Arches NP II - A Tale of Two Arches

Today we embarked on our second Arches adventure.  We decided to take two hikes:  one to Delicate Arch and one to Tower Arch.

The sun was rising as we drove south to the Park.  The cliff faces reflected a rosy hue and the sky was full of marbled clouds:

We now feel familiar with the Park.  We were eager to see Balanced Rock, which is hard to see other than from the road because of Park construction.  However, we found a vantage point and enjoyed this perspective:

Having arrived at our trailhead for Delicate Arch, we worked our way through the crowd of hikers that were already heading up the trail, despite the fact that it was only 8:00 am.  The trail started at the historic Wolfe Ranch.  The original corral and ranch cabin are still standing:

As we climbed the first ridge, we looked back toward the main road and spotted North Window Arch to the south of us:

Moving on up the trail, we reached a slickrock formation, where other hikers were preceding us up the steep slope:

About 1.5 miles later, we reached Delicate Arch, which framed tiny hikers who were crawling all over its flanks:

Having bagged our first arch, we headed back to the trailhead, but not before David spotted this gnarly tree, making the most of the desert environment.  We couldn't imagine how old the tree is:

Back at the ranch, we hiked over to the cliff face, where a panel of well-preserved Ute petroglyphs are visible.   They appear to show a hunting party on horseback chasing bighorn sheep - except WHY is that lizard in the upper right corner???

We couldn't tarry long to ponder the deep question of petrglyphic meanings, so we drove further north on the main road to Salt Valley Road, which is a 12-mile dirt road that includes a log drive along a sandy wash:

We reached the trailhead for Tower Arch and quickly climbed.  Here, Kathy surveys the trail, with our parking lot below.  Only one other vehicle was in the lot, and we wondered whether we would run into its occupants:

Thus began one of the most picturesque hikes we have ever taken.  All around us, the entire trail, were picturesque sandstone formations.  We took perhaps 150 photos - but we could only share the best with you.  Among the best, how could we resist sharing Kathy's hug with this entirely unique white sandstone figure.  Not another one did we spy in the entire Park:

And this endearing Apatasaurus decided to sit with Kathy as she took a break to sip some water as we climbed the ridge in the last part of our hike:

We continued up the side of a huge sand dune toward spires and fins of sandstone:

Eventually, we reached Tower Arch:

As we climbed up to our lunch spot behind the arch, we spotted this local resident, who kept an eye on us as we passed:

Our lunch spot gave us a great view of the valley below through the mouth of the arch:

After finishing his sandwich, David climbed up a slickrock ledge to take a photo of Kathy sitting in our lunch spot on the left, with the arch on the right:

Kathy finished her sandwich and then hiked down below the arch to take a photo of David sitting up behind the arch.  Where's David?

Our hike back to the trailhead gave us equally stupendous views as our hike in to the arch.  We drove the 12 miles back to the main road and, just as we neared it, we got this beautiful view of Skyline Arch over the main road:

Bonus arch!