Sunday, April 17, 2011

Arches National Park, Part II

Notice the beautiful La Sal Mountains.  I fell in love with them!

We spent a total of 5 days at "The Devil's Garden Campground" in Arches National Park.  Like I said in my previous post, we had a great visit with Robbie and Alice and also went on a hike together.  The trail was called "Park Avenue".   Robbie suggested we park one vehicle at our starting point and another at the ending point.  Since the trail was about a mile, we thought it was a good idea.  We took our time and Al and I both took lots of pictures.   Not sure it reminded me of the real Park Avenue, but it sure was beautiful.

After our hike and tour of the park we all rode into town and stopped at a nearby RV Park where another couple from the Montana Group, Dennis and Jackie were staying.  We all decided to all go into town and stop at a local pub where they were known for their great chicken wings.  We all had a great time.  All six of us were at the Quartzite Rally in January, where Robbie and Alice were the Wagon Masters, so it really is amazing how many people you meet in one place and run into again in another.


A few days after we arrived at the park, another couple, Laurie and John who we had met while in Lake Mead, arrived at the park.  We all got together that night at Robbie and Alice's for a campfire.   We were happy that we had a chance to spend some more time with them before we left, especially since they only live about a half hour from our home.  Whenever we run into people who have NY license plate, we almost always stop and ask them where they are from unless they beat us to it.  They had stopped by our campsite at Lake Mead.  Not only did we see them there, we also got together with them in Zion.  It seems we are visiting the same National Parks before heading home.  Not really a surprise though, because the weather was really getting better at all of these places, so now was the time to go.  We met up with them for dinner one night while at Zion.  Also, we went for lunch together at a great Mexican Restaurant in Moab one day while in Arches and did a little more touring of the area with them as well.


Al took this beautiful landscape photo of multiple arches.  Of course, this is why this is called Arches National Park.  There were so many arches there and some were very tough to spot.



Three quarters of the way over on the  right, the oval rock is called "balanced rock"  Like many of the rock foramtions, you can spot them from various places in the park.




Another of Al's landscape photos
 
More rock formations, so beautiful against the blue and white mountains!



This is the Park Avenue Trailhead. 



More of Park Avenue. 
 


This was one of Al's favorites.  It amazed him how the rock is balanced up there.  It is appoximately 200 ft. up in the air.
                        
On our hike we saw these three characters.  They are called the three gossips.  I wonder if they were gossiping about us?

Can you see the arch here?


Our friends and hosts, Robbie and Alice taken just before we said goodbye.  We were sorry to go, but all good things eventually come to an end and it was time to move on.  We have met some great people since starting out on our little journey and the nice thing is, we know when we say goodbye, we will eventually meet up with them again, perhaps in a different place. 


1 comment:

  1. Looks like you had perfect weather. Great to hear that you got together with more MOCers and other friends. We do the same as you when we see Washington plates and have made some good friends that way. It's so fun following your blog--keep up the good work.

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