The state of Utah is blessed with some of the most astounding landscapes in the country. It has five national parks within its borders, a number bested only by Alaska and California. Earlier this year, I and a couple of friends spent a week in the Beehive State to experience some of this natural splendor for ourselves. This will be the first in a series of posts from this trip, and I figure there is no better place to kick things off than with Arches, where we spent roughly a day and a half.
Located a few minutes outside of the town of Moab, this aptly named park is best known for its many natural sandstone arches, eroded over eons by wind and rain. The most famous of these, Delicate Arch, is featured on Utah’s state license plates. The park has some two thousand arches, along with many other formations such as spires and fins, all carved out of the area’s distinctive ruddy sandstone.
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If you haven’t been to this corner of the globe but still vaguely recognize the landscapes, you may have Hollywood to thank for that. The area around Moab, and southern Utah more generally, was where many early Westerns were shot. To many around the world, when they think of the American West, it’s specifically this area along with adjacent northern Arizona they conjure up.
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After spending our first full day here, we returned in the second half of the following day specifically to get Delicate in the gorgeous late afternoon light.
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I was not aware that the this landmark sits on the southern brim of a large natural bowl, itself a pretty striking rock formation. If you look closely, you can see many people in the shadows on the right of the frame.
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After we hiked down from Delicate we still had some time til sunset, and took advantage to shoot what we could as we slowly made our way back toward the park entrance. I took some of my favorite shots in Arches in this short time, as the sun highlighted textures and set the sandstone aflame.
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More from Utah coming soon. Thank you for stopping by.
T A B U L A R A S A photography 