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Arches - Utah

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Put on your coat, gloves and fuzzy hat because Utah is cold in the winter. Arches National Park is 119 square miles of over 2000 iron oxide rich, red rock arches at roughly 5000 feet above sea level, just minutes outside of Moab, Utah.

We stayed at a cute, old western themed hotel in the center of town. Santa was driving a covered wagon in front of the bunkhouse style exterior aglow with holiday lights. The tiny room was equipped with a mini kitchenette and knotty pine paneled walls and furniture. Very comfortable and warm!! http://www.moabredstone.com

We missed a winter storm a few days earlier, which left a dusting of snow on the monumental weathered rock formations, revealing depth and contrast to the otherwise predominately red landscape. Driving up the paved passage into the park, Park Avenue is the first formations you see and a little further is the Courthouse Towers viewpoint.

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Bundled up like an Eskimo, I rolled out of the car and waddled around the car to grab my camera and polarizer filter from the trunk, put on my gloves and fuzzy hat and began shooting. The sky was thick with clouds and intermittent breaks allowed the sun to peak through illuminating the formations for brief periods. We missed the most famously photographed Delicate Arch - the trails were pure ice up hill so we opted to move on down the road, stopping at Balanced Rock. As we were hiking around we noticed the ice crystals in the snow, perhaps formed by frozen fog? We took a few pictures but were not able to truly capture their uniqueness.

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Ice Crystals

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Courthouse 

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Double Arch


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Elephants
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Pine Tree Arch
We were losing the sun quickly but were able to capture some terrific shots of Skyline Arch before heading back to the hotel. The next day was cloudy and sunrise shooting was out of the question. We decided to make due with the available light and do some hiking. All bundled up we planned to hit the Windows section, Landscape and Pine Tree Arches. The Parade of Elephants really looked like elephants! We hiked closer to them and were in for a surprise - the Double Arches. Arches within arches high up but you really can’t see them from the parking lot, they must be seen up close see the full grandeur. We will have to make a second trip to Moab and the Arches in the spring for a different perspective and take the Jeep for some off-roading adventures.

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Location: Arches National Park, Moab, UT, USA

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