Arches National Park

 After 3,500 miles on the road together, Sarah finally gets behind the wheel of Betty and drives the remaining 40 miles to Shelf Road.

Searching for a new climbing area outside the crowed crags of Denver, we headed southeast for a dusty little town called Canon City. Just beyond the city limits we found an area called Shelf Road that offered the forearm-blistering, finger-wrecking climbing style we were searching for, unfortunately for us, we also found the scorching summer heat amongst the vast limestone bluffs....we quickly realized why this area was less traveled during this time of year.  

Our commitment to Shelf Road quickly deteriorated after spending our first night in the sun-baked van, after our second night, all personal fortitude was gone and we quickly agreed that a more northernly trajectory was our best option. 

We planned a course towards northern Utah, I slammed a Red Bull before our departure and we drove through the night.

Utah is just one of those states that you can't help but stop and enjoy the unique and amazing sights regardless of the heat.

Here we are at Arches National Park, home to over 2,000 sandstone arches. The picture is of Balanced Rock, just a little rock formation standing a 130' tall, the top boulder is equivalent to three school busses.

The view from the Park Avenue Trail

Just another picturesque view of the sandstone walls on the Park Avenue Trail.

Sarah and I standing under the Delicate Arch, the landmark depicted on the Utah license plate.

Sarah took her time to appreciate the 52' arch, here she is standing under it alone....I don't think she realized that there was a group of people waiting to photograph the arch without her standing under it and gazing into the distance.