An early morning, ready for our 7am permit entry into the park!

They introduced permits for the summer (april – october) season to limit the number of people entering the park. Its such a good idea, because it was so much more pleasant. We found parking spaces everywhere. The trails weren’t too busy (especially at 7am – although the trail on the way back from delicate arch, at 9am, was pretty packed)

Treated to a sunrise over the rocks

Our first hike – to delicate arch

Lucky the trail was signposted – a lot of it was walking up a plain rock face!

And then along a narrow ledge, hugging a larger rock

Before we turned a corner – to the delicate arch!

Because we had started early, we beat most of the crowds. There were people up here, but it was manageable!

We found an arch (to stand in), to view the arch

Next up, we drove along to Devils Garden – an easy walk through a flat area, filled with a few different arches

Plus this long, landscape arch

I love a driving tour through a national park – always so much to look at.this area, the furnace, was by (a different) permit only – and we didnt have time for a long hike here today.

So just the short ones! And next up – the ‘windows’

And the double arch

Arches was a small park, as we were only doing short walks, we were done by lunchtime! Just a casual 5 hours of walking today!