My second visit to Arches National Park was an unplanned one which forced me to enter before 7 o’clock in the morning because that was the only entrance time-slot I could get that fit into my plans. The time squeeze also required me to find a relatively short hike that was close to the entrance of the park and the Park Avenue Trail was perfect. While it doesn’t contain any arches, that wasn’t important to me because I’d seen plenty of arches on my previous visit, and arriving during sunrise provided me with spectacular views when I was on the trail between a plateau on the west and a blade of stone on the east. Overall, the hike was an easy, out-and-back between two parking lot viewing areas, and the trail switched between strangely patterned stone and sandy washes. It turned-out to be one of my favorite hikes of my 2022 road trip.
AllTrails Recording
Image Gallery
- Panorama from Park Avenue Viewpoint This is looking north down the Park Avenue Trail
- Further Down the Trail
- The Moon The moon sets in the southwest above the western plateau that borders the Park Avenue Trail.
- Sun Peeking I had plenty of views like this along the way as the sun rose over the blade of rock on the eastern side of the trail.
- Beautiful Shadows I had plenty of these views, as well, along the western side of the trail.
- Patterns in the Stone Many of the stones contained patterns along the trail.
- More Patterns
- Courthouse Tower Viewpoint A panorama from the viewpoint at the northern end of the trail.
- The Rise and Falll of an Arch This was an interesting idea that gave you an idea of an arch that possibly connect the gap in the distance.
Video Gallery
- Park Avenue Tour View Location Short tour of the Park Avenue Trail in Arches National Park.
- Stone Textures View Location Detail of texture in the stones in Arches National Park.
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