The American Southwest is one huge dedication to erosion. A simple process powered by water and wind going by the rule that slow and steady wins the race. Somehow, it is easier for me to comprehend all of this with canyons like the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, or Zion. It feels more unbelievable in places like the Arches National Park, or Monument Valley, where the rock formations stand up from a large and flat plateau. It's like they somehow grew out of the ground. Accepting the fact that everything else got washed out and these formations are what remained seems hard to accept.

This photograph shows the Windows area at the Arches National Park, including the Window Arch. The rock formation is thrown into the background to show the surroundings and the power of erosion.

Arches National Park offers a landscape with the highest density of natural arches in the world. The experience is otherworldly. The dry hot desolate high desert landscape filled with rock formations really makes you feel like you've landed on another planet. The emotions certainly depend on where you are traveling from. Coming from places with a lot of greenery and moisture certainly intensifies the "on another planet" feeling. Being at a high elevation (above 4000 feet / 1300 meters), winter swaps the hot for cold but the rest remains.

A natural arch is a rock exposure that has a hole completely through it formed by the natural, selective removal of rock, leaving a relatively intact frame. A natural bridge is a type of natural arch, generally over a current or past body of water. Other definitions also allow for calling something a bridge simply because it looks like one. And then there are also natural windows and tunnels, used without clear definitions or with any consistency.

© Daniel Novak Photo - Landscapes, Architecture, Cityscapes