Day 19

States: Utah
Total Miles: 6100'ish
Time Zones: 1, 4 total

Well, the updates are going to probably start to come few and far between. My last few good chances to put stuff on the web, I haven't and soon I'll be camping out the last 10 or so days in the nether regions of Utah. But, if I'm lucky, I'll get all of Moab Utah up before we head farther south.

This part was a pretty easy drive down from near Salt Lake City to Moab. It basically got more and more arid and deserty as we got closer. It wasn't until we really got close that the fabulous sandstone mesas, buttes, and needles became visible. We met up with my sister early afternoon and got some reservations for bikes the next day. After that, we headed into Arches National Park and drove up to Delicate Arch, with a few stops along the way. The sandstone structures are really cool, sometimes like petrified dunes, sometimes tall spires held up by will alone, rocks balanced on tiny pedestals, and most important to this park, arches. Here's a sampling of what we saw (my apologies for some of the pictures, bright sun and my camera don't get along when aimed at each other)...

How long til that rock slides off?

An area called Park Avenue:

Seems like those things should tip over in a breeze:

Picture of someone taking a picture of someone taking a picture:

Wolfe Ranch. Abandoned in the early 1900's I think, but why on earth would anyone live here?

Looking back on the hike up to Delicate Arch (amazingly green):

Sandstone:

Heading off a sandstone cliff on way to Delicate Arch:

Delicate Arch, with some random people under it for scale:

Picture from the base of one of the legs, can't believe the other legs hasn't buckled yet:

Some petroglyphs on the hike back. Made by the Ute Indians sometime between 1650 and 1850:

Next day is all about biking.

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