Big holes in big rocks: Arches National Park

We had a great morning hiking at Arches. The plan was to be out early and back to our room by lunchtime, which allowed us to hike before the worst of the afternoon heat.

The drive into the park winds through a jaw-dropping series of red sandstone formations, huge slabs of rock like tables tilted on their sides. These are accompanied by monoliths that jut out of the earth like fingers and hoodoos that look like boulders stacked on top of each other. 

We decided to hike in the Windows section, which has the park's highest concentration of arches. This was a fantastic hike that took us by Turret Arch and the North and South Windows.

Our final destination (above) was Double Arch, where twin arches soar far overhead. Once again, I'm struck by the scale of all this - not only the arches themselves, but the vast landscape they inhabit. Looking at all this, you can't help but feel very small. 

On our way back, the trail passed through a sandy patch where the kids spotted a variety of animal tracks. With the help of a guide book, they identified tracks of striped skunk, northern pocket gopher, either kit fox or coyote, and the strange tracks of the foot-long collared lizard, which can walk for short stretches on its hind legs.

We're off to Canyonlands right now, but because of the heat, we're confining ourselves to a driving tour.