After sleeping in my car at a red ant filled campground I made my way into Arches National Park in the morning. The park was renovating so some of the stops were closed, specifically to the balanced rock and trails around it. It looked like they had completely dug up the place. Yet even with all the signs, cones and machinery. People still found a way to stop there and take pictures, in turn making driving and not hitting people/vehicles a little harder than normal.
After a lot of deliberation about it I decided to go on the famous Delicate Arch Trail. I had avoided it last time here because of the crowds and hearing the hike was kinda rough. They weren’t kidding. It was over 90 degrees that day but, I went at my own pace. I didn’t rush, and I think that’s what saved me. That and water, bring water, enough water that you think you have too much water and then bring some more. I saw so many people that underestimated the trail that suffered for it. But I saw the kindness of strangers that helped them through it. One man had collapsed and had taken shelter from the sun behind a rock; a few other gentlemen created a shade wall and held up a towel to give him some privacy as his wife helped him come to.
At the arch there was a kind of method where people would stay out of the area, or away from the arch itself till one family was done taking pictures. I watched as this happened again and again. Respect I guess it would be. I also helped a lesbian couple get a picture of them kissing under the archway. It was so cute! :3
