Sculpted Sandstone. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Detail of a section of eroded sandstone cliff at Arches National Park.
To be honest, I’m not sure I could find this bit of sandstone cliff again if I went back to Arches National Park and looked for it. I think I have a vague idea of where it was, but if I’m correct it was just one small section of a much larger wall that ran for a significant distance. But isn’t that part of the challenge of the red rock country, that there are so many impressive and fascinating walls with unending variations of color and form?
The basic shapes of the rock walls, arches, buttresses, and ridges are fascinating in their own right. But the surface textures of the rock are immensely varied and interesting. The blue material coats these rocks in many places, and it can outline erosion patters in the rock. There are vertical lines everywhere, formed by water oozing, dripping, flowing, and occasionally flooding across the faces. And the color can vary from hour to hour as the angle and quality of the sunlight change, and as light reflected from other red rock surfaces intensifies the color.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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