Arches National Park

Arches National Park is in Utah.

Arches is made out of arches which are pieces of rocks that have holes in them. Arches has the second largest arch in the world. 

Arches are spaces in hard rock made by erosion. Erosion causes the arches to get bigger and bigger. They are different shapes and sizes. 

Arches is made of igneous rock with 13 layers. Formation of the base layers began more than 280 million years ago.

If you are traveling in the park here are things that you can see. Shadows made by arches are beautiful. In the Windows area there are 3 big big arches. The Fiery Furnace is like a maze. From the Devil’s Garden Trailhead it is a long hike to see 8 unbelievable arches! The desert has ancient sand dunes. When beetles walk you can see their foot prints. Arches has over 2,000 rock spans of all sizes.

Arches is called the most beautiful place on earth. Lasall Mountains are green in summer and gold in fall. In Arches there is a balanced rock. It’s a big rock shaped like an egg on a rock stand. There is a cool arch. It’s cool because it looks like fins. Arches has a river, snow capped mountains, a desert and wonderful sculptures. You can walk on 15 trials. Some are harder than others. 

Lots of animals live there. 28 different animals are nocturnal. Reptiles and many other animals sleep through the winter. Animals at arches include mule deer, coyote, raven, tadpole shrimp, red spotted toad and kangaroo rat . The animals have to be able to adapt to a wide range of temperatures because it is cold in the night and warm in the day. The average daytime temperature in summer is 100 degrees and drops to 19 degrees on winter nights. 

In Arches there are 400 types of plants. The cryptobiotic soil is very unlike any other soil. It has lichens, mosses, algae, bacteria, and fungi. It traps water. It takes 250 years for it to heal when its dry. It takes a long time because the material breaks so easily. The wind helps it to erode. If there is no sunlight there will be no cryptos material. Sometimes people step on the soil because it has no color. Stepping on the soil damages it. The grass in Arches covers 8,000 acres. 

Long ago Arches had Indians. They would come to gather supplies. White people arrived in 1849. In 1929 a president named Hoover made Arches a national monument. Then later it grew until it became a national park in 1971.

To save Arches you should stay on the trails. Rangers protect Arches but also they have a visitor center where you can become a junior park ranger. Being a junior park ranger means you help clean the park. 

Park Rangers have lots of different jobs like:
answering questions, giving assistance,
helping to find lost people, showing wildlife on hikes, acting out history or telling about the history, picking up trash, telling stories, knowing about the park, helping visitors, riding horses or mules, packing up a mule, using special vehicles or equipment, putting out fires
creating fires, and making sure people don’t feed the animals.
I think it’s fun being a park ranger. I’m a Junior Park Ranger. It’s fun. You have to answer questions and do something else, depending on the park. For example in Arches, you have to do games about the park, go on a ranger hike, and collect litter. When you are finished, the Park Ranger gives you a quiz about the park. Then the Ranger gives you a Junior Park Ranger badge or patch. 

Once me, my dad, my mom and my friend went to Arches. We saw some of of the stuff that I’m talking about and some other stuff . While in Arches I met my favorite park ranger. His name was Murry . He gave me my junior park ranger badge. He is my friend.