Arches

The park lies atop an underground salt bed that is responsible for all the formations of Arches National Park. Salt under pressure is unstable. “The salt layer shifted, buckled. liquefied, and repositioned itself, thrusting the rock layers upward as domes,and whole sections fell into the cavities. “  There is one road that goes through the park, it is about 18 miles long. There are a lot of turnouts where you can stop and check the view out. The parking lots at the trailheads were always very full but I think the parking gods were looking out for me and I almost always found a parking spot.

This was absolutely my most favorite arch in the whole park. 
It is called, of course,  Double Arch

Pine Tree Arch (see the little Pine Tree underneath the arch?)

Balanced Rock

Tunnel Arch

Landscape Arch
They say that somebody mixed up the names between Landscape Arch and Delicate Arch. 
Delicate Arch is that big thick arch that is on the Utah license plates, it is a big honker. 
As you can see Landscape Arch is very delicate

I have to say that I've never seen so my bicycles in my life.  Evidently Moab (the town closest to Arches) is known for being a biking mecca.  There is a whole system of trails throughout the whole region.  You could ride for days and never see the same trail twice.  Moab was a town that definitely catered to the outdoor enthusist.  

I was surprised to see that Utah decorates for Halloween

My original plan was to stay in this part of Utah for several more weeks and then slowly start heading south. I just heard that there is a cold front moving in and the low is supposed to be 19. I know I'm from Minnesota and we scoff at low temps but 19 is a bit much for me. I'm heading south, wimp that I am, tout suite. I only checked out two of the Mighty Five, but that just means I will have to come back.

The night before I left, I picked up a couple of hitchhikers. I was sitting on the couch and I heard this really loud scratching behind a wall. After ruling out ghosts, zombies and other nefarious creatures, I figured I had mice. Luckily I was equipped with mouse traps and peanut butter. I put the trap in a drawer the backside of which was open to the underbelly of the camper. Not more than twenty minutes later, the trap went off. I opened up the drawer and there was a mouse, but not a mouse like anything I had ever seen. It was twice as big as a Minnesota house mouse, had very big ears and super big eyes. I felt bad for the mouse, but it was him or me. I set the trap again because they always say if you have one mouse, there are bound to be more. One half hour later, the trap went off again. This mouse was not in the trap, I think the trap just sort of stunned him. He was still alive and by the time I had gone to the bedroom to get my ski gloves to grab him with, he disappeared. Set the trap again, waited another half hour and the trap went again. This time there was a victim. I've set the trap several times since then with no results so I am officially calling my rig mouse free.