Sunday in the Spring is very busy at Arches. There are hundred's of cars, RVs and tour buses taking up all the available parking spots at Devil's Garden, a popular hike.. We walk a half mile just to get to the entrance of the7.2 mile strenuous desert hike.
The first mile of the hike is clogged with American, German and Japanese tourists. A Japanese lady asks me to take her picture. Her little camera is very confusing. I have it turned backward at first, so she will have a memory and picture of a huge, ugly, hairy, gajin (gaikokujin), barbarian when she returns to Japan.
After the first mile and the spectacular Landscape Arch, the trail turns primitive, sandy and strenuous. The few hikers that we pass are young, athletic and well equipped. I love their backpacks with the sipping straws to keep the hikers hydrated.
I find a huge sandstone formation that I can walk up. It provides a panorama of hundreds of square miles of geologic formations. The quiet is broken only by a raven.
Landscape Arch will probably collapse in the foreseeable future. They keep the tourists well away. 60 tons of rock came down in 1991 after some hard rain.
Blooming Prickly Pear.
I don't know what this tree is. The flowers smell really good...almost like night blooming Jasmine.
beautiful....one of my most favorites of the southwest...silsot
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