UTAH ADVENTURES (part three)

Our exploration of the northern section of Arches National Park 

began at the Fiery furnace Viewpoint.

 Next we drove to the Skyline Arch easy trail.

After these two quick stops 

we were ready for our ultimate destination for the day - 

the Devil's Garden Trailhead.

Several arches are accessible from this trail.

It was rated as the longest difficult trail and 

also included a primitive trail loop.

We decided to traverse the trail in the counter clockwise direction,

since the clockwise direction looked more crowded.

We concluded that if the trail proved too difficult 

we could always turn back.

Which way should we go?

We took the Pine Tree Arch trail.

We were in the middle of Fin Canyon

by the time the trail became difficult.

We reached a point where we were not sure which way to go.

It appeared as if we had to climb a rock fin,

but we had no idea how.

At the point when I was going to admit defeat and 

turn around another couple appeared at the top of the mountain.

Since they were going the opposite direction

they were coming down the mountain while we had to go up.

Once they showed us the way to go we were ready to carry on.

However, there was a huge step up before we could go any further.

Hubby had to give me a boost up!

Now I was clinging to the side of a rock fin

with visions of sliding down the mountain to my death.

I prayed, took a deep breath, and

went forward on hands & feet!!!

Since I am writing this you can correctly assume that I survived the climb.

Here I am saying a prayer of thanks!

Now hubby had to figure out how to get up the huge step.

There was no one behind us to give him a boost.

I pointed out that the other couple had come down on their bottom, 

so maybe he could turn around and boost himself up on his bottom.

It worked!  

He scaled the mountain with no hesitation. 

 The trail actually took us across the top of two rock fins!

Cairns

 The pictures do not really show the heights that were traversed.

For someone who is afraid of heights (me!!)

the heights were terrifying.

I am grateful to be alive to tell the tale. 

 There are still more Utah adventures still to come . .  .   .    .

UTAH ADVENTURES (part two)

We arrived at Arches National Park in the early afternoon.  

At the entrance we received a detailed map of the park.  

We briefly toured the Visitor Center.  

After purchasing postcards for the grandkids and a collector pin for myself 

at the gift shop, we set out to explore the easy trails since we were in flip flops.  

Our feet needed the break after hiking Fishers Tower!

We stopped at Balanced Rock because it was an easy walk around the base

and there was a picnic area across the street.

This was our view of Balanced Rock from our picnic table.

Lunch Break!!

The Windows section had several arches you could see from the car

or they were on an easy trail.

Look closely and you can see the Parade of Elephants.

We drove by the Garden of Eden.

We also drove by the Petrified Dunes.

Here are a few more interesting sights that we saw 

on our way out of the park.

We explored most of the southern portion of the park,

either by easy trail or driving by viewpoints.

 

Stay tuned for our exploration of the northern section of the park.

You will not want to miss my death defying experience!!