Delicate Arch Trail

Arches National Park                                                    Trail Length : 3 Miles/ Round Trip
GPS : N38 44.135 W109 31.229                                           Elevation Gain : 480 Ft
Arches entrance road,                                                         Time : 3 Hrs
UT 84532, USA                                                                   Starting Point : Wolfe Ranch Parking Area

         This is our third visit to Arches National Park. The first time we visited delicate Arch from the Lower view point which was just beside the parking lot. And Second time we saw its view from Upper view point trail 0.5 miles. My hubby was curios and wanted to hike till the delicate arch some other time. We made this hike during our trip to Zion National Park. This was on our final day trip. We started early from the hotel and reached Moab, Arches National Park Visitors center by 9am. 

           We all-most started the hike at 10 am, very sunny day while the temperature was hitting above 90's. We had to climb on the rocks all over the trail. The heat from the rock was reflecting like anything. It took almost an hour and a half to reach there. There was no shade at all. While nearing the Arch a huge rock gave us nice shade. We did not take a break all the way until we reached the Arch. Few place were scary,and i was bit afraid of heights.

 The View of the Delicate arch was simply awesome. To reach the delicate -arch was really challenging, which was slippery.Our shoes helped us well.We had to climb up a rock to get into the amphitheater. Once i got into it my legs were shivering. And i couldn't rather even take a step. Slowly cooled myself. It was like a amphitheater.

                                     

         We headed till the arch took some snaps, i tried going underneath the arch but i was scared, bcoz it was very sloppy nearby. But i managed to get till one end. My hubby was busy taking snaps. I found a nice shady place to rest, with my legs spread. Mean while my hubby joined me. Took some selfie and video.

           Had water and a snack bar. While we thought to start Utsab and Samarpita reached. They took some snaps and started getting down. Again my hubby started taking snaps. Then we also started getting down. On the way down we saw a hole ,my hubby climbed on the rock to take pictures. There were two chinese guys taking picture for a long time. My hubby got bored waiting for them, finally came down. Utsab and samarpita were faraway from us. We took a brisk walk and reached them. And over took them and reached the car. The car was hot like a conventional oven, opened all the windows and turned on the AC. Washed our face with the ice cold water. It was 12.30pm. It was just as spectacular. 

Thanks to my hiking pole.

ThankYou,

Dhamaya

Echo Lake Trail

Echo Lake Trail
12334-12932 Squaw Pass Rd,                                    Trail Length : 1 Miles/ Round Trip
Idaho Springs,                                                             Degree of Difficulty : Easy
Co 80452, USA                                                           Elevation : 10,617 Ft
GPS Direction : N39 39.548 W105 36.369

                   We had a sudden plan to drive to echo lake. This was our second visit here. We knew that it would be cold out there. So we packed our jackets and gloves. It took almost 2 hours to reach there. When we reached there weather was too good and not much chill.

         

             Echo Lake was amazing covered with ice. Beautiful lake at 10,617 ft elevation. White... White every where.....What a wonderful views of mountain and lake and extremely romantic. This is a place where you need to see in all seasons. 

            There were only few cars in the lot. I just wanted to have a short relaxed hike. We Started and my hubby was busy with his camera. We were here for picnic last summer, it was totally different compared. 

       We thought of going round the lake which was wooden fenced. The snow was piled up nearly 7 to 8 feet approx. We had to safely place our legs on the snow. In some places our legs were burying till our knees. There were many bench around the lake to sit and enjoy the views.

        Even the trail boards was buried in snow. We met a ranger on the way, we asked him the direction to Chicago lake and distance to get there. He said its 5 mile trip one-way. We also saw few people coming from that trail. We enjoyed the snow very much. Almost after half of trail. the trail was bad piled up with lots of snow. We did not want to risk ourselves going further. We wanted to drive till Mt.Evans but the road was closed expecting to open on Memorial day weekend. Finally took our selfie. 

This place is definitely a paradise. My Hubby's favorite plces.

Thank You,

Dhamaya