Landscape Arch, on the Devil’s Garden Trail. In September, 1991, a huge chunk of Landscape Arch, the longest known arch on the planet, broke off. The next day, park rangers found that the arch was gone, its tons of sandstone rubble strewn over the Devil’s Garden Trail. No one witnessed the collapse but campers at the Devils Garden Campground reported hearing thunder that night. In 2008, Wall Arch collapsed in the middle of the night. The arches are constantly changing, with new ones forming over decades and centuries, and old ones eroding, crumbling and even collapsing. But thanks to an ambitious documenting effort carried out by a handful of people over a thirty-year period, we know now that the park has more than 2,000 arches. When established as a National Monument in 1929, its 90 arches were cited as national treasures, and until 1970, Arches National Park still had 90 arches. But the park terrain is rugged and often dangerously hot, which deterred exploration of its many nooks and crannies. You could tuck it into a corner of Rhode Island, which is about 10 times larger. It closed shortly after our visit because of COVID-19.Īrches is a relatively small national park of about 120 square miles. We visited in early March, in the first days of “prime season.” The park was busy but not mobbed, reminding me “off-peak” is the best time to many National Parks. The Courthouse Towers greet visitors shortly after entering Arches National Park. At the ski resort of Park City, Utah, in the lift lines and in the crowded mountain cafeteria-style restaurants, people jostled against one another, conversing in many languages: French, German, Spanish - and Italian.Īlthough I enjoyed our reunion with old friends in Park City, I was ready to get away from the crowds, and head south and east to Moab, Utah, to explore Arches National Park before heading home to Maine and my students. Still, I wondered: was the virus closer than we thought? The news about the virus in Italy was especially ominous, but Italy was an ocean away. Why not? We’d heard about a few cases, popping up here and there, but the virus was a distant annoyance, not a threat. The virus was around, but everyone was still traveling. But in the bathroom, everyone was washing their hands with a furor I’d never seen before. People crowded together, waiting to board with ski bags and backpacks. On Friday, March 6, Logan Airport was packed with travelers heading out on winter escapes.
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