Tuesday, December 18.
Big South Fork National Park.
I spoke to a ranger at a visitor center, and he suggested my route, plus that I check out Pickett State Park for a place to stay nearby. He also gave me some very bad, and time consuming directions, since Twin Arch is .7 miles from a TH that I could have driven to in about ten minutes, so I did 7 extra miles of hiking to see the arches, instead of 1.4. It was a great hike, though, so no complaints. I'm doing pics of the arches, but am only posting a complete trail report of the Honey Creek Loop hike I did on Wednesday. Otherwise, reading this thread would take longer than hiking to the arches
Slave Falls to Charit Creek Trail connecting to the Twin Arch loop.
Needle Arch
[youtube]Kj-x5-fRQvg[/youtube]
Slave Falls
[youtube]Sw_lv5vFqVU[/youtube]
North Twin Arch
[youtube]tK1M_LDFBYY[/youtube]
South Twin Arch appears smaller in span(nomenclature fail, I suppose), but much more massive. So massive I couldn't get it in a pic without going downhill so far that the trees obscured the view of it.
The smaller appearing span is not borne out in the listed measurements, though, so I guess they go by more than appearances:foot:
From the NPS site:
In most dimensions, South Arch is the larger of the two. At one point, the deck is 103 feet(31.4 meters) high with a clearance of about70 feet (21.3 meters). North Arch, in contrast, has a height of about 62 feet (18.9 meters)with a 51 foot (15.5 meter) clearance. Each arch is a major topographic feature. On the north, South Arch blends into a rockshelter and a widened bedding plane. Thus, measuring the breadth of the span involves subjective judgment. The span is clearly greater than 135 feet (41.1 meters). North Arch has a more easily defined span, about 93 feet(28.3 meters). Each bridge has a near-perfect arch shape.
[youtube]U3heuKZnIMY[/youtube]
Due to a rather late start for the day after some back problems the night before, I ended up hiking out 4.8 miles in the dark.
I camped at nearby Pickett State Park, where I would also spend the first part of Wednesday morning.
Wednesday.
Pickett State Park.
Arch Lake, whose arch is actually a natural bridge(or I'm just confused about the nomenclature again) that connects the "mainland" to a an island.
Also at Pickett State Park, I visited Hazard Cave, and then the "Natural Bridge".
My camera got its modes switched when I put it in its case, and the pics of Natural Bridge came out...kind of horrible, mostly.
Video from the top of it:
[youtube]BUvPXUyh-Yc[/youtube]
Big South Fork National Park.
I spoke to a ranger at a visitor center, and he suggested my route, plus that I check out Pickett State Park for a place to stay nearby. He also gave me some very bad, and time consuming directions, since Twin Arch is .7 miles from a TH that I could have driven to in about ten minutes, so I did 7 extra miles of hiking to see the arches, instead of 1.4. It was a great hike, though, so no complaints. I'm doing pics of the arches, but am only posting a complete trail report of the Honey Creek Loop hike I did on Wednesday. Otherwise, reading this thread would take longer than hiking to the arches
Slave Falls to Charit Creek Trail connecting to the Twin Arch loop.
Needle Arch
[youtube]Kj-x5-fRQvg[/youtube]
Slave Falls
[youtube]Sw_lv5vFqVU[/youtube]
North Twin Arch
[youtube]tK1M_LDFBYY[/youtube]
South Twin Arch appears smaller in span(nomenclature fail, I suppose), but much more massive. So massive I couldn't get it in a pic without going downhill so far that the trees obscured the view of it.
The smaller appearing span is not borne out in the listed measurements, though, so I guess they go by more than appearances:foot:
From the NPS site:
In most dimensions, South Arch is the larger of the two. At one point, the deck is 103 feet(31.4 meters) high with a clearance of about70 feet (21.3 meters). North Arch, in contrast, has a height of about 62 feet (18.9 meters)with a 51 foot (15.5 meter) clearance. Each arch is a major topographic feature. On the north, South Arch blends into a rockshelter and a widened bedding plane. Thus, measuring the breadth of the span involves subjective judgment. The span is clearly greater than 135 feet (41.1 meters). North Arch has a more easily defined span, about 93 feet(28.3 meters). Each bridge has a near-perfect arch shape.
[youtube]U3heuKZnIMY[/youtube]
Due to a rather late start for the day after some back problems the night before, I ended up hiking out 4.8 miles in the dark.
I camped at nearby Pickett State Park, where I would also spend the first part of Wednesday morning.
Wednesday.
Pickett State Park.
Arch Lake, whose arch is actually a natural bridge(or I'm just confused about the nomenclature again) that connects the "mainland" to a an island.
Also at Pickett State Park, I visited Hazard Cave, and then the "Natural Bridge".
My camera got its modes switched when I put it in its case, and the pics of Natural Bridge came out...kind of horrible, mostly.
Video from the top of it:
[youtube]BUvPXUyh-Yc[/youtube]