The Eight Wonder of the World
4829ft Climb

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The morning startup was slow for us as we drove from 60 miles south, from the small town of Monticello; we passed Moab which was several miles from the park entrance. For those who wanted to see just the Arches itself this beautiful town was a good choice for staying over.

We started out first of the day with the Delicate Arch, since we would use lot of our energy to scale this uphill of 4800 ft on a 1 mile trail under the high 80s in broad sunlight of the southwest without shade, a 480ft/146 meter on the slick rock. The entrance at the parking lot was the historical Wolf Ranch built by its residents, a Civil War veteran John Wesley and his son Fred settled here in the late 1800s.

It would be good to have a hat, water (recommending 1 quart per person) and climbing sticks if possible for the climb preparation in the arid, sunny weather of August. One-third of the trail was well made, slightly uphill when it came to a stop at the foot of a massive rock formation, where the incline took off in 30 to 45 degrees at the starting point, however it was not an extreme slope for most of people, yet hard to some. From here on there were few trail markings besides some stacked rocks to mark the foot trails, there was no trail on the massive rock bed. On top, the rock bed was leveled off, as hikers went through some winding terrains. Then came a single-sided trail against the rock walls and the 4000ft gradual drop beneath, about two-man crossing without handrails. The wind was light at this near top level.

The last turn coming out of the rocky walls was the summit. The sun was at its top past noon time, the winds were gutsy sometimes. At the summit, there were a few of the hikers, some came with their families, most were Europeans , some late coming groups brought their children at very young years of age, about five, to the top.
It was awesome at this top landing to view the Delicate Arch erecting itself straight up half way on the slope of this rocky bowl. The arch stood on the gradual slope of 4,800 ft drop on the bowl side, and a straight drop on the other side.
Magnificent of Creation!

We stayed for a while mostly around the bowl area, and under the arch. All visitors wanted have pictures taken under the arch. The moment, the sight was life-time memorable.


Return to the southwest
www.pbase.com/shaunwin/southwest

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