Arches NP and scenic drive through Canyonlands and Capitol Reef to Bryce Canyon
After a short sleep in the “Affordable Inn” I was hitting the road and reached the state border of Colorado/Utah.
That area of the Rocky Mountains is rather a plateu at about 5000 ft average altitude. The highway is running here straight for 10-20 mile stretches only following the slight changes is the altitude. Driving is still not boring at the maximum allowed speed of 75mph or 130kmh, because the landscape is always changing and there is always some small detail along the road to see. My only concern is that I am sometimes confused with the units. See an example below; I am driving 130 but by chance not kmh:)
A bit later than expected I arrived close to Moab at the entrance of the NP. They say that in that park the concentration of natural arches is the highest in the world and here is of course biggest arch to see, spanning over more than 60m.
I have to add that it is impressive, but I remember to see big ones like that in Iceland and Patagonia as well. The difference is that those are still in the water at the oceanfront and the ones here are out of the water for thousands of years.
I took the time to make the longest hike of the park, bringing me to 5 different arches over a sometimes quite difficult terrain. I liked very much that there was some snow on the ground making the scene even more colorful and nice.
Although in the morning the temperature was close to -5C, I was sweating a lot during the hike. If you come here you have to be prepared for 20-30 C temperature variation within a day. The air is so dry that you don t feel the cold and the sun was shining really hard. The high altitude (ca 2500-3000m) is making the whole walk exhausting.
At 14.30 I left the park and still had to do 240miles to arrive my motel for today. Since it becomes dark short after 5 dark I had to hurry up. The route was really beautyfull with snow snow dotted deserts, curvy roads following the canyons and rivers and high altitude passes with a lot of snow. Live need for speed....
Tomorrow I see the Bryce Canyon and heading to Las Vegas
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