The Mighty Five in Utah- 2- Arches, Canyonlands, and nearby

After a good night of resting up, we continued with our drive to Arches National Park. Please read about the other National Parks we visited prior to this here.

Some amazing rock formations greet you as you enter this park. The drive up the mountain is very impressive and you are left awestruck with the size of the structures. 

Dramatic clouds added to the mystery in this photo.

The Broken Arch

Broken Arch

Sand Dune Arch- a short easy hike led to this.

Sand Dune Arch

The hugely popular and famous Delicate Arch!

Delicate Arch

I loved this juniper against the Skyline Arch.

Skyline Arch

Another popular and iconic structure from this park- Balanced Rock!

Balanced Rock

Red Rocks were appearing in my dreams by now! The crimson color is everywhere and it leaves you feeling so earthy and grounded!

Fairly close is the fifth and final National Park on our list- Canyonlands! Each of these parks have such varied landscapes and leave you amazed by the geographical diversity even among the common Red Rock theme!

The earth splits up and offers awesome views of the numerous canyons.

Mesa Arch at Canyonlands- yes, you can find some arches here as well!

Mesa Arch

Another view through the arch- the drop on the other side.

Once again, the canyons, and the terrain around it.

What an incredible planet we live on!

This area is just one part of this huge park. We did not visit the Needles and other areas.

Note the mesas, or tabletops in the distance.

Nearby is the Dead Horse State Park. This is a very beautiful overlook of the Colorado river winding through Canyonlands National Park.
I did not know the story about the history of the park, and on reading it on a plaque at the viewing point, I felt really sad. Wild horses would be killed here by rounding them up to this section surrounded by the river, they would then have nowhere to go, and would eventually die. Why has man always sought to prove his superiority over other creatures by using cruelty as a tool!

More of the amazing landscape!

A lone juniper - so beautiful- this one begged me to draw and paint it, which I did.

Some other interesting sites nearby that were on our list before heading back to Las Vegas included the Newspaper Rock Archaeological Site. 

What a beautiful name to a treasure trove of petroglyphs! I cannot imagine why anyone would vandalize it with graffiti. People, please heed the slogan - Leave it as you found it, or Leave no trace!

Then there was the Natural Bridges National Monument.

Once again, stunning rock formations, this time formed by the action of water on white Permian sandstone. There are three bridges, and here are two of them.

I love these natural bridge formations wherever I see them. Something about the connections bridges form.

We were to visit Antelope Canyon and had a reservation on one of the prime time tours. However, it rained a lot that day and the tour got cancelled. You can see the cloud gathering the previous evening over the classic silhouette of Monument Valley!

We spent a night here at the lodge and enjoyed the views from our cabin.
These structures brought a lot of joy and made us marvel at everything our beautiful planet has to offer!