Free fotobanka : krajina, Skála, architektura, údolí, formace, oblouk, mezník, kaňon, terén, národní park, geologie, zřícenina, badlands, plošina, vádí, butte, sonycybershotrx100iii, needlesdistrict, landform, druidarch, utaharch, historické místo, dávná historie, geografický rys 5472x3648

My first destination on last week’s trip to Utah was the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. I planned to hike down to Angel Arch and camp there in order to get a sunrise photo. Backcountry camping in Canyonlands is tightly restricted. You need a permit. I checked online and found that, although most of the zones were booked up for many weeks, a permit was available for lower Salt Creek, which was where I wanted to go. I called the park backcountry office and learned why. The road to that zone was closed due to high water, and instead of a 12 mile hike, it would take 30 miles to get to Angel Arch and back. So I didn’t reserve a permit. I also learned that the campground fills up each day by 10 a.m. so I called the Needles Outpost, a private campground just outside the park, and reserved a spot for two nights. I changed my plan to a day hike to Druid Arch, which turned out to be 12 miles round-trip. After a night at the campground, I drove out to the trailhead at the end of Elephant Hill Road. The hike begins with a short, steep climb on the popular Chesler Park trail. Then it levels out and eventually leaves Chesler Park and the tourist crowd behind. There are several trail intersections, but all are well marked and I had no trouble finding my way along the scenic route down Elephant Canyon. After about 5 1/2 miles I came to a dead end. Before me was a living room-sized pool of water bounded by steep walls with a 6 or 7 foot pour-off at the end. I didn’t see any way to continue, even though I knew I must be close to the arch, so I turned around. According to the trail description, the last quarter mile is steep with some scrambling over exposed rocks and a ladder climb. I knew that I had to get up on the cliff face somehow. After about a hundred yards of retracing my steps, I saw the trail. It was clearly marked. I had walked right past it. The trail description was accurate. There was some steep climbing and scrambling, and a short climb up a ladder that was bolted to the rock. The difficulty was about as much as I care to encounter. (Coming back down was scarier.) The arch is in plain view from the side at several places along the trail, but it looks like a tall column of rock because you can’t see the openings from the side. So I didn’t know that this was it, until I reached the top of the trail. At that point my back was to the arch, and when I turned around the effect was breathtaking. The arch is 150 feet tall. I hung around for a few minutes and then turned to go back down. (You can see a little scale model of the arch that somebody created, on the front of the rock in the foreground.)

Na fotografii zdarma high-rozlišení krajina, Skála, architektura, údolí, formace, oblouk, park, mezník, kaňon, terén, národní park, geologie, zřícenina, badlands, plošina, vádí, butte, sonycybershotrx100iii, needlesdistrict, landform, druidarch, utaharch, historické místo, dávná historie, geografický rys

, odebraných v DSC-RX100M3 01/15 2017 Snímek pořízen s 9.0mm, f/8.0s, 1/320s, ISO 125