Michigan to Oregon 2019 - Day 6 - Arches National Park, part 2

August 26 - Monday
Moab to Salt Lake City
We did get our early start. The early light on the Colorado River at the north end of Moab, looking west from Lions Park bridge. It was a pleasant 72F at 7:30.

Arches National Park Visitor Center

Courthouse Towers Viewpoint

The Petrified Dunes

The trail to the North and South Window Arches

Turret Arch

North Window (the light wasn't very good for South Window)

The trail to Double Arch

The Parade of Elephants

Double Arch

Double Arch ended up being our favorite of the day. We did stop at the Delicate Arch Viewpoint, which is the most famous of the arches, but we thought these arches were much more interesting. And it was a lot easier to get up close to them.

Sand Dune Arch trail

We left this one for last since it was mostly in the shade and it was headed to 100F again today.

This little guy liked the shade too.

The arch itself was pretty small compared to the others we had already seen.

But its surroundings were fascinating.

Time to head for our lunch spot.

Salt Valley

Panorama Point, our lunch spot. The shade was much appreciated since it was over 90F already.

The changing light angles really change what you see in each rock formation. Rocks we saw early this morning had a whole different character on our way back to the park entrance.

It has been a wonderful visit to this beautiful and dramatic landscape but now we need to move on.

Before heading north though, we checked out the Colorado River at Lion Park one more time.

This time the light looking east was much better.

The "check the oil" light came on just before here (Crescent Junction). They had lots of space aliens but not the kind of oil we needed. We did find what we needed in Green River, about 20 miles away.

Carbon County, on Highway 191, named for its major product which is coal.

It was quite the contrast to drive through Spanish Fork (for gas) and Provo (to get dinner), after driving all day through VERY sparsely populated parts of the state. It was big city all the way to our motel in West Valley. That shiny spot in the distance is Utah Lake.