Christmas in Arches 2012
Saturday & Sunday, December 15-16, 2012
Each year Amanda and I take a trip to Arches National Park around Christmas time. It’s become kind of a tradition for us. This year we planned the trip two weekends before Christmas because of Amanda’s work schedule closer to the holiday. Some years we only go down for a day trip, but this year we got a hotel room in Moab and spent the full weekend.
On Saturday morning we left bring at early from Grand Junction so that we could make it to the park for sunrise. Unfortunately, the sky was very overcast this morning, so there wasn’t a sunrise. Instead, we decided to stop and hike the Park Avenue trail when we arrived. It’s been a few years since I hiked this short trail, but Amanda had not hiked it before. We started at the bottom and hiked to the top before returning the same way. It was pretty cold and windy out, plus we got rained on a few times, but we did have the trail to ourselves.
Looking back at The Organ from the slickrock wash this overcast morning.
Organ View by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
The Organ with Balanced Rock on the horizon.
Organ & Balance by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
Next up we stopped at the Courthouse Wash bridge and hiked up to Ring Arch. Neither of us had been here before, so it was nice to visit a new arch this trip.
Ring Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr