Thursday, 21 November 2024

Bird of Arches National Park: Common Raven

The sound of Arches is the croaking of these huge ravens

From crows in Seattle to ravens in Arches, the family Corvidae certainly making their presence felt on our trip.

Mighty geology of Arches National Park: Sandstone is the scenery maker.

Arches is dominated by exposed bedrock, featuring cliffs, spires, canyon walls, hoodoos, rock domes, plus the famous windows and arches, all made of bare rock. These erosional phenomena are all carved from the sedimentary rock layers with sandstone being the major rock type. Its beautiful shades of reds to oranges, interspersed with cappuccino white, give the park its special palette.

I am fascinated that sandstone is strong enough to form cliffs and domes and yet able to support spans to create magnificent arches like Landscape Arch, the longest arch in North America - almost 100 meters! At its narrow point it is just under 2 meters in diameter. 

A huge chunk fell off the arch in the 1990's and it feels like it is hanging on by a thread. 

The spectacular Landscape Arch

Each angle is quite outstanding.

The approach from the Devil Garden Trailhead is quite surreal.

The walk is an easy 3km, but the temperature was barely 1 degree and with the windchill we were cold. 
This first view is a just a taste of how incredible the views are along the approach.




Arches National Park: Mule Deer

Our first sightings of Mule Deer which is indigenous to western North America. In the northern section of Arches National Park we were coming back from Landscape Arch and found these deer in the grasslands near Tunnel Arch.


Mule Deer buck on the trail around Tunnel Arch.
These deer have white rump patch and a small white tail with a black tip. 

Keeping a keen lookout to see what the buck was up to. The gentle looking does with their 'mule-like' ears