Arches National Park Moab Utah

Arches National Park Moab Utah had been on our “bucket list” for eons. So, after a great night’s sleep at OK RV Park, we got up bright and early, had some breakfast, and headed to the park. Our expectations were high, but our experience there was nothing short of spectacular!!!

Arches National Park Moab Utah

Water and ice, extreme temperatures and the movement of salt beneath the ground are responsible for the sculptured rock scenery of Arches National Park Moab Utah. On clear days with bright blue skies it’s hard to imagine such violent forces, or the 100 million years of erosion, that created this land boasting one of the world’s greatest densities of natural arches. There are over two thousand catalogued arches ranging in size from a 3 foot opening, the minimum considered an arch, to the longest – Landscape Arch, which measures 306 feet base to base.

While several large arches are visible from the road, towering spires, pinnacles and balanced rocks perched atop seemingly inadequate bases, vie with the arches as scenic spectacles.

New features are formed as old ones are destroyed. Erosion and weathering work slowly but relentlessly This creates dynamic landforms that gradually change as time passes.

Native Americans 

Native Americans used this area for thousands of years. First the Archaic peoples and later ancestral Puebloan, Fremont and Ute peoples searched the arid desert for animals and wild plants for food, and stone for tools and weapons. They also left evidence of their passing on a few pictograph and petroglyph panels.

The first non-native explorers came looking for wealth in mineral forms. Ranchers discovered abundant grasses for cattle and sheep. Disabled Civil War veteran John Wesley Wolfe and his son Fred settled in this area in the late 1800s. There’s a weathered log cabin, root cellar and corral that give us evidence of the primitive ranch they operated for over 20 years. Though we did not get a chance to visit Wolfe Ranch because it was closed due to Covid restrictions, we understand that it is a walk into the past. Hopefully we can see it on our next visit to Arches National Park Moab Utah!

Park Avenue

The sheer walls of this canyon reminded early visitors of buildings lining a big city street, hence the name Park Avenue. Rising majestically, these geologic skyscrapers tell the story of the Entrada Sandstone.

Entrada Sandstone began forming more that 150 million years ago as tidal flats, desert and beach deposits. Over time layers of rock, sometimes over a mile thick, covered these deposits. Tremendous pressure from these rock layers compressed the buried sand into sandstone and cracked it. Erosion then removed the underlying rock layers and Entrada began to weather.

Within the past 2 million years erosion of the cracks in the Entrada has left vertical slabs. These slabs are called fins and are the first step in arch formation.

Skyline Arch

Arches usually form slowly over time. Occasionally, quick and dramatic changes do occur. That was the case with the Skyline Arch. In 1940 a large boulder suddenly fell out of Skyline Arch which just about doubled the size of the opening. Currently the arch has span of 71 feet and a height of 33.5 feet.

Park plants and wildlife

Pinyon and gnarled juniper trees add a splash of green contrast to the red sandstone terrain. When weather conditions are just right, wildflowers bloom profusely from April to July. We were there on March 11 so nothing was in bloom yet.

Most of the mammals in the park are active at night, but you might see mule deer, kit foxes, or more often jack-rabbits and cottontails, kangaroo rats and other rodents and small reptiles. Flocks of blue pinyon jays often are chattering away in the tree tops. Migratory birds like mountain bluebirds and residents like golden eagles are frequently seen by careful observers, but not by us.

When we arrived at Arches National Park Moab Utah the sky was bright blue with fleecy white cloud. However, as the day wore on those clouds turned gray and stormy. I’m sure we would have been able to see some of the wildlife that resides there had we been able to stay longer. But when those storm clouds burst with a mix of rain and snow we took the hint and headed back to Ladybug.

If Arches National Park Moab Utah is not on your bucket list, it should be!!! It is certainly the most incredibly beautiful national park that these Traveling Locavores have visited so far.