Dave and I started our day enjoying a beautiful sunrise over Monument Valley.
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We started our last day in Moab with a trip to the beautiful Arches National Park and left for Monument Valley around noon. This was the main reason for visiting the park today – Landscape Arch.
Canyonlands National Park is a massive park with numerous districts, trails and overlooks. The park preserves its natural beauty throughout its four districts, which are divided by the Green and Colorado rivers. The four districts are the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze, and the rivers themselves. Dave and I chose the Island in the Sky district, stopped at a few main overlooks along the road, and took only one trail to the impressive Mesa Arch, which is depicted in the picture below.
We started from where we left yesterday, from the Balanced Rock formation.
We headed to Arches National Park early in the morning, but the weather didn’t cooperate with us today. It was raining last night and it seemed like it was going to rain again. The dark red rocks looked beautiful and enigmatic, but not as bright and colorful as in the sunlight. We payed the park admission and proceeded on the winding road to the park passing the visitor center.
While the park is most well-known for having over 2000 registered natural sandstone arches, including the famous Delicate Arch and Landscape Arch, there is more to see than just the arches. Here is Park Avenue, one of the first stops after entering Arches National Park.
It was a cloudy morning; therefore, Dave and I didn’t have a chance to enjoy the beautiful sunrise colors this time. Luckily, Bryce looks gorgeous at any time. A view from Sunrise Point.
Morning rewarded us with a beautiful sunrise over Lake Powell and Marina.
Our next stop was at Antelope Canyon. Page, Arizona is home to some of the most spectacular geological marvels you’ll ever see. Upper Antelope Canyon is possibly the most famous slot canyon on the planet, and the most-photographed slot canyon in the world. This canyon is a special work of art created by nature. A maze of curving walls with incredible colors was formed mainly by erosion of the sandstone caused by flash flooding.
For the second day of our Arizona/Utah road trip, we planned to see the sunrise over the Grand Canyon, drive to our hotel on Lake Powell, visit Antelope Canyon, and catch the sunset at Horseshoe Bend. This post I dedicated completely to the Grand Canyon sunrise. The Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend visit will be depicted in a separate post. The sunrise was absolutely beautiful; it was an unforgettable experience. This is one of my favorite shots. We were near Yavapai Point at the Grand Canyon South Rim. The sun just came up and changed the canyon colors drastically.
The first stop of our Arizona-Utah road trip was the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, which is by far is the most visited side of the Canyon. That’s because it is the most accessible and provides the most amenities. As with all sides of the Canyon, the South Rim features astounding views of what took Mother Nature millions and millions of years to create. The post about our visit to the West Rim of the Grand Canyon can be seen here.
