Grosvenor Arch - Mark did it again!

Denisa had seen pictures of a big, beautiful double arch in the middle of the desert within the many miles of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.  These lesser-known gems are some of our favorite destinations, so we headed off on an eleven-mile drive on a rough dirt road that crossed a creek (without a bridge) and traverses Cottonwood Canyon. We decided the trip was worth the trouble when we arrived at the parking lot and saw Grosvenor Arch from the distance.

150 feet tall, it was a majestic site in the middle of all the sagebrush.  We did all the normal tourist things when we arrived.  We read the national park signpost and found that it was named after a past president of the National Geographic Society.  We took the obligatory pictures as we got closer to the arch to show a little more of its scale.  From this angle you can barely see blue sky through the second arch on the left.







That should have ended our time with Grosvenor Arch.  But Mark hiked around the side of the arch, and announced that he thought he could climb to the top.  Here we go again!  Denisa stayed on the ground with the camera, and waited until she saw a tiny figure appear in the opening under the arch.

It's hard to see Mark from that distance, so here's a zoomed in version of his perch under the top of that huge arch.

With the camera on the ground, we were obviously missing some great views from the top.  So Denisa agreed to meet Mark with the camera half-way up the hike to the top.  One thing led to another, and before she knew it, Denisa was sitting on that same ledge under that arch as well!

Where Mark was standing a few minutes before, Denisa felt more stable sitting at that height.  The sun was at the wrong angle for a good picture, but we wanted to share our view from the top.

With Denisa still perched on the spire behind the arch, we could see the dirt road that we had driven to arrive at yet another adventure.  The opening of the arch is 150 feet tall and 100 feet across. 

Now with our feet back on the ground we can see that ledge where we were earlier.  We have wandered into another of His wonders!