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Show r: . . 'i! "i i , i ? v ... "'X, . I V .;; ..' ' 'v-- V;.... ' ' -; v v.i ; i . . . Hey sure knew where to put the road through Arches Siuonal Park." exclaimed Reuben Scolnik. He is Jointing to freee-standing arch number 70, clearly visible from the road. Mr. Scolnik would like to see this, and other arches like it, named, both for the purpose of easier identification, and for the aesthetic value. lArches is land of discovery for Maryland space engineer By Lis Ro&gvri "And now you have seen a little iok of my park," Reuben Scolnik jjadmatter-of factly as we turned onto 3e highway from Arches National Park od headed back to town. A little chunk of Mr. Scolnik's park is ortlj what I had seen, and for the first ase, although technically I had been 4rt many times before. Reuben had xiitedout arches not more than 30 feet ( the road which I had never seen Sefcsre. u well as distant arches hidden hr the terrain. le talked about the occurrence of buadng rocks and the strange phe-tcoena phe-tcoena of rocks taking on the visual tip of people and animals. I left the fd feeling the kind of excitement a iji feels upon a new discovery. Nomad Mr. Scolnik called himself a "nomad" f "park hopper." He is actually a retired Met engineer from Maryland, with a Se spirit and a love for the outdoors. Ate his retirement six years ago, Mr. Seoiai bought a trailer and began wting to the many national parks toooghout the United States. 7h3e in the parks, he studies and (totographs the predominate features of the park, staying as long as the park interests him. "Why hurry, I'll stay until I get bored and then I'll move on." When I asked him which parks he preferred, he answered, "When I'm in the mountains, they are the only place. When I'm in the desert, it is terrific, and when I'm at the ocean, it's the only place to be." Just before coming to Moab, Reuben spent eight months in Zion, photographing photograph-ing wild flowers. He has been in Moab for two months now, spending each weekday in Arches, and watching sports on television on the weekends. Arches National Park Arches National Park has turned out to be a gold mine for Reuben. While hunting and photographing arches marked mark-ed on park maps, Mr olnik stumbled onto the fact that many of the arches had been incorrectly mapped and that only a small percentage had names. In addition, Scolnik has been able to identify arches that have not been acknowledged as fxches, but only as caves. "I haven't really discovered any new arches," he said. "There aren't any new arches, just arches which haven't been confirmed or charted." Most of the arches he finds are in remote areas of the park, where one must ask, "Is the possibility of an arch existing worth the time and effort it takes getting there to confirm it?" Gothic Arch As we drove through the park, Mr. Scolnik explained that he had made a special project of getting names to the arches which are presently only identified identifi-ed by number. As he mentioned this, he pointed out the window and said, "There is free standing arch number 70." Just to the side of the road stood, an arch, approximately 10 to 15 feet high, and shaped like a diamond. Mr. Scolnik casually called it "Diamond "Dia-mond Arch," although when we walked up next to it, we realized it appeared to be diamond-shaped only from the road. Mr. Scolnik added that some names stick and others do not. "Gothic Arch" is an example of an arch which Reuben named that caught on. In fact, even the naturalists in the park refer to the area as "Gothic Arch Canyon." In addition to naming all the arches, Reuben would like many of the arches recharted on the maps. He explained that the scale of the maps is not appropriate for the complexity of the terrain, "I have spent hours looking for a certain arch that might have been just around the corner from where the map said it should be." So, Mr. Scolnik began going out with rangers, showing them his findings. "The idea of leaving and taking away with me all that I've learned bothered me." Not a Daring Person Reuben said he was not a daring person, but the prospect of a good photograph would encourage a little risk on his behalf. While he enjoys hiking, the enjoyment would not be nearly so great if there were nothing to photograph. He commented that the road through Arches Arch-es was ideally located so that the majority of the arches in the park can be seen from the highway, adding, "They sure knew where to put that road." While staying in the area, Reuben has been looking at a geological book of Arches which identifies 122 arches. Of those, only about 90 are true arches, while the rest are small openings in cliff walls. He has already photographed and catalogued 70 true arches. He anticipates finding 10 arches in Klondike Bluffs and 10 in the upper area of Devil's Garden, completing his hunt for the original 90 true arches. Beyond that, he expects to add approximately 10 other uncharted arches to the list. Needs Hiking Club As we drove past a camp area, Reuben commented that the majority of the visitors to the park only drive through on the main road without making any stops. The average visit is less than three hours, and campers generally stay only two days. He was amazed that Moab youths didn't have a hiking club specifically for exploring remote areas of the park. Reuben commented on his own amazement, amaze-ment, saying that if he had grown up in Moab he would know every fin by name. He added that if Arches were within 200 miles of any eastern city, it would be filled to capacity every day of the year. Reuben has a philosophy on retirement. retire-ment. "Do it at the earliest age possible! It's great." He anticipates each day, planning something special to do and having "a reason to get out of bed. It became obvious that he loves people and he commented that one of the greatest excitements of a new park is meeting the rangers. It's 100 Mine Another of Reuben's philosophies, is that of "It is 100 percent my park." But, he quickly added, "It is 100 percent your park, too, and every other person who comes to visit. That is why when I see someone litter, I ask them to pick it up, telling them not to dump in my 100 percent." Reuben plans to stay in Moab between two and four weeks longer, at which time he will head back east for a visit in Maryland. The trip will take him through the Natural Bridges, across to Capitol Reef, through Las Vegas and on to the Everglades. 'Tve got to have a park, " he said with a smile. Although Reuben is leaving his "little park" soon, he plans a quick return, probably in March, to do some backpacking backpack-ing into remote areas of the park, as well as visiting Canyonlands National Park. I wonder how long he will spend exploring that "little park!" |