Arches National Park, Utah

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Garden of Eden, Arches National Park, Utah
Author: Christian Mehlführer (Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 Generic)

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Arches National Park is a national park in Utah. It is noted for having over 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch. In addition, Arches National Park has a variety of unique rock formations.

Arches National Park is located near Moab, Utah, and covers an area of 119 square miles (309 sq km). It ranges in elevation from 4,085 feet (1,245m) to 5,653 feet (1,723 m) at Elephant Butte. Since 1970, erosion has toppled 42 of the arches in the national park, even though Arches receives only 10 inches (250 mm) of rainfall a year.

The famous Delicate Arch at Arches National Park
Author: National Park Service Photo (public domain)

Among the notable formations at Arches National Park are:

Delicate Arch: a lone-standing arch which has become a symbol of Utah
Balanced Rock: a large balancing rock, the size of three school buses
Double Arch: two arches, one on top of the other
Landscape Arch: a very thin, very long arch over 300 feet (100 m); the largest in the park
Fiery Furnace: an area of maze-like narrow passages and tall rock columns (see biblical reference Fiery Furnace)
Devil's Garden: with many arches and columns scattered along a ridge
Dark Angel: a free-standing column of dark stone at the end of the Devil's Garden trail.
Courthouse Towers: a collection of tall stone columns
Petrified Dunes: petrified remnants of sand dunes blown from the ancient lakes that covered the area.

The area, administered by the National Park Service, was originally designated as a national monument on April 12, 1929. It was redesignated a national park on November 12, 1971. More than 730,000 people visited it in 2004.

Double-O-Arch, Arches National Park, Utah
Author: Tobias Alt (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported)

Visiting Arches National Park

The entrance to Arches National Park is 5 miles north of the town of Moab, accessible on US Highway 191. The park is open all year round, 24 hours a day. The visitor center is open from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm from April to October, and from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm from November to March. It is closed on Christmas Day.

Admission pass is $5 per person (who comes on motorcycles, bicycles, on foot) and $10 per vehicle (and all its occupants). The pass is good for 7 days. Camping is available at the Devils Garden Campground, for $20 per night.

Other sites in Utah with natural bridges and arches include Natural Bridges National Monument and Rainbow Bridge National Monument.

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