Arches National Park

The image of Venus Crossing Between the Earth & The Sun

Tuesday, June 5 - Moab, UT, Day 5 - Canyonlands - 85.1 Miles Today, 5326.8 For the Trip

I spent my last day at Riverside Oasis catching some of the parts of Arches that I so far missed, at least on this trip. First I walked the Park Avenue Trail. Photos don't do it justice - the scale of the rocks on both sides is amazing. After that watched Venus track across the sun, a once in lifetime event, at least for me (and most of us since it doesn't happen again until 2117). They set up viewing stations at Panorama Point & Sand Dune Arch.

After that it was back to the trailer for an early steak dinner since the plan was to hike to Delicate Arch around sunset. As usual, I got started early and stopped to take a couple of photos of Wolf Ranch & the Ute Petroglyphs at the bottom of the trail, and reached the arch around 7:30. While I could have waited until sunset, the wind was bad enough that I only stayed for about 20 minutes. It felt like shooting during a hurricane. In fact, it probably was close since 60mph winds were predicted. You had to move carefully to keep from being blown off the cliff during the peaks.

After that I shot a couple of images of Skyline Arch and Balanced Rock at sunset. As usual, the rest of the photos are at today's 2011 Trip Page at LakeshoreImages.

Tomorrow I'm heading out early for Dead Horse State Park. If I don't get a space I'll head for Goblin Valley & try there.

Till Then!