“A weird, lovely, fantastic object out of nature like Delicate Arch has the curious ability to remind us – like rock and sunlight and wind and wilderness – that out there is a different world, older and greater and deeper by far than ours, a world which surrounds and sustains the little world of men as sea and sky surrounds and sustains a ship. The shock of the real. For a little while we are again able to see, as the child sees, a world of marvels. For a few moments we discover that nothing can be taken for granted, for if this ring of stone is marvelous then all which shaped it is marvelous, and our journey here on earth, able to see and touch and hear in the midst of tangible and mysterious things-in-themselves, is the most strange and daring of all adventures.” -Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire

For me, the highlight of this entire road trip was the hike to Delicate Arch. Although emblazoned on every Utah license plate, with a reputation as an icon of the American West, the sheer beauty of Delicate Arch came as an unexpected surprise to me. For the full effect, one must see it and experience it in it’s full, natural setting.

The trailhead is at Wolfe Ranch, the late 1800s homestead of disabled Civil War veteran John Wesley Wolfe – not to be confused with John Wesley Powell.

There are pictographs not far from the trailhead.

The path climbs a long, open ridge of Navajo Sandstone.

This is the section of the trail with “exposure.” All one has to do from here is turn the corner, and there it will be.

Sunset is the best, most popular time to visit the arch, but there was only a handful of people there on this November day.

That night we drove on through Capital Reef toward Bryce Canyon.