View of Delicate Arch area from the park road (2006-1027_9403) |
Trail to Delicate Arch Viewpoint starts here |
My goal was the red and white ridge in the left distance; my route went onto the road, then left into a wash |
Better view of the ridge goal, from the main wash in Cache Valley |
Two washes and one road in Cache Valley |
Wild zigzag route required here to avoid the cryptobiotic soil |
Trailhead parking lot: so close, yet a world away |
Recent rain caused this |
Go straight ahead toward nirvana |
Relaxing remnant of recent raucous rain---really! |
Checking out the route |
Dead end (see previous photo) |
By-passing the dead-end route (previous two photos) led to this |
The beauty of this bowl bowled me over |
Water channel and remnant of recent rain |
No storm this time (compare to similar shot of a few days earlier) |
Where I sat out the storm on the previous hike here |
Onward to inspect this formation |
Rock world |
Monuments to erosion |
Rock litter near the far end of the formation of an earlier photo |
Park boundary sign (tiny white speck in an earlier photo) |
Park boundary and Jug Rock |
Supplies for the boundary fence |
The original goal of this hike was the shadowy ridge ( I did get onto the left portion of the ridge) |
Looking across Cache Valley at The Windows Section on the horizon |
View of Delicate Arch (dead center on the horizon) is spoiled by an insensitive tourist |
Two-tone sand-stone |
This terrain inspired me to make an unplanned detour |
Arch topography |
Earlier explorations have taken me to the two marked areas (see description below) |
Pinon pine framing Delicate Arch |
Cave trying to become an arch, documented in another gallery (see below) |
Flora |
Delicate Arch framed yet again! (when will it end?) |
Five fingers |
Shallow patch of cryptobiotic soil as foundation for flora |
Salad bowl |
Fall colors |
Pinon pine |
Drainage |
Getting closer to the goal (the reddish ridge at left) |
At the base of the ridge |
View of Delicate Arch from the goal ridge |
Reverse view of viewpoint slab |
Moabian sandstone claims another victim |
View from ridge: "fingers" above Cache Valley |
High point of ridge: too much exposure for me |
On the way to the new route I passed the twins again |
Fence posts (but no barbed wire) below the twins mark a park boundary line |
Fence potential |
More fence potential; background: my original goal |
The route down into the amphitheater; note faint boundary post sign at far left |
Boundary marker (see next photo) |
Bench Mark: "U. S. General Land Office Survey 1928" |
Game trail through cryptobiotic soil |
Amphitheater tower seen on previous trips |
Delicate Arch standing above the amphitheater |
Delicate Arch |
The route ahead: bedrock and shadow |
The route behind: bedrock and boulders |
Ever-present: Delicate Arch, standing above everything |
Paintbrush (common paintbrush? annual paintbrush? Wyoming paintbrush?) |
Amphitheater tower again |
The route back toward "the twins" |
Flood debris of Winter Camp Wash (now I'm at the bottom of the amphitheater) |
Evil shadow below Delicate Arch |
The route down the wash looks like this |
Jet, arch, wall, and amphitheater |
Delicate jet |
Hiking route ahead |
Fingers of the viewpoint |
Looking up toward Delicate Arch Viewpoint from Winter Camp Wash amphitheater |
Flow pattern in the streambed sand |
Another, more distant, view of the viewpoint's "fingers" |
Delicate Arch getting "washed" (in Winter Camp Wash) |
Delicate Arch (optical illusion) |
Sacred mimicry advances a spiritual quest |
Final view of the amphitheater tower |
Follow the wash past the yellow bush and into the canyon |
What I was walking in |
Pleasant route out of the amphitheater |
This colorful scene is what I walked into |
The walls are closing in |
Last look back at the amphitheater |
I wish the Park Service would do something about this unsighly debris on the stream bed! |
Another untidy scene; maybe Adrian Monk will help me neaten this up |
Walls are getting shorter as I near the place for exiting the canyon |
This way out!---someone else was here |
Looking down on the canyon of Winter Camp Wash, where I came from |
Downstream view of Winter Camp Wash |
From the lower portion of the viewpoint ridge it is not possible to see Delicate Arch |
The view from the Delicate Arch Viewpoint |
View up the ridge from near the Delicate Arch Viewpoint |
Cache Valley |
Close to the parking lot (to the right) |
Railings |
Final picture of the hike: guard dogs in the parking lot |