In geology class, I learned that the forces of erosion create our landscape. At the moment, this fact seems a ludicrous falsehood as I squint up towards a towering sixty-five foot (20 meter) sandstone span inside Arches National Park in Utah. I am positive that the gargantuan structure in front of me is ageless. I cannot imagine this southwestern corner of the United States without its two thousand red sandstone arches posing as perfect picture windows. Call it weakness or merely human, but I am attracted to the carved Entrada sandstone curves not only for their fiery beauty, but also for their intransigence. They stand immutable, like mountains or ancient trees, a testament to me that somethings in life are forever. To discover that only three hundred million years ago inland seas gleamed under the same infinite cobalt sky is tantamount to having the curtain forcibly ripped and see no great or powerful Oz.
I do not know what it is in our nature which makes us yearn for that which is indestructible and everlasting. I only know that this yearning exists, making me pine for what I perceive to be unchanged in the cosmos.
“Constancy is what I increasingly cannot find in my life or on my planet.”
My home base, my surroundings, and my environment vary from one month to the next. As the years pass, friends and kindred spirits fall away too. So I veer towards any signs of constancy wherever I travel, as if I were a compass needle and permanence my true north. These colossal configurations look steadfast and immovable, like fixed points in the rush of history, and that is what attracts me. Their adamantine nature is, however, only a façade. Both deep within their composition and on the outside, the stunning arches in Utah are crumbling to pieces. Yet, the more I study the geological process that shaped these fascinating arches, the more I am entranced by the possibilities of change. The formation story of these arches is a beguiling one, full of tension, raw power, and heat. The plot twists are full of seas disappearing, the ground beneath our feet bending and breaking, the very elements generating mammoth stone towers and destroying them in the same breath. The account of these arches is of a series of magical worlds being created within our planet both over vast stretches of time and in every second that passes.
It is not a finished story, however. The powers that shaped these ponderous formations continue to pare, and trim, and mold. Eventually every gorgeous arch I behold will be destroyed as dust and wind and rain and sun work away, intractable in their demolition. Who knows what this landscape will look like three hundred million years from now? It is an ongoing tale, happening even as I touch the durable vermilion sandstone and walk under the massive bridges. It is a story similar to mine, of changing climate, condition, and circumstance configuring a metamorphosing entity. The arches themselves stand robust and sturdy in spite of the silent agents of ongoing erosion. It is a unique moment in their lives, a chance that will never happen again.
“What are a few billion years to a rock but the blink of an eyelid?”
Painful as the deterioration process is, for a handful of centuries it has constructed incomparable architecture out of sand, gravel, and clay. I spy a view of the expansive firmament through one of my transient arches. It is not an eternal vista through a permanent window, but merely an ephemeral glimpse in time.
In geology class, I also learned that the essence of nature is flux. Everything changes… everything, give or take a million, billion, trillion years. Standing on the other side of a geological picture frame, I, too, cannot escape this lesson. I have changed, am changing, will change, pared and trimmed and molded in the same way by forces beyond my control. The forces that alter me take many shapes. Like the wind, the sun, and the rain, circumstances, situations, and time itself continues to modify my character, to rebuild me into the person I am today and will grow into in the future. Somewhere along the way we are told that at a certain point in our lives we stop developing, become adults. Studying the exquisitely formed arch before me, its history of erosion written in its gouged sides and scraped foundations, I cannot agree. I am, like this arch, slowly but inescapably eroding. Yet, in the meantime, I am evolving into a robust and hardy personality, as unique as a single arch, formed in my way by life. There is a lot more story in the science of change than there is in permanence. I shall stand here before this sandstone instability proud that before the next blink of an eyelid I, too, can share in its epic struggles.
TRAVEL NOTE:
Arches National Park is not only a unique aspect of geological history, it is also a unique moment in time. One hundred thousand years from now, the arches inside the seventy-six thousand acre park will have completely eroded away, leaving an entirely different landscape for future visitors to the area.
Have you visited Arches NP? What landscapes have you seen that have changed over time?
Bespoke Traveler 
I visited Arches in my early teens and fell completely in love with it all! I think that triggered a poetic gene to activate somewhere inside me. I became more aware of my surroundings after that trip, more in tune with nature’s wonders, more open to new experiences, more ready for life to come at me full force. Oh, to be THAT teenager again. I’d settle for a trip to Arches again. It’d be an interesting study in what I felt and saw then and my perspective now. Your descriptions of what you saw and felt and what you want in solidity and stability brought the place back into full focus again. And your photos push me to plan a visit soon!
Your words are so inspiring Kami, thank you! I am always in awe of how nature can stimulate us in different ways. As John Muir says, “The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” Years of life coming at full force is harsh, but I am hoping that I will remain as open and ready as you have.
I’ve been to Utah on many occasions (family is there) but I’ve never been here. It’s on my list!
Hooray! Can’t wait to find out what you think of this place once you visit! Have you visited any of the other national parks in Utah?
Wow, my brother would be in his element here.
🙂 Does your brother love to hike canyons?
Yes, he’s taking Geography and archeology at University, he’s absolutley fascinated with this sort of experience, me id rather have a spa ☺️
🙂 A spa experience is what I really want after my hikes. How wonderful that he is studying archeology: it has long been a favorite subject of mine. I would love to go on an archeological tour some day.
Looking at those rock formations, change seems impossible but it has happened. It is happening.
I’m trying to think which landscape I have seen that has changed over time. Maybe the Andes mountains? They are relatively new, as these things go. The change is that they weren’t there at some point 🙂
A great example Ana! I had not even thought of mountain ranges as changing over time, but you are so right: at some point they didn’t even exist! Impossible idea, though true, when one looks at ranges like the Andes or the Himalayas. Thanks for your input! 🙂
We visited there a few year ago. Your photos are beautiful! Love to go back again.
Thank you Amy! Arches National Park became one of our favorite places in the southwestern United States after our visit.
Wonderful post. It’s an incredible National Park. We did a rafting trip starting at Moab and Arches was a highlight.
Thank you Jane. Your rafting trip sounds so adventurous! How long was the trip and where did it end?
It was…at least for us. I think it was 5 days and we ended up at Lake Powell. Most of it was gentle floating on the Colorado through Cataract Canyon and camping along the way which was magnificent. The last day tested my bravery when we hit the big rapids. It was pretty intense. Highly recommend.
Oooh, you’ve got me intrigued Jane! I have not tried white water rafting and doing it on the Colorado sounds like an adventure.
Stunning photos of this fabulous place.
Thanks Sue. It was hard not to take a good photo with the red arches against that very blue sky. 🙂
I would love, love, love to see this landscape for myself 🙂 But I’m happy for change. It gives me the potential to become a more interesting, well rounded person than I am now.
Have you ever traveled to the southwestern part of the United States? There are so many unbelievable landscapes there, and each of them is inside a National Park!
Unfortunately not, though I would love to. I’ve been to Florida and briefly to California but there’s little prospect of another Stateside holiday for us.
You will have to see it through our photos and stories, just as I love learning about the Algarve and Poland through yours. 🙂
Beautifully written, breathtaking & stunning photos!!!!!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
I have never been to this park, but your pictures make me want to go there!
I hope you get the chance to visit Arches NP: it is a gorgeous wilderness of stone! Thanks for reading our story.