Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Our Utah Adventure: Day Five, Part II: Sand Dune and Skyline Arch

 This is a continuation of a travel series to Utah.  To start at the beginning, go  HERE.  The rest of the posts in chronological order are HERE,  HEREHEREHEREHEREHEREHEREHEREHEREHERE,HERE,  HERE, and HERE!

Day Five was our last day of vacation before we had to head home.  This has been a LONG travel series, as we did a lot in five days.  Next week will be the very last post.  I know some of you are probably cheering "Hip, Hip, Hooray" right now, as it has taken me so long to cover everything.  

On our last day of vacation, after we watched the sunrise at the Windows Arches, we got back in our car to see some of the arches we missed during our first visit to Arches National Park.

The first arch we came upon was Skyline Arch.  This arch you can see right from the road, you don't even need to get out of your car.  But my husband and son being the adventurers they are, wanted to get as close to this arch as possible so we parked the car in the small pull off.


It's a short 0.4 mile round trip trail to the base of the arch.  My hubby and son were disappointed that there was no way to get closer to the arch.  This is a HUGE arch, and there was no way to climb up for the boys.  The height of the arch is 33.5  feet and the span is 71 feet.


In the photo below you can see the boys standing at the base of the arch.  That gives you a lot of perspective at how tall this rock formation is.

An interesting thing about this arch is that it didn't always look like this.  Arches are constantly changing due to erosion.  In 1940 a huge boulder suddenly fell out of the arch essentially doubling the opening.


Another arch we stopped at was a fun one.  The irony is, when I read the description of the arch and trail to my husband, he didn't even want to stop!  He didn't think it would be worth it.  But it ended up being one of our favorite arches because it was so different!

This arch is called "Sand Dune" arch.  The reason it is called "Sand Dune" is because you literally walk in very deep sand to reach it.  The sand can be kind of taxing on the legs to walk on, but thankfully it is a very short 0.3 mile trail.


This arch is a hidden gem.  You would never know it was there if not for the trail guide.  The arch is hidden and surrounded among very tall rock formations.  The trail leading to the arch is so mysterious and fun.  You have to first walk through this narrow opening.


My son had fun crawling up all the rock formations as usual.


This arch is so unique.  You feel like you discovered a magical place when the trail widens out and the arch is revealed.  I loved the way the light shone inside.


You are not allowed to climb on any of the arches in Arches National Park, but you can climb other rocks and of course explore the area up around the arch.



This last picture shows a typical hiking day of the Johnson Family.  I'm usually sticking to the trail, while hubby and son are running off the beaten path and rock climbing.


Next week I will finish up the series with a few more arches, one of them being the famous " Landscape Arch".

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

39 comments:

  1. That is beautiful!! I love that place!

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  2. I am not at all sick of reading these posts!

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  3. Wow! This is such a majestic part of the world! I am loving the formations and shapes. I'm so glad you shared these photos with us :)

    Thanks for making 'My Corner of the World' a success this week!

    My Corner of the World

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  4. Wonderful photos! They made em very excited. We hope to visit a few Utah National parks this upcoming spring.

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    1. Thanks! I hope you get there. Spring is a great time of year to visit Utah.

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  5. A dream of a vacation for sure! So many great trails you found and these look just as impressive as the other! Beautiful pictures!

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  6. Amy, We were in Utah many years ago, and your post makes me want to return. Your photos are stunning! I like the perspective of the people next to the structures. I gather they want to preserve the Arches. Therefore, no climbing on them. Thanks for sharing an interesting post! #MLSTL

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  7. More Utah! You certainly got your money's worth out of the trip Amy. It's nice that you can use your blog to share all these amazing pictures. I hope life is treating you well now you're back home and I'd love to read a post about how things are going for you currently.
    Thanks for linking up with us at MLSTL and I've shared on my SM 😊

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    1. I’m sorry your tired of Utah posts. Whenever I travel somewhere I do a series instead of just one large post. I feel I can really get in depth that way and people who are planning vacations in that area find them very helpful. I won’t link them up to MSTL anymore. As for a “Life Currently “ post I have done a few in the past but honestly my life doesn’t change that much to warrant doing more. My “Grandma and Me” posts, which I do monthly, are my more personal posts where I share life updates.

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  8. Fabulous countryside and I love your photos Amy, it reminds me a bit of central Australia with all the red rock! Visiting from #mlstl

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  9. Oh that sand dune arch is so pretty! It's nice you were able to go out of your way and visit it! :)

    Hope that you are having a great week :)

    Away From Blue

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  10. God's beauty!! What a nice place to visit and fun time with family, too!

    Carrie
    curlycraftymom.com

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  11. After all your posts, I am really wanting to go!

    Amy Ann
    Straight A Style

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  12. Wonderful photos. Utah is on my destinations to visit list!

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  13. Mother Nature at its best! These arches are so beautiful and I bet they were even better in person. Sounds like you guys found a few gems and I would love to see this one day. Happy Saturday and happy 1st day of February!

    Maureen | www.littlemisscasual.com

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    1. Yes, so amazing in person. I hope you can see this park someday.

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  14. Glad you enjoyed it and I’m happy you found my blog.

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  15. I've never even heard of those arches before. They really are amazing. Can you imagine being the first person to discover them? The sand looks like carpet between the walls. It' all so perfect. Thank you for the trip since I'll probably never get to go there.

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    1. Yes they are. That’s funny you should mention that because whenever my husband and I travel we wonder that or think about what the people must have thought when coming upon such a place.

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  16. I've enjoyed this series - seeing all of these wonderful formations - and I love the idea of hiking through the sand to get to the one arch. Sand is a wonderful exerciser and your legs get a really great workout (though I'm sure getting the sand out of your shoes before you get back into the car is a pain in the butt). Such gorgeous colors, too, with the purples of the shadows and the terra cottas. It's easy to see where the southwest color scheme comes from. I worked in an open-pit copper mine for a week and the "drippings" down the sides of the terracotta and purple walls of the rock was turquoise. It was just breathtaking (though the work actually sucked). Thanks so much for sharing this and I'll be sad to see the series end.

    Ruth
    https://voguefauxreal.com/2020/01/26

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    1. Thanks so much for saying that. Yes, sand is definitely a great exerciser and that sounds like quite an interesting, though hard job.

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  17. I've seen all the Utah parks now. I think arches is my favorite. But it is a hard choice.
    All amazing!

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    1. Wow, that’s impressive you’ve seen them all as there are so many parks in Utah.

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  18. That looks amazing. I've not traveled to Utah for any adventures and now I want to! :)

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    1. Thank you, that’s great, I hope you get there!

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  19. Utah is one of my favorite states. I've never seen the arches. I hope to visit again, I'll be adding the National Parks to my list of Things to Do. Thanks for sharing.

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