Winter Time at Arches National Partk

Visitors at Delicate Arch, December 20. 

Winter is the time to visit Arches National Park. The park has become so famous that it's almost un-visitable (if that's a word) for most of the year. Crowds, full parking lots, dumb visitors stopping their cars in the road to jump out and take pictures, blocking any traffic behind them. The National Park Service has weighed all options to relieving the overcrowding. Don't be surprised if they feel they have to go to a reservation system before long. Yes, just to drive into the park. That's how bad it's gotten.

Wintertime is much better, the only time I go there any more. The town of Moab is uncrowded, the motel rates are very reasonable if you're staying overnight, and the weather is not unbearably hot like in summer. Finally, in winter the distant La Sal Mountains are shining in the sun with a fresh coating of snow. Better photos.

From the entrance station at Arches (only one lane open, and I was the only vehicle at the time, giving me time to chat with the Ranger on duty) it was a 30 min. drive to the trailhead to Delicate Arch at Wolfe Ranch. The parking lot was only about half full. The weather was chilly but sunny, quite pleasant for a hike.

The 1.5 mile long hike took a leisurely 45 minutes to the arch. There was a small crowd of people there, but if you waited a bit you could get a closeup of Delicate Arch with nobody standing underneath it for their selfie picture. Or get one with a human posing to show the scale. Your choice.

If you use your imagination, Delicate Arch looks like a cowboy's legs, with leather chaps. Bowlegged and all. Nothing above the belt, though.

Delicate Arch and the distant La Sal Mountains.

Photo location: Arches National Park, near Moab, southeast Utah.

© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg

Red Rocks and Mountain Tops, Utah

Arches National Park and La Sal Mountain Range, Utah

Red rock sandstone spire, compressed across the distance to the snowy La Sal Mountains. From west of Moab, Utah, to east of it.


Arches National Park, Utah.

Footprints in the Red Sand, Arches

Red sand footprints, Arches National Park

Lots of footprints in the sand between the fins. Sandals and tennis shoes. 


How much do you want to bet that most, if not all, wanted to go barefoot here?


Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah.

Fins "L" Sunlight, Arches National Park

"L" sunlight, Arches

Into the fins, the vertical, highly eroded, mesmerizing walls and spires of red sandstone in Arches.


In this photo, I had a tough time balancing the extreme contrast between the deep, soft shadows and the gash of sunlight tearing through a gap in the fins to the right. The "L" of sunlight seemed to reflect off the sandstone at the base of the fin.


Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah

Into the Fins, Arches

Arches National Park, Utah

On the trail to Sandstone Arch, I enter a tiny portion of the vast sandstone fins. 


Cool in the vertical stone shadows, with soft diffused light and bright blue sky and sunlight streaks above. Peaceful, mesmerizing. 


All but impossible to portray photographically. Thus, especially intriguing.


Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah.

Edge of the Furnace, Arches

Arches National Park, Utah

The Fiery Furnace area of Arches National Park is an uplifted, eroded seam of red sandstone. 


The "fiery" part of its name comes from warm, low sunlight glowing off the red sandstone cliffs, hoodoos and pillars at sunset. Meanwhile, through the day, the innumerable vertical fins of red stone create deep, cool shadows. And, apparently, a maze of places to walk and become lost. Literally. So the area is restricted to exploration in the presence of one of the park rangers. 


In this photo, the sandstone fins form an exquisite foreground for the expansive sweep of the high desert valleys, on to the snowy La Sal mountain range on the far horizon.


Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah

Beneath Sandstone Arch

Sandstone Arch

I love the hues that come from blue sky sunlight softly reflected off the innumerable angles of red sandstone.

Arches National Park, Utah

From Arches

View from Arches National Park, Utah

Wood and Sand, Arches National Park

Juniper wood in the sand, at Arches National Park, Utah.

Frosted Wood Waves, Arches National Park

Trees retain their beauty long after they've perished. As their wood decays, they can reveal beautiful patterns. 

Here a downed tree (probably a juniper) is coated with frost and dusted with red sand.

Arches National Park, Utah

Delicate Arch, the Big View

Delicate Arch Environs, Arches National Park, Utah

We've all seen countless photos of Delicate Arch, the iconic red sandstone formation that is not only the symbol of Arches National Park near Moab in southeast Utah, but even as the backdrop for the Utah license plate.

Photos of Delicate Arch are usually taken in late afternoon or at sunset time, when the sun is shining on it from the west (from the left in this scene). This photo, however, was taken in the morning, making the famous arch a silhouette, full into the glare of the early sunlight. Tough conditions.

But it shows something at least as amazing as the arch. It shows that Delicate Arch is a remnant of a huge red sandstone bowl. It's part of the lip of the bowl, and of course ever eroding. 

Notice the two couples in the scene, to give you a sense of scale.

Arches National Park, Utah.

You might also be interested in my Grand Canyon Photography blog.