Day 11 Tuesday, May 24 Arches National Park / Moab to Torrey, Utah

We had breakfast, checked out and within a half hour we were in Arches National Park.  We climbed up on the huge mesa and proceded to the far end of the park.  Unlike Canyonlands, in Arches you are looking up at the rock formations as opposed to down into canyons.  We started at the Double Windows Arches.  This was a pair of nearly identical arches situated at the end of the bluff similar to Mesa Arch the day before.  Next we hiked to the adjacent Double Arch.  This involved our longest hike of the day at approximately 2.5 miles.  The views at Windows and Double Arch were great and we agreed that if that was the only stop of the day, we could leave the park and feel like it was a success.

We drove past Balanced Rock and Garden of Eden rock formations enroute to Delicate Arch.  Delicate Arch was high on a mountain of solid rock and much higher than either the upper or lower view points.  We climbed the half mile to the upper view point and I scaled the rock for another few hundred yards for a better view.  Delicate Arch looks small from a distance, however viewing through binos revealed tiny people standing in its shadows.  All along the way, we were treated to beautiful yellow, purple, white wild flowers.  We also observed cactus flowers in the park.   We were also fortunate to have bright sunshine which illuminated the red rock formations.  We returned to the entrance of the park after the long desent of switch-backs and left Arches and Moab.

We headed north on 191 out of town and rejoined I-70 west with its 80 miles per hour speed limit.  We stopped in Green River for a late lunch.  Another hour of so we exited onto Utah 72 south.  This was a good road through mountains and valleys and we saw only two cars and a road construction crew the entire drive down to Lyman.  At one point we were nearly 9000 feet elevation and there were remnants of snow and high wind over rocky hillsides that contained no crops, livestock or houses.  

We arrived in Torrey at 5:00 PM.  After unloading, we decided we needed a little relaxation so we sat in the hot tub for a while.  We had dinner at a local restaurant and will be trying to catch up on rest as we hope to get an early start tomorrow.  Signing off for now...