Arches NP: Devils Garden

With it spitting rain on and off, we opted to try one of the more popular walks, Devil's Garden.  A fairly extensive trail with several options, strange and whimsical rock formations abound.

The entrance is through a fin and gap formation, sheer rock walls on either side.





Arches for miles.





Running out of arch-like names, they started naming them after a nearby landmark...




This is landscape arch.  A few decades ago, about half the arches thickness broke away.  Thankfully the 20 or so people below got away in time!  Needless to say, tourists are not allowed to walk below anymore.





With almost no soil, the low areas rapidly become washes, filling with the sand that erodes from the surrounding rock.  After the last night's rain, there was fresh signs that this track was a stream.



Part of the track traverses the spine of numerous fins.  Hard to go wrong, but many folks managed to take the wrong path, only to get canyoned in, and forced to backtrack.  Despite the rain the sandstone provides good grip.



















You can see from fresh fins forming.  The sandstone here has been uplifted and rotated on its side.  As a weak spot forms in a fin, the water will break through, sometimes forming an arch.