Awoke to more snow in Salt Lake, but the day was brightening as I set off for the nearby Copper Mine. Sadly that was closed due to the weather at the peak (yeah, you have to go up to get into the mine), so I took advantage and set out for the Arches National Park. The drive was a mere 3 hours and the roads got nicely twisty through some mountainous regions. Slowly the snow receded from the hilltops and the rocks turned a burnt orange colour.
Arches is a fairly small park, so I thought I'd be able to rattle it off quickly. Instead I spent five hours taking photos of rocks, and hiking to more rocks to take more photos. But what rocks! I almost didn't do the 3 mile hike to the Delicate arch, but am so glad I tackled the 1,200ft of elevation, traversing 2ft wide rock ledges on cliffsides as I was blown away. Once I'd recovered from the strong winds, the view was amazing, the height of the place vertigo inducing, and I left reluctantly with a smile on my face. Just as I'd seen those walking back down on my way up.
I'm keeping this blog short as I'll be talking about rocks for another few days, plus I'm tired, hungry and about to hammer the hotel broadband, uploading a fat wodge of photos. Just to note that I got my first room upgrade in Moab... Double king-size and an office/lounge room next door. Plus I was welcomed with complimentary fresh popcorn. Excellent!