The Flowers Explore - Double Arch - Arches National Park Day 2 - 2022/08/31-09/05

It's Day 2 at Arches National Park and there's still a lot of cool stuff to see!

Once again, we joined the crowd of cars in the queue to get in. Today it only took about 20 minutes. 

A quick stop at the Visitor's Center. 

It's early enough in the day that they can touch the statues. 

Love the little horns on the baby. 

That's a big sheep!

Yesterday we were at The Windows, but there's a section we didn't explore. 

It's the famous Double Arch! 

This is the tallest opening in the part at 104 feet high, and the second longest span of 148 feet. 

One of the great parts about it is the you can hike the half mile from the parking lot and there's no barriers to keep you from getting close!

You can hike right underneath it and climb up the back wall. 

Getting a family picture in front of the smaller opening. 

But can we climb up to the opening? 

I perched on one end while the kids scaled the other. 

Theresa and I swapped places. 

While I went over to join them. 

Looking down the other side. There's a good drop off. Not something we're going to attempt.  

Looking back into the opening between the two arches. 

Kids - Can we climb to the top (of the back)? 

Let's try it! 

It's a little steep, and a little slippery. 

But Alli and I made it up. Ian decided he wanted to turn around. 

Sometimes climbing down is more difficult than going up. 

A cool view. 

You can just see Theresa and the kids in the center under the arch. 

So that's Double Arch. 

Just beside it there's a few features that might eventually turn into arches too. Just give them a few hundred thousand years. 

I thought it was really interesting to see the different styles of rock. The top layer looks to be one homogenous piece, while just below it we see shale-like flat pieces that are breaking away. 

On the far right side is another opening. 

It's another cave. 

Kids, do you want to explore? 

Alli wasn't feeling it, so she turned back. 

Ian scrambled up this steep section. 

And made it up! 

The back of the wall. It doesn't go any further. I'll actually be featuring this more in a separate post. 

Made it. 

It's very cool in here. 

We chilled for a few minutes before continuing. 

Double Arch is my favorite so far! It's a really cool formation!