Challenge Your Imagination at Arches National Park
Fix My Hog EditorsDescription
Every national park in the United States boasts a unique ecosystem and distinctive atmosphere, but few challenge the imagination and cause visitors to appreciate the power of Mother Nature like those made of rock chiseled into shape by wind and water. Millions of years of erosion and constantly turning seasons can whittle remarkable features into a landscape, some even verging on unbelievable.
In the case of Utah’s arid canyon country, any turn or summit can lead to a new sight that leaves you breathless. And of the state’s awe-inspiring national parks, Arches National Park is certainly one of the most fantastical. Ever-evolving from the volatile elements of the American Southwest, the diverse and numerous arches found in this national park have been rumored by many to be the ruins of a race of giants.
Arches National Park: A wonderland of texture and form
Located in the southeastern quadrant of Utah, Arches National Park is home to the most naturally formed arches on Earth. Boasting more than 2,000 unique arches, a visit to this park is both a hiker and photographer’s dreamscape. You’d be hard-pressed to find your favorite among the overwhelming amount of spectacular rock formations, as there are more than enough to fill your day gazing at and contemplating the world around you.
Fantasy shapes of all sorts are around every corner at Arches National Park, not just arches. Notables abound, from 300-foot Landscape Arch and the fragile Delicate Arch to towering Wall Street and mind-boggling The Three Gossips. Discover your favorite, and reconnect with the natural world at Arches National Park!
The state of Utah is graced by another national park. Nature is the architect. Arches National Park. The park is located in the Canyon Country of Southeastern Utah. It's a wonderland of formations, landforms and textures found nowhere else on Earth. Here, atop an underground salt bed, shaped and chiseled by erosion, stands the most extensive array of natural arches on Earth, Rising to the vast desert sky, like the ruins of a race of giants, are the arches, which the park is named after. Nowhere else in the world can natural arches be found in such numbers. In this region, several thousand have been counted. Each arch differs in size and form, and they are ever, ever changing. Water shapes them, knife-like winds whittle at them, erosion endlessly buffs them and will one day slowly destroy them. Their fantasy shapes challenge our imaginations. We call this one, over 300 feet long, Landscape Arch. This, Double Arch. Turret Arch. Not all are arches. Some are fancifully named formations. Sheep Rock. The Three Gossips. Wall Street. The Parade of Elephants. The Fiery Furnace. This land is harsh. Erosion is constantly at work. Until the year 1940, the opening in Skyline Arch was blocked by a huge boulder. But erosion undercut the boulder's support, which shaped the spectacular arch we see today. As tempting as it may be to visiting daredevils, climbing the arches is strictly forbidden. A startling variation on multiple arches is Balanced Rock. 125 feet above the ground on a massive stone shaft, a huge boulder weighing as much as 1,600 full-size automobiles is delicately balanced. As popular with visitors as this site is, it's outdone by the destination of these hikers, Delicate Arch, a play with clay sort of arch that seems almost too fragile to stand, yet it has probably stood for centuries. Of the more than 2000 arches here, this is the indelible memory that most visitors take away with them. This is the landmark arch. This is the icon, the treasured emblem of Arches National Park.
Share tips, start a discussion or ask other students a question. If you have a question for the instructor, please click here.
Already a member? Sign in
No Responses to “Challenge Your Imagination at Arches National Park”