“You thought God was an architect”, sings the great Singer/Songwriter @JasonIsbell, but “now you know He's something like a pipe bomb ready to blow. And everything you built it's all for show; goes up in flames in 24 frames.”
That isn’t really whats happen in Arches National Park in Utah, but this nature gem will tell you, that you´re right, when you think about God as an architect. Yes, He's the greatest of all time and you can see this in this unbelievable red-rock-wonderland with it's stone-bows and bridges, needles, plates and walls.
Arches is a wide-angle landscape of colors, land forms and textures unlike any other in the world and already the journey there is a journey that remains unforgettable for everyone. The road through Arches National Park winds itself up the mountain as a scenic drive like no other. You drive directly into a planet of towering cliffs and fantastic formations straight in the middle of desert landscape full of dust and sand.
The huge stone arches, balancing boulders. mighty stone pillars and rows of oversized rock slats are located in the eastern part of Utah, on the desert-like Colorado Plateau, between 1400 and 1800 meters in elevation. You have to drive the 35 kilometer long park road to explore highlights like the Three Gossips, the North and South Window Arch, Landscape Arch, Devils Garden, Sand Dune Arch and Fiery Furnace.
No worries, the street is well-developed and where amazing structures made of red sandstone are awaiting guests the National Park Administration has build stopping bys and parking lots for the crowd. Mostly it is a short walk from there to the hidden arches were made from two causes: First, the slightly carbonic rainwater which infiltrates the permeable sandstone dissolves the sand grains solidifying binder. After time and time, the grains of sand fall out.
The second one is much more easier to understand: In the so-called Entrada sandstone are three layers of stone of different hardness. The middle one is the softest and therefore the fastest weathered. In this area now arise first small niches, then caves and holes that expand over the millennia into stone arches which are then admired by tourists.
No one even can see all the 2,000 natural stone arches, the hundreds of soaring pinnacles, massive fins and giant balanced rocks scattered over this endless area. But you have to hurry: It has need 150 years to make this wonder and since 1977 43 of the arches and bridges and pinnacles have collapsed. It`s about one rock sculpture a year. So in 2000 years Arches will be completely washed away.
Be prepared for a walk to the Double Arch, you can see them from the road. And for a little longer trail to Landscape Arch, the biggest bow of stone you will ever see in your life. If you right under this magnificent bridge of sandstone, as thin as a knife blade forged by nature itself, you know it again. Yes, God is an architect!
More pictures under the link-section!
Follow me on my journey through America:
Zion Canyon: Ice-cold feet in narrow waters
Bryce Canyon: God's glowing stones
Las Vegas: Home of Bad Luck
Red Rock Canyon: Road under the ocean
The dry throat of the desert
Mt. Withney: High on thin air
Eating flies on Mono Lake
80.000 miles of steel wire
Beyond the everlasting trees
Crazy climbers at El Capitan
The wonder of the Sierra Waves
Into the home of horror
Where Easy Rider is alive
Blue skies over Alabama Hills