We were still trying to visit natural arches in Arches National Park and now David and I were going to hike to several in the remote northwest corner of the park. This required driving the Poison Strip/Salt Valley Gorge dirt road that ran just north of the park boundaries. We took a side jeep trail that approached the park boundaries and then parked before hiking up a drainage into the short sandstone fins.
Along the way, we found an ambitious cactus determined to grow where it was planted in the crack of a rock.
The first arch we wanted to find was Screeching Owl Arch and we had less than a half-mile uphill hike to find it.
We then had to make our way across the top of the fins to the next drainage to the west so we could contine to the southwest to the next arch called Far Out Arch.
This arch turned out to be more impressive and unique considering how far it was from the park’s usual trails. We were now just over a mile from the vehicle but the view was impressive.
You never knew what you might find out here.
A perfect fall day for a short hike in awesome country!