While twice before I had explored Arches National Park — my favorite place in the entire state of Utah — I hadn’t been there for the past four years. But when my fiancée, Sue, and I traveled to Grand Junction, Colorado, last week for a memorial ceremony in honor of the late husband of one of her close friends, we were less than two hours away from the park. So of course we went there.

The park is famous for having more than 2,000 natural stone arches, probably the greatest concentration of them anywhere. But it also has hundreds of soaring pinnacles, massive fins, and giant balanced rocks. In fact, the first dramatic form that we saw was Balanced Rock, which is as large as three school buses.

Sue Poses Below Balanced Rock

Click on the picture above to enlarge

Later that morning we explored the North Window.

Sue Leaves the North Window

Click on the picture above to enlarge

Nearby is the dramatic Double Arch.

Double Arch Attracts Many Visitors

Click on the picture above to enlarge

Landscape Arch is the longest natural arch in the world, spanning 290 feet. We made sure to get to it early in the morning, arriving at 7 a.m. But rain came pouring down as we hiked through Devils Garden, so we turned back to protect my cameras. Then, as we waited in the car to decide what to do, the sky cleared and the rain stopped, so we returned to the trail. Since I was concerned that the rain might start up again, I left my Canon 7D and Canon 50D cameras in the car and grabbed my small Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2, which I could put in a pocket if necessary. But when we reached Landscape Arch not only was the weather dry but the sun came out. While I got my best photos yet of the arch, the color rendition didn’t please me. Fortunately, Sue had her iPhone 5S with her and got this great shot of the arch.

Landscape Arch in Early Morning Sun. (Photo by Sue Mote, Used by Permission)

Click on the picture above to enlarge

Later that morning we hiked up to the Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint to get the best morning view of what is almost certainly the most photographed arch anywhere. This freestanding arch may look small in this photo but is 65 feet tall.

Delicate Arch, at Left, from the Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint

Click on the picture above to enlarge

Late evening is the best time to see the world-famous view of Delicate Arch. It is a three-mile round trip that we had to time carefully. As we approached, we saw this small arch in bright sun before cloudy skies. But it is actually just a cairn to mark the trail over slickrock, so I call it False Arch.

False Arch

Click on the picture above to enlarge

Finally we reached famous Delicate Arch shortly before sunset and remained to enjoy the incredible setting as long as we could.

Delicate Arch and the La Sal Mountains in All Their Late Afternoon Glory

Click on the picture above to enlarge

Formed of Entrada Sandstone that was gradually worn away by weathering and eroding, only Delicate Arch remains. Less is more when it comes to arches.