Friday, July 14, 2006 - Arches, Utah After breakfast, we started on our self-guided audio tour of the Arches. On the CD we heard that the rangers have counted about one hundred arches in the park. We drove past the Visitor’s Center and stopped at the Courthouse Towers Viewpoint. Across the street from the Courthouse Towers Viewpoint were the Three Gossips and the Sheep Rock. Several people stopped there said that they thought the Three Gossips looked like the Three Wise Men. Susan said maybe they looked wise because they gossiped. The next stop was Balanced Rock. Many people were stopped here. One old lady was picking up rocks off the ground. When a young boy with her leaned over to pick up something, Susan informed him that we are not supposed to take anything from the park. He put it back on the ground. The old lady leaned over and picked up something. Bob told her that she was setting a poor example for the young boy. She ignored us. Later we saw people trying to climb up the Balanced Rock, which is against park regulations. After we stopped at Panorama Point and took many pictures, we drove to Wolfe Ranch. Wolfe Ranch was a small cabin along Salt Wash where a man and his son lived after he left his wife in Ohio. Evidently, he suffered from arthritis and thought that the dry air would be good for his condition. His wife decided to stay in Ohio. Not far from the cabin were some petroglyphs on some rocks. At the next stop, we took a short walk to see Delicate Arch at the overlook. Delicate Arch was in the distance. The next stop was called Fiery Furnace because the rocks there look as if they are on fire at sunset. At Devil’s Garden, we drove around but did not stop. |