Back from our day at Arches National Park

We're worn out but we saw a lot. It is a spectacular place full of breathtaking images. If you're a photographer, you may find it difficult to leave. Hiking through there what came to mind was a typical scene from the "old" Star Trek where Kirk and his crew would beam down to some odd planet with strange but interesting rock formations. I kind of expected some alien with a giant head to come out from behind the rocks. Well that's kind of what it was like, minus the alien life forms that are trying to kill that extra crew member.

The overcast sky certainly helped cool things down on the several miles of hikes that we took. Unfortunately the lack of bright sun also meant that the red color in the hills did not come out as much. In late afternoon, the hills usually light up bright red...but not today. That's ok though. I got lots of pictures anyway.

One thing worth mentioning is that there were so many foreign tourists here. I would say about half of the people we saw had English as a second language. It was pretty cool. Perhaps it is just a testiment to how unique this place is. At one point, there was a tour group exiting a tour bus in the parking lot near the the landscape arch trail as we were trying to leave. A French couple stood right in front of our car just pointing and studying the tow bracket and our license plate for a good two minutes. They totally ignored the fact that we were in the car (engine running) staring back waiting for them to "please" move and let us go by. Anyway, it was funny to think that we were part of the scenery. Maybe they went back home and told their friends about us as well. Funny!

Anyway, we made it back around 8PM in time to get a couple of scoops of ice cream at the ice cream social. We're cleaned up, ate got ready for our drive to Denver.

Here are more photos from our day at Arches for your enjoyment.

-T