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For a Different Canyon Country View, Visit Area Arches Quickly. .by Air By FRAN BARNES A few weeks ayo, an ar-ele ar-ele appeared here about rb Vreeiarid.' an aero-paee aero-paee engineer from Cali-I fornia who "collects' arches ar-ches and natural bridges. For every, dedicated collector col-lector like Bob, however, there are thousands who make no formal approach to the subject, but who take more than just a passing interest in the.s-j fascinating- and spectaci- .V .... x'v' Y;-Y; i ----- -" ; 'vrr'H ' 1Y- - .: .... . .. . , -lr? .- rjL . - . ' ",'-.iT ; r- f r v : .. A : - -.-r--r'- ,' ' "I"'"'' . S'-M " Y- YY:vv '." ' rX' .-v.- Y- -1 " -i2sr'; CzZ7-' YY Y . v r.- - ft "Y ;YTi.Y:----.; "r-, .... Y ;Y -YYv- '" :, W"'n ".,Y"V:-y: Y Y- vY'-Y v : Y.-V 1 - YYY- MM'yy ' . ... f m& x v', yC " Y;?Y : ! Y..V,- ,v VY ve A'-'' ;; .1 s,, v -,';;Y . - Y-i -.;---Y : i'' ' - . ,-; Y . Stevens Canyon Arch, also known as Skyline "Artli, Stevens Arch, and Sky Arch, is a big hole through a thin rock wall that separates two loops . of the deep Escalante River Canyon. The arch is located many miles upstream from where the waters of .Lake Powell '''have, entered the colorful sandstone canyon, and is difficult to reach except by air.- lar natural phenomena. Such casual arcli collectors collec-tors ranjre in their interest inter-est from those who take an occasional Sunday afternoon af-ternoon drive or hike to a favcrite arch or bridge, to photographers who own steadily growing photo, files of spans they have visited. But no matter how casual cas-ual or avid he may be, every arch collector should treat himself to an "arches "arch-es by air' flight, guided by one of the several tour guides who specialize in canyonlands scenic flights. Such an air tour of arches ar-ches could start from any of the several airstrips near what might be called the "triangle of giant arches." ar-ches." This triangle would have as its southern apex, Page, Arizona, near Glen Canyon Dam. Its eastern corner would be Blanding, Utah, and its northern apex would be somewhat to the northwest of Cisco, Utah. Magic Triangle This imaginary triangle contains what is probably the largest collection of giant arches and bridges in the country, not to mention men-tion the most fantastic expanse ex-panse of colorful canyon-lands canyon-lands country in the world. An "arches flight" along the three legs of this triangle tri-angle is an experience thai every collector of arches should have. Whether such a flight is made in a private or. commercial com-mercial plane, it should be under the guidance of someone who kn'ows the country, because finding, even seme of the larger arches is madfj difficult by the sheer si?e and broken nature of the terrain. Arches .flights in private planes could start from any airstrip within range of the "rirches triangle," but the kind of experienced to'j'r guides that are need-eci need-eci are found only at Green 1iver, Moab, Canyonlands Resort, Monticello and Blanding, Utah, and at Page, Arizona. No matter where the flight starts, if it traverses traver-ses the whole "arches triangle," tri-angle," it will have taken in quite a number of the larger spans? that are easily viewed and photo- graphed from the air, as well as any number of lesser arches, depending upon the knowledge and skill of the pilot. Variety of Arches Beginning such a trip at its northern corner, with the pilot following a ncc. essarily eccentric course toward Page, then back by way of Blanding, here are the larger, more spectacular spectac-ular arches, bridges and windows that can be seen along the way. First are Delicate, Landscape Land-scape and Double O Arches, Arch-es, and the North and South Windows and several sev-eral lesser arches, all within with-in Arches National Monument. Monu-ment. Next, Just to the-southwest, the-southwest, are the Gemini Twin Bridges, then, within Canyonlands National Park, are Washerwoman, Angel, Castle, Fortress and Druid Arches and Paul Bunyan's Potty, with perhaps glimpses glimp-ses of Caterpillar and Cleft Arches in Lavender Canyon, just outside of the Tark boundary in the same vicinity. On toward Page, the next major cluster clus-ter of arches and bridges is in the Escalante Wilderness Wilder-ness area. Here, the easiest eas-iest seen and photographed photograph-ed are Jacob Hamblin, Broken Bow, and Stevens Canyon Arches, and Coyote Coy-ote Natural Bridge. The sight of these four spectacular spec-tacular spans alone is worth the flight. The lovely span of Gregory Gre-gory Natural Bridge, aiso in this vicinity, can no longer be seen. Its massive beuaty is now beneath the rising waters of Lake Powell. Wahweap Window Next, overlooking the north shore of the Wahweap Wah-weap Arm of Lake Powell, is Wahweap Window, which is somewhat like a gigantic, gigan-tic, Cunnel-shaped tunnel through an enormous rock fin. On the second leg of the trip, from Page to 'Blanding, famous Rainbow Bridge is first followed by the several spectacular spans in Natural Bridges National Monument. Then, on the last leg of the flight, north from Blanding, are Wilson Arch, beside U.S. 163, and about two miles to the west. Looking Glass Rock. Looking Look-ing Glass is a true arch, although it probably has not been so for too long. It is a gigantic cave within with-in an even larger isolated sandstone fin. The moisture mois-ture seepage that formed the cave finally opened a window through the fin near the top of the cave, turning it into a huge, oddly-shaped arch. The above listing of arches, bridges and windows wind-ows that can be seen along the triangular "arches by air" route, is not intended to be comprehensive. There are many more of lesser size that any canyonlands scenic pilot can quide you to, with the only limitation being how much time you want to spend in the ain |