Checklist for Hiking Arches National Park

Kristin Jackson wrote this article for the Orange County Register, providing an interesting narrative and very good list of tips for hiking in Arches National Park. Here are excerpts:

Double O, Landscape and the iconic Delicate Arch, a half-circle of stone that stands alone on pillows of smooth "slick rock" in another corner of the park, are some of the biggest and best known of the park's arches. But this geological wonderland in Southeast Utah's high desert has more than 2,000 known arches, the greatest concentration of natural rock arches in the world.

Back in the Devil's Garden, I managed to get myself lost. I veered onto what a signpost warned was a primitive (and optional) part of trail, took a wrong turn by a mound of slick rock and wandered up a narrow sandy wash.

I soon realized my error but enjoyed it, walking farther into the rocky wilderness to sit in the silence. In the searing heat, the only thing moving was a long-tailed lizard, skittering past my foot. The only sound was the wind, moaning through rock crevices.

For the loveliest and most photo-friendly light, go to Arches in the early morning or near sunset.

Read the entire article.