We traveled on from Monument Valley to Moab UT, home to two National Parks, Canyonlands NP and Arches NP. I have visited Arches before and I have a good collection of photos from there. I have never had the opportunity, however to photograph its best known arch, Delicate Arch. So this time I made it a priority and that was the only subject I photographed on this trip. Delicate Arch is 52 ft (16 m) tall, a freestanding natural arch. It is the most widely-recognized landmark in Arches National Park and is depicted on Utah license plates and on a postage stamp commemorating Utah’s centennial anniversary of statehood in 1996. The Olympic torch relay for the 2002 Winter Olympics passed through the arch.
Because of its similarity in shape to old-fashioned layered undergarments favored by women around the turn of the 19th century, the arch has in the past been known as Bloomer’s Arch, Mary’s Bloomers, Old Maid’s Bloomers and Schoolmarm’s Pants. The arch was given its official name in 1934 by Frank A. Beckwith. He said that the “delicacy” of the arch’s carving, especially of its legs, was the most pronounced among all the natural openings in that region. And he noted that Delicate Arch’s east leg “is almost cut in two.”
Access to Delicate Arch requires a hike of about 35 minutes. It’s about 1.5 miles distant from the parking lot and requires an upward climb of about 500 ft. The path leading up to the arch and the site itself were very busy, making it challenging to get a photo without people in it. I actually was happy to get photos with and without the people. I’ve chosen to include a “populated” photo because it gives a good sense of the scale of this “delicate” structure.
It was late afternoon when I took the pictures so the lighting was soft, coming from the west (left side of the photo). The location was great, enabling me to get the La Sal Mountains of eastern Utah in the background. I couldn’t have asked for more!