Day 9 – Natural Bridges

Out of bed by 7. After waking up with coffee, we drove the Bridge loop again stopping at Owachomo. 71 degrees. We head down the trail. Easy walking. Some steps are cut into the boulders. It takes 10 minutes to reach the base of the bridge. We walked around, explored the dry stream bed and mostly marveled at the expanse of rock suspended over our heads. The bridge really looks different from below. This is the oldest bridge and the thinnest rock spanning the 230 feet. We read in Arches visitor center that a bridge collapsed sometime during the night in April 2008. It does happen.











Even though we are hopelessly out of shape, (Sarasota has NO hills) we are back to the car in 57 minutes. They want us to do these things ourselves so we can answer visitors’ questions more knowledgeably.

After the hike, we go find uniform shirts to wear. We report for duty tomorrow. (I'll post pictures tomorrow.) After lunch I take the van into Blanding for an oil change. We have travelled 3500 miles since the last one. I get back to the house at 3:15 and find Bonnie engrossed in a new hobby, shown to her by the wife of a ranger. It is bead making. Bonnie is so excited, she can hardly stand it. I am happy for her. She has found a kindred spirit and a new hobby.





I attempt to use the Hydrogen alpha telescope I brought mounted on a tripod and have no luck centering the Sun in the eyepiece. So I break out the Celestron 5 and the mount I brought and piggyback the solar scope on it and it works great. I plan on using it during the mornings to show people the sun in H-alpha. It is a red color and shows the structure of the Sun’s surface better than white light.


There is no question the dryness of the high desert takes getting used to. It is refreshing to have the temperature actually go down as the sun goes down. In Florida the temperature varies on slightly during the summer. The skies are a bright blue. we have had absolutely gorgeous weather so far.