Arches National Monument

Ten guesses where we were on Monday, and the first nine don't count.  I think the picture gives it away.  

Actually, we went twice on Monday, once in the early afternoon, and then back again an hour before sunset.  We had read in the brochure that some places are better if photographed in the early morning and others in the late afternoon so we planned our drive accordingly.  At least we got into the national park.  After Monday, all the national parks were closed because of a stalemate in Congress.

After entering the park near the Visitor Center the road climbs up the mountainside.

This rock formation is called "The Gossips".  Even when I first saw it, it looked like 3 ladies in long dresses, wearing prairie bonnets.  They were just standing there, looking at the valley beyond them.

This group of rocks are called Sand Dune Arch.  It looked like slabs of rock were cut and set up against each other.  You can walk between the slabs and towards the back there is a hidden arch.

The walkway was quite narrow!

It was shady and cool further back, with fine sand between the huge reddish brown boulders.

A path through the wild grass led to the Broken Arch formation.

Another arch!  Surprise, surprise.  The booklet that we were given upon entering the park said there are over 2000 cataloged arches, ranging in size from a little 3 foot opening to the longest one, which has a 306 opening at the base.

The following pictures were taken after we had eaten supper and then returned to the park around 6 PM.  I loved the way the shadows are cast across the valley by the Courthouse Towers Viewpoint.

This is Balanced Rock, one of the more popular attractions for shutter bugs like me.

I took this picture from the Garden of Eden Viewpoint.

It was a race against time now.  There was only 15 minutes until sunset and there were still arches I hadn't gotten to yet!  Here is a view of the North Window on the left, and the South Window on the right.

We parked and hiked up the trail and I was able to get closer shot of the North Window.  Then the battery in my camera decided it had enough.  It was done and so was I, unfortunately.  We had made the best of the little time we had at Arches, and by the time we got back to the truck, the sun had set.