Arches National Park

2015-09-18

Do you want the good news, or the bad news first? OK, let's start with the bad news. After a 5 hour drive, we arrived at the visitor center for Arches National Park at about 4:30 PM. The parking lot was filled with cars, and there was a good line of cars just waiting to get in. Patiently we waited until we could find a parking space. As we walked up to the smiling Park Ranger I knew in my heart that there was not a chance in hell that there would be a camp site available for us, and she confirmed it. “Oh, all of our sites are reservable a year in advance, and they fill I up fast. We are fully booked,” she added. She suggested that there might be sites available outside the park. There goes the vision of camping under the arch filled night sky, I thought.

She was right. About 10 miles away, we found a commercial campground called Spanish Trail RV Park. At $40 for a site with only electric and NO shade we felt bummed out.

The approach to the first set of arches was breathtaking

Now for the good news. We left for the park at 6 AM, and it was everything and more than we had dreamed of. It was like being in a natural Disneyland. You be the judge. Here are just a few of the over 200 images I shot. I guess that we will be spending another night in this nasty overpriced campground, and going to the park early again tomorrow.

Anyone who dared climb to the top took this pose.

Here is a nice shot of a pair of arches

At this point Kim was a happy camper