Welcome to JOYFUL REFLECTIONS. Also welcome to MARCH!!!! My header picture this month is a photo I took of the pretty Crocus blooms in our yard... The Crocuses and Daffodils are the first signs of spring here in Tennessee. I am definitely ready for SPRING...

Monday, October 23, 2017

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK ---9/12/17

DELICATE ARCH  
Hello Friends,  Here is another post from our wonderful 16 day trip to Utah and Arizona  (September 6-21, 2017).      We visited the ARCHES National Park on 9/12/17...   Because of the crowds,  we almost skipped this park since we had been there in 2011 --but decided to go REALLY REALLY early in the morning and try to 'beat' the huge crowds...  SO--that is what we did...  We got up that morning in Moab, Utah,  about 5 a.m.  ,  had breakfast and then headed to the Arches.    We saw everything we intended to see and were out of the park by noon...   That worked well for us!!!!!

We had a gorgeous morning to do some hiking at Arches so I hope you enjoy our photos today... We love seeing arches ---so IF you enjoy that,  you are in the CORRECT park!!!!!  But there are plenty of other things to see there.  I guess that is why the ARCHES are so popular...


Early Morning Sun hitting the rock cliffs --on the road to the ARCHES



How many times have you seen a "DOUBLE" ARCH????   Here's one for you --and  we were thrilled to see it  up close and personal.



The THREE GOSSIPS   (wonder what they are saying????? ha)



PARADE of the ELEPHANTS   (maybe that is what the 'gossips' are talking about!!!)



Another nice hike that morning was to the NORTH and SOUTH WINDOWS 



We could hike close to the NORTH WINDOW.



We hiked to the back of the SOUTH WINDOW---but couldn't get as close as we did to the North Window.



After seeing the North and South Windows,   we hiked to another nearby arch,  TURRET ARCH.



One of the most popular rock formations at the Arches is BALANCED ROCK... They had the area closed around Balanced Rock while they were working on it when we were there --so we had to see if from several different areas..



Here's a close-up of BALANCED ROCK --which we managed to get, using  the zoom lens on our Canons.



You could probably give this one several names ---but its  official name is HAM ROCK... (I see a big ham,  don't you?)



The FIERY FURNACE area at Arches;  We have never hiked here --but 'seasoned' and much-younger-than us  hikers love this area!!!



This formation is named  SHEEP ROCK  (but some of my Facebook Friends said it looked more like a Dog).



Look-y here!!!!!   Betsy found an arch just for HER....  Neat, huh?



Our last ARCH of the day is  SKYLINE ARCH.  Even though there were a few people around on that morning,   we were so glad that we did go there --and see what we wanted to see before it got hot and before the HUGE crowds arrived.

I hope you enjoyed our pictures today from the ARCHES NATIONAL PARK in Utah...  Even though we don't like being with crowds,    I would still recommend this National Park to YOU...   We had a great time there.

Have a wonderful week...  We are hoping for some cold weather here (it's been very warm) ---so that the leaves will change to some gorgeous colors --before they just turn brown and fall on the ground (which is what they are doing now)... So far,  it has not been a good Fall season for us..  This makes that trip to North Carolina we took recently even more special,  since (if you saw last week's post) you know how pretty some of the trees were while we were there. 


Hugs to all,