Sunday, June 13, 2010

Hiking with Wendy in Arches

I haven't posted anything in a long time, so I decided today was a great day to catch up a little bit.  My friend Wendy and I decided to go for a hike in Arches a few weeks ago (that's how behind I am!).  I was not thinking right and wore jeans, a long-sleeved cotton t-shirt, no hat and no sunscreen on my neck.  Got my neck fried and my nose burned.  If it had been any warmer I'd have been very uncomfortable but it ended up being a fun day anyway.

We parked at the Park Avenue trailhead and walked up the road to a social trail, which we followed to a crack we could climb to the top of the slickrock.  We got some amazing views of Courthouse Wash and Park Avenue, plus the flowers were amazing.  I think Wendy took more flower pictures than I did but here is what I have for the day!

A view into the heart of Arches.


Blooming yucca and lots of sand and rocks.


Rough mule's ears (Wyethia scabra) blooming.


Can you spot Wendy in this picture?  She's tiny compared to the rocks! (middle)


A view at the top of Courthouse Wash.

We spent about four hours exploring up there.  Most of it was slickrock so we didn't have to worry about crushing plants or biological soil crust where we were.  We stopped to smell almost every new type of flower we saw, including fishhook cactusl, claret-cup cactus and cliffrose.