Arches National Park Continued! (read Part 1 here)
Fiery Furnace
For our afternoon at Arches National Park we had decided to sign up for the Ranger-led tour of the Fiery Furnace, a complex labyrinth of deep and narrow canyons, arches, pinnacles, and fins. Though small enough for dayhikes, people aren’t allowed to enter the Fiery Furnace unless on one of these guided hikes or by obtaining a permit from the park.
From above it looks relatively harmless, much like the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon. However, unlike Bryce’s developed paths there are no formal trails through the formations. It is clearly easy to become disoriented and lost. Although not usually our style, since it was our first visit we decided to go along on one of the guided hikes. It sounded fun – three hours of interpretive hiking and scrambling with a small group of other people. We arrived at the trailhead about half an hour early where we had a picnic lunch and met our friendly and knowledgeable young ranger and fellow hikers.
When you sign up for the hike they warn of the uneven terrain and scrambling along the route. No young children are allowed and they show pictures of some of the moves required. I scoffed a bit at it but once in there I was suitably impressed – it was real scrambling and definitely a step beyond what a typical hiker might be comfortable with. The problem was that there were a couple of people on our hike who, from the beginning, were clearly going to have problems with it and the ranger did not require them to turn back when they had the chance. These people needed a lot of coaching and hand holding and while the ranger did an excellent job getting them through the obstacles, the rest of the group had to take on a lot of the effort as well which detracted from the experience for everyone.
Anyways, back to the tour. It was really interesting and fun to follow a guide and not have to think about our route. The ranger took us through the maze of formations with appropriate discussions about the geology, biology, and history. I really had fun and highly recommend it. Unfortunately, due to the slower folks the tour went on much longer than it should have and we had to rush to make our final and most exciting destination – Delicate Arch at sunset.
Delicate Arch
Ever since we had decided to visit Arches I wanted to make sure we got to Delicate Arch, the most well-known formation in the park, for sunset. Throughout the afternoon we had watched threatening looking clouds shroud the sky and I was doubtful that we’d get that famous orange-red glow, but that didn’t make me want to visit any less.
From the Fiery Furnace parking we made a beeline to the Delicate Arch trailhead. Sunset was at 6:30 and it is 1.5 miles with about 500 ft of elevation gain to the arch. We parked at 5:50. I grabbed my cameras, my pack, and a jacket and took off down the trail. Had I not been in such a hurry I would have taken my time to enjoy the walk but I had a goal. As I rounded the corner at the end of the trail I was greeted with the beautiful view of Delicate Arch as well as a large crowd of people waiting for the golden moment.
I found a spot and sat down. Only then did I look to the sky to see if we’d get the glow. There were heavy clouds to the west that were currently causing a rather dull light, but I was encouraged by a small gap of clear sky between the clouds and the horizon. Sure enough, in just a few minutes the sun started peeking through and the Arch took on a light glow. For the next ten minutes Delicate Arch went through the entire spectrum of oranges and reds, a stunning performance by Mother Nature.
Everyone was clicking away (as was I), but I kept putting my camera down to just bask in the moment. It really was a remarkable experience; it’s no wonder that people are drawn to this place.
Once the light faded we quickly packed up and quickly headed back to the car in the diminishing ambient light of dusk. From the trailhead it was a short drive to the park’s campground where we had booked a site. Gambling with the weather we slept in the back of the truck, and fortunately we stayed dry.
Landscape Arch
In the morning we packed up the truck and drove over to the Landscape Arch trailhead. The clouds were more imminently threatening this morning so I carried all my rain gear for the short, one mile hike to Landscape Arch. It is a good thing I did. Just as we reached the arch it began raining, and for a few moments rained pretty hard. I had to stash my camera away, but I’m glad we waited out the brief thundery squall because the sky on the return hike was glorious. Unfortunately we still moved pretty quickly because it was cold!
After Landscape Arch we headed into Moab for breakfast and gas. From there we’d head south to Canyonlands and lands beyond.
