First Day in Arches National Park
We went to Moab to explore the area and do some photography exploration over a week-long period. We arrived late on Sunday and left early on Friday which gave us 4 full days of hiking in this beautiful area. The weather cooperated most mornings and a few evenings for golden hour photography, but we got a variety of lighting from overcast, snowing, foggy, and full sun. In total, we hiked a little over 30 miles and over a mile in elevation on this trip. We came to the same conclusion that our favorite type of hiking is the type where we're alone or hiking with very few people so that we can enjoy nature to the fullest extent, as well as get a perfect photo with no one in it.
We arrive in Moab around 2PM after a 6 hour drive from our home. It was a long drive, but we were excited to get there and the drive went by pretty quickly. When we got to Moab, we went into Arches National Park to just wander around a little bit with nowhere in particular that we wanted to really go.
We first stopped at Balance rock, right off the road and pretty easy to walk around. The lighting was a little harsh but since you can walk around the entire thing, there's always a side that's lit up. We then ventured on to the North and South Windows as well at Turret Arch. This one was barely considered a hike since it was less than a mile and paved almost the entire way. There was always someone up close to or in the South window, which made it pretty hard to get a good photo. There were a few spots where I could get low enough to cover most of the people up with brush or the trail went off to the side that I could get almost no one in the photo, but for the most part, this area was packed. The South Window had fewer people on it. Maybe because you don't quite walk right up to it, so it was nice that we could at least get photos of one of the windows. Turret Arch was shooting directly into the sun and not very photogenic. Maybe we'll come back to this spot a little later in our trip to get Turret Arch in the early or mid morning.
Our final destination for an evening was Tower Arch. We have several hikes planned out in the early morning or late afternoon to try and get some good golden hour lighting. The first thing we had to do to get to this hike was to drive on a dirt road, which made us feel pretty secluded which was nice after coming from the packed Windows area. When we got to the parking lot, there were only 2 other cars there, and one group was on their way out. When we got to Tower Arch, there was a couple with their children running around screaming, but they left shortly after we got there and had the arch all to ourselves for the entire evening. The sunset wasn't all that great because there were too many clouds in the way, although I'm not sure that sunset was the right time to be there anyway because of the location of some prominent features directly to the West of Tower Arch that cast a shadow. Even though we weren't there at just the perfect time for the lighting, we still enjoyed being there alone in the quiet vastness that is Arches National Park.
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Balance Rock
Our first destination when we entered the park was Balance Rock, mostly because of how accessible it is right off the side of the road. I didn't consider this a hike since it was pretty flat and less than a quarter-mile around the formation. We were both quite surprised that the photos actually turned out pretty well considering the harsh light.
North Window
Our next stop was to go visit the Windows area of the park. The Windows were jam packed with people, so we had to get creative to get photos without anyone in them. Mostly this resulted in getting low so the rush covered them, or in this case, cropping off the right side of the photo.
In the Window
South Window
The South Window was a lot more empty than the North Window, probably because there wasn't a trail that lead right up to it like there was for the North Window. I like the composition of the South Window better than the North Window anyway.
North And South Windows
From the West of the Windows you an get a shot of both of them looking like eyes with a nose right in the middle.
Sandy Hike
The hike to Tower Arch got sandy pretty quickly. There was a section of pretty steep grade that was all sand and very difficult to walk through. At the top, I stopped to take a photo and catch my breath.
![Tower Arch](/photos/2021/march/album270756img_3829_panorama1_1.jpg)
Tower Arch
We made it to Tower Arch and it was a gorgeous location but bad lighting. We were just happy to be away from all the people after being at the Windows area.
Storm on the Horizon
There were storms to the South that you could see form the Tower Arch area. This storm ended up over the Las Sal mountain range over night which gave a nice dusting of snow on the high mountains.
From Behind the Arch
One of the cool things about Tower Arch was that you could walk all around it. Since we were the only ones there, we ran all over the place, something you can see from the trail map from my GPS.
Marching Men
I thought these spires were pretty cool because of their even spacing and thinness. Turns out these spires have a name, they're called the Marching Men.
Klondike Bluffs
We got great views of the Klondike Bluffs all along the way of the hike, but there were harsh shadows on the way out to Tower Arch, but the lighting was a lot more even on the way back.
![Klondike Bluffs and the Marching Men](/photos/2021/march/album270756img_4014_panorama1.jpg)
Klondike Bluffs and the Marching Men
The hike goes right between the Klondike Bluffs (to the left in this photo) and the Marching Men (the spires to the right in the photo).