Exploring Arches National Park: History, Heritage, and Natural Wonders

Note: Audio Only, Video Version on Youtube
Embark on an unforgettable excursion with Craig, our seasoned natural medic and guide, as we journey through the awe-inspiring vistas of Arches National Park. Learn why Delicate Arch, with its striking features and historical significance, is more than just a natural wonder—it's a lasting symbol of Utah's heritage. As you listen, you'll gain a fresh perspective on the park's geological marvels and the fascinating petroglyphs left behind by the Ute people. Craig offers not just a tourist's view but an insightful exploration of the park's dynamic history and ongoing transformations.

As we traverse the rugged paths, imagine the lives of pioneers like Esther Stanley and John Wesley Wolfe, who once called this harsh landscape home. Picture the resilience required to thrive in a 255-square-foot cabin while raising cattle amidst such raw beauty. This episode captures the dual legacy of nature and human endeavor, painting a vivid picture of life before Arches became a national treasure. Don't miss this chance to connect with the enduring tales and timeless splendor that make Arches National Park a place of profound wonder.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hey, this is Craig, a natural medic. I'm at the lower viewpoint of an enduring icon, delicate Arch, one of over 2,000 arches found here in Arches National Park, and it's a powerful and lasting symbol that has been around for decades. It's on the Utah license plate, as you see here. It has been on the cover of Life Magazine. The first known photograph of it was taken about 1906, up in the upper top portion of this sign here and we're going to hike to it. This is the lower viewpoint. There's also an upper viewpoint which you'll see at the end of this video. That allows you to get a different view, not a close-up view, but a different view. But I hope you will join me as we hike to Delicate Arch, which is a powerful, enduring icon of not only Arches National Park but of Utah itself. It is a 3.2 mile round trip Takes about two to three hours to actually walk to the arch. There's alternative viewpoints that you can get to Come with me as we hike to delicate arch here in arches national park in the cooler months of december, where it's more comfortable and it's also less crowded. Here and on this trail you do have some petroglyphs. These were made by ute, the ute people. You have a bigh sheep, you have horseback riders and there they are Pretty cool. I mean, nobody really knows for sure what these represent, as far as what it meant, but you definitely can see there's people on horseback, there's bighorn sheep and some smaller things. Looks like maybe dogs or foxes. I'm not really sure what we're looking at there. Zoom in a little bit for you and that's pretty neat, pretty neat to the evidence of the peoples that were here before colonization. By the way, if you're liking this video, make sure to give it a thumbs up. Let YouTube know that it's worth checking out. Okay, so going up the or going down the trail here we're going to go up that ridge line. You can see people over there walking that direction. That's where we're headed, almost a mile in. And going Up the side of this rocky ridge here, almost halfway there, okay, delicate arch. You can see the scale of it. There's some people standing in the bottom there. I would estimate 100 feet high, maybe a span of 50 to 75 feet. One thing you might notice about Delicate Arch, in addition to its size and just magnitude the reason they might call it delicate arch is because right there where those people are walking, there's a vertical crack that goes up in that left side column and there's more cracks, of course, up top as well. It's about as far as I can zoom in, but more things change, the more they stay the, but eventually that's going to collapse. New arches are forming all the time and things definitely change as you are here in the park. A visitor to the park when it first opened as a national monument in the 20s probably had a different experience than what somebody did here in the 2020s when I'm visiting. Okay, just hiked down the big ridge I showed you earlier and you can see the parking lot from here. Won't be long. We'll be down Really short overall hike, not too strenuous. You are at almost a mile elevation when you reach Delicate Arch, so if you're coming from lower elevation, you might want to consider acclimating to the area before you attempt this one.

Speaker 1: 4:04

So other people lived here as well. You had Esther Stanley moving to this cabin with her grandfather, john Wesley Wolfe. They were here for about two decades and they raised about 1,000 head of cattle on the native grasses that used to grow here. We've got a corral here in the back. It's hard to see from this angle, but from behind the cabin there is a root cellar and that's the one-room cabin that they lived in. Think about what a harsh time it was living here. The cabin was 255 square feet and Martin Turnbow bought it once the Stanleys moved to Moab and then they moved to Ohio. After that the US government bought it and added it to the Arches National Park, a national monument at the time. There's a picture of Esther with a donkey, and the two of them were in the cabin with mother, father, grandfather and uncle.

Speaker 1: 5:11

Okay, a little different perspective of Delicate Arch here, of delicate arch here, and this is from the upper viewpoint trail, which is about a half a mile walk round trip, but you can see a pretty good view of it. If you don't want to hike all the way to the arch, you cannot reach the arch from this access point, but it still gives you a good view of it. You can see the little people over there. Hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, make sure to give it a thumbs up. Make sure to subscribe to the channel if you want to see more videos like this. Until next time, I'll see you on the trail. Okay, bye.