The Klondike Bluffs 4WD Trail
Marching Men and Tower Arch in Arches National Park
I had been here before:
Return to Arches
As many times as I’d been to Arches National Park (see here, and here, there were two spots I wanted to see again that I hadn’t gotten to. Both are at the far north end of the park and one of them requires four wheel drive (4WD). My then-Little Guy and I had been there decades earlier, at the end of an epic dinosaur trip —
But the light was lousy that day. Now it was a sunny May day, and I was ready to try that 4WD-only Klondike Bluffs Jeep trail again. The trail goes up over a hilltop, and then it gets gnarly.
After which you get a view of the Marching Men:
It was a nice sunny day, and I finally got the shot that I wanted. Osiris, named after the Egyptian bird-god, is one (I’m not sure which) of the pillars behind the Marching Men.
The trail continues going down, down, down to where you can’t drive anymore, and you have to get out and walk the last quarter mile or so to Tower Arch.
It’s desert. You need to carry water. But there is Pi there:
So if you’re hungry I guess you’ll have that going for you.
After you hike past the giant π, Tower Arch comes into view:
A little closer:
Finally. After three attempts and two trips spanning decades, I finally had the shots of Tower Arch and Marching Men that I’d always wanted. That’s what life is like for a photographer: you never stop trying to get just the right light. And then you die.
Maybe it looks like π to some, but to me, it looks like a fat lady trying to squeeze into a girdle.
xD