Arches at Night: Utah
Days 166 – 168
June 12 – 14
Arches National Park
Utah is famous for three things: Mormons, low-alcohol
content in beer, and spectacular desert landscapes. After four years as a Marine between
Twenty-nine Palms and Iraq plus another three in Baghdad, you would think that
I had more sense than to wind up back in a desert of my own free will.
But nowhere has a desert like Utah.
I spoiled myself by visiting the city of Moab on my first
day in the state. And while the summer
desert heat warded me from being outside (or conscious) between 9:00 AM and
6:00 PM, I got to experience Arches National Park in the best way possible. Sunrise every morning and sunset every
evening make the natural masterworks here glow.
And the unbelievable sandstone formations make outstanding foregrounds
for astrophotography. As a stroke of
luck, I ran into a group of rock climbers who took me under their wings to
scale a wall just outside of town. In
just three days, I was sold: Utah is my kind of place.
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| Balanced Rock at night, courtesy of unpolluted skies. |
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| Landscape Arch at sunrise. Eventually, it will collapse. |
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| Double O Arch in the early morning. |
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| Standing in front of a row a fins, the predecessors of the arches. |
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| Delicate Arch at night. |
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| Entering the Fiery Furnace. |
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| At the top of the Fiery Furnace. |
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| Fiery Furnace is spectacular because it is a young fin-filled environment. |
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| "Look Mom, no hands!" |
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