feet long have fallen from the thinnest section of the arch. This is part of the explanation on the plaque on the trail near the current view point:
September 1, 1991 — Hikers thought they heard cracks of thunder from distant clouds. Visitors resting under Landscape Arch noticed loud cracking and popping noises overhead. They fled as small rocks tumbled from the slender 306-foot-long span. Moments later, a 60-foot-long slab peeled away from the arch’s right side. When the dust settled, 180 tons of fresh rock debris lay scattered on the ground.
What caused this cataclysmic event? Water had been slowly shaping the arch for countless centuries, dissolving cement between sand grains, seeping into tiny cracks, freezing and expanding. What had finally upset the delicate balance?
Unseasonably heavy rains the preceding ten days may have filled pore spaces within the sandstone. The added weight may have finally overwhelmed the rock slab in its timeless struggle with gravity.We proceeded on for a closer look. Visitors are no longer allowed to go under the arch, but there are multiple locations to see it from a presumably safe distance.
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| Turkey in front of Landscape Arch |
It would have been a climb up the hill to get to the base. I could not help but notice all of that rock piled on the right hand side, presumably what has been falling off the arch.
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| Lots of fallen rock from the failing Landscape Arch |
It seems somewhat ironic that the other iconic arch in the park, rather than this one, is called "Delicate Arch" since Landscape Arch seems ready to go at any moment. Of course, in geological time, any moment could be two days or two thousand years.
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| A very "delicate" Landscape Arch |
Also visible from below Landscape Arch is Partition Arch. It and another nearby arch, Navajo Arch, are accessible from a side trail further up the main trail.
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| Landscape Arch on the left and Partition Arch on the right |
Looking ahead, we could see a traffic jam of people where the trail goes steeply up one of the fins.
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| Trail north of Landscape Arch where it goes up and over one of the fins. Note the lighter colored rock in the shadow to the left of the trail--what I believe is the remnants of Wall Arch |
Going up the fin would probably have been ok, but coming down with our bad knees would have been problematic, so we decided to turn around and not risk a fall.
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| The trail back to the trail head |
As is so often the case, the trail looked so different going the opposite direction. The views were especially nice here because of the slightly higher elevation.
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| View of more fins to the east from Devil's Garden Trail |
About 0.2 miles from the trailhead, we took the side trail to two other arches, Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch. Both of these were exceptionally good.
First was Pine Tree Arch...
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| Pine Tree Arch |
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| Wow, it is big when you get up close |
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| The shade is a welcome relief from the intense sun even this early in the morning...fortunately I had been wearing long sleeve shirts with a high spf rating, but I still got a sun allergy on my hands |
...and then Tunnel Arch. Tunnel Arch and the other arch whose name we did not know were high above in the rock. Although the main trail goes right below them, they were only visible from the back side.
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| Tunnel Arch from the east side |
After the climb back up to the main trail, it was a short walk back to the trail head. It was good to get back into the car and out of the intense sun.
As we headed south, we stopped again at the parking at the trail head for the trail to Delicate Arch. We had already decided not to make the difficult 2-3 hour hike to Delicate Arch, especially in the midday heat. We did however make the short hike to the Wolfe Ranch site along Salt Wash. This is the location of the Wolfe family's one room cabin (still standing) where they lived around the turn of the last century.
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| Salt Wash near Wolfe Ranch |
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| Ravens scolding us from above the trail near Wolfe Ranch |
Just beyond Salt Wash is the site of even earlier humans. There are clearly visible petroglyphs above the trail. Given the images of people on horseback, they were likely made between 1650 and 1850 AD, after the introduction of horses to the southwest by the Spanish. The location is obviously well marked by the national park, but it is not on the map distributed to visitors. Fortunately it was the site of a terracache I had noticed in the park. Thanks to terracaching we got to see a petroglyph site we would not otherwise have seen AND we got a first to find!
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| Petroglyph site near Wolf Ranch |
On our way out of the park we stopped one last time at the visitor's center. The Frog dumped out the large amount of sand that had accumulated in his shoes. We then checked out more of the displays before heading into town for lunch.
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