Pack Creek

We drove south through Utah (taking a detour into Colorado so to add another state to our list of those visited) to Moab, which would be our base for exploring the Arches National Park and a stepping stone to the Monument Valley. The scenery changed again and even more dramatically as we left the dusty plains and entered canyons of towering red rock, which we seems to squeeze through. Moab is a major centre for mountain biking and off-road culture and with this weekend being Memorial Weekend in the US (think a Bank Holiday weekend and Remembrance Sunday combined) the road through town was streaming with off-road vehicles in various states of cleanliness as well as vehicles strapped with and towing mountain bikes.

After setting up camp we had a few hours to ourselves (which we used to explore Moab and give this blog a much needed update) before heading out to the Arches National Park to view the Delicate Arch at sunset. After an hour’s hike up and over sandstone boulders and cornering a walkway hewn out of the rock face we came to the Delicate Arch. The arch starred back at us across a gaping amiptheatre of smooth red sandstone. On one side of the crescent walkway was a sheer drop whilst on the other was a steep slope to a floor 20 or more metres below. The arch itself stands 20 metres high and the scale is truly felt by watching others make their way around to stand underneath it. The sun began to set behind us and the light reflected against the sandstone to highlight its many red and orange shades.
Unfortunately the sun was not to last as thunder clouds moved in and lighting began to strike in the distance. As dramatic as this was, the wind began to howl around the amphitheatre, buffering us like the warning of an angry god. With actually sunset still some hour away we decided to begin our descent for safety. Darkness descended as we returned to our van and back to camp. For a while the van was silent as we looked out the windows and contemplated what we had seen.Read more