Grand Theft, Photography

Well, folks, this is a first for me. I''ve stolen these photographs from Andy Cook at a website of his photos of the Rockies called Rocky Mountain Reflections. He has some stunning photos of Colorado and Utah. You can go to his website and see some of his other photos. You can find him by searching for images of Moab.



Anyway, for those of you who have yet to visit Moab, I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what we have around here. The top photo is of Mesa Arch which is in Canyonlands National Park in the Island in the Sky district. The La Sal Mountains, Moab's local mountian range is in the distance.



The second picture is of the Windows section of Arches National Park and again the La Sals are in the background.


The third photo is of the most famous arch in the world, Delicate Arch. This arch is featured on our license plates and in lots of advertising and promotional materal for Utah and Moab. I heard a story about the naming of Delicate Arch and the mixup that occured when the USGS put the names on the map. There is another arch in the park, now called Landscape Arch, which is almost 100 yards from base to opposite base. You could put a football field beneath it. The rock forming Landscape tapers to just six feet in width and is very delicate in appearance and will someday fall into the sand. Delicate Arch, is not particularly delicate and was supposed to be called Landscape Arch because one could take pictures with the landscape of the La Sals in the background or inside the arch. In any case, the names were transposed and now are universaly accepted.


The last photo is of Chesler Park in Canyonlands National Park and is about 60 miles from Moab. Canyonlands is a much larger Park than Arches and has the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers. Most of the features of Canyonlands require a long day hike or a backpack trip. Canyonlands is truly a hiker's paradise and a very pristine park. Arches, in contrast, is well served by roads to the trailheads that take you on short walks to the arches themselves. Similar to Yellowstone, which has the bulk of the world's thermal activity, Arches has the bulk of the world's arches.


My apologies to Andy Cook for stealing his pictures. I hope he doesn't sue me. If no one tips him off, I might get away with it.