Balancing rocks and towering arches

Natural wonders took our breath away at Arches National Park

At Moab, Utah, we found many campgrounds to choose from. There are plenty of hotels, motels and cabins for rent as well.

Our drive through Arches National Park was nothing less than spectacular. The deep red of the high rock bluffs and the numerous pinnacles, along with the narrow winding road made the drive exciting. We stopped at most of the numerous overlook and trailhead offshoot drives to look at the red rock arches worn in the rocks. We learned there are two different types of sandstone that make up most of the formations.

That is how the famous balancing rock was formed. The hard sandstone on top erodes very slowly while the softer sandstone underneath is wearing away faster, leaving a large hard rock balanced on a small pinnacle. Throughout this park we saw many beautiful red rock walls, gorges, bluffs and tall spires that simply took our breath away. On our walks we saw quite a few small geckos.

These tiny creatures would scamper swiftly across the sand from rock to rock and bush to bush. Their brownish color made them blend in completely with the ground. The beauty of this area is way too hard to describe in writing. You need to visit the area to truly appreciate it. Even walking up the many trails that we took we saw yellow flowering plants we had not seen before and what looked like black moss living on the rocks. Visit www.nps.gov/arch for more information. This area is also home to the Canyonlands National Park which is equally as beautiful.

During our stay in Moab we noticed very many people travel around by mountain bike as well as four wheel drive vehicles that are equipped to travel over the rocks and dessert.