arches national park, view of salt valley from panorama point
We began our sightseeing with a stop at the Visitor Center, after which we drove into the park. The surreal landscape which greeted us made it seem as if we had been transported to another planet.
Click on the image to see a larger version of this photo
Then we stopped at Panarama Point, where we had a view of Salt Valley below us. Underlying the park is a salt bed deposited when this area was a vast inland sea. As the salt deposits dissolved, the sandstone which lies above it collapsed and was eroded in to rock slabs called "fins". As wind and rain continued their work on these fins, sections of these rock wals fell away creating the remarkable formations found throughout the park.