"E Ticket"! - Day 3 - Part 1

Before I even begin telling about today's adventure, for the benefit of anyone who didn't grow up in Southern California, or who doesn't remember Disneyland in it's first 20+ years of existence, I need to explain the meaning of an "E Ticket". 

When Disneyland first opened, and up until the late 1970's or early 1980's, you would purchase a coupon book which included an admission ticket and coupons labeled "A", "B", "C", "D", and "E".  The "A tickets" were for the smallest or least popular rides, "B Tickets" were for rides that were a little more popular or more advanced, "C Tickets" even more so, "D Tickets" were pretty good rides, and then there were the "E Tickets" for the very best rides or attractions, the ones you always wanted to go on and would run to first.  There were never enough "E Tickets" in the book. 

The ticket books looked like this ...  Click on these to see which rides/attractions belonged in each category.

The Admission Ticket has been removed revealing the "A Tickets"

"B Tickets"

"C Tickets"

"D Tickets"

The coveted "E Tickets"

By the late 1970's, Disneyland was phasing out these coupon books in favor of unlimited use tickets that were good for any ride, and by 1982 they had abandoned the ticket books altogether and went to the current system where once you pay the admission fee, you have unlimited use of all rides and attractions in the park.  But the term "E Ticket" has endured and has become synonymous with any thing that is super exciting, exhilarating or thrilling.

Should I even mention that in the early '70's an adult ticket book with admission and tickets for 15 rides was $5.95?  And people complained the price was too high?  Yikes!  So enough of the history lesson for today and on to our adventure ...

We got up early, grabbed breakfast, jumped in the van and headed back into Arches National Park for our first hike of the day - to see Delicate Arch.  We arrived at the trail head just as the sun was rising.

Beautiful Sunrise - Arches National Park

The trail up to Delicate Arch is about 1-1/2 miles long over rocks, up slickrock and along cliff edges.  Slick rock is really a misnomer, it's not slick at all.  It's actually petrified sand and has a lot of traction and is fairly rough.  Except when it's wet, then it's a slightly different story.  More about that later.

Pictures tell stories better than words, so I'll let the photos do the talking . . .


Info about the trail to Delicate Arch

Looking back over the first section of the trail

Tommy and Carol on the trail

Looking back down over the next section of the trail

Yes, we climbed up this! Yikes!
We were surprising ourselves with our new found agility and wondering
 if we were somehow related to a mountain goat.

And over this slick rock which is more of an incline
 than it looks in this photo 

I got ahead of Tommy and Carol and shot this
as they are climbing up the slickrock

Slickrock = Petrified Sand
See how it looks like sand that has been swirled and shaped by the wind?
And then over millions of years it hardened into rock.  Awesome!

Another view of Slickrock / Petrified Sand

And some more of it - such interesting shapes

Next we came to this ridge.  Um, really?  We're walking on that? 
Yep, we sure are!  This is looking back after we'd walked along for awhile.

And then, we got a glimpse of the arch!  So excited!

Oops - Wrong Arch - Not there yet, keep going!

OK, continuing along the ridge -
 just wide enough for two people to pass each other



Another look at the ridge -
There's quite a drop off!  Be careful!

 

But then, we came around the bend and  . . .

Delicate Arch!  Gorgeous!

Here we are at the viewpoint in front of Delicate Arch

After spending awhile taking in the arch and the gorgeous view around it, we climbed down over a bunch of rocks and down more slickrock to get a closer look.

Me getting up close and personal

We look like tiny little ants underneath this huge arch!

I walked around the arch as far as I could go
 without falling over the cliff.

I was making Tommy very nervous because I wasn't being a "good girl" and staying where he wanted me to.  But I wanted to get a better look at the gorgeous canyon behind the arch.  And it was well worth the look ...

Canyon beyond Delicate Arch

Side view of Delicate Arch

The sun was casting a shadow of the arch down into the gully

From the arch looking back to the view point. 
We walked down over all this slickrock to get to the arch.

Our guide, new friend and protector, Tommy

Just hanging out and enjoying the view of the arch

Reluctantly, we said good-bye to Delicate Arch and climbed back up the slickrock to the viewpoint.  Looking the opposite way from the arch, there are several pot-hole arches across the canyon.

Pot hole arches

 

After a few more minutes of looking at these gorgeous rock formations, we headed back down the slickrock trail . . .

Heading back down

Along the way, we spotted this juniper tree. 

Utah Juniper

We saw these trees everywhere and were fascinated by the way they look almost dead, but then one or two branches would be green.  We later found out that 2/3 of the height of these trees is underground, making them super strong and secure.  Climbers often tie their ropes around these trees and use them as anchors to help them ascend or descend the higher rock formations.  I'm not sure I want to trust my life to a tree . . . would you???  We also found out that these trees are self-pruning, meaning they will shut off the water flow to certain branches and allow water flow to others, which explains why they often look mostly dead with just one or two branches with green foliage.  Very interesting!

As we're heading back down, we notice the clouds are getting darker and darker, and we're starting to hear really loud thunder off in the distance.

Rain clouds cometh

It wasn't long before the drops started falling.  Big drops, the size of quarters up to silver dollar size.  Nothing we could do but keep going . . .

Now the slickrock is living up to it's name a little better

And tiny rivers are forming

To me, it's always harder and scarier to go down than to go up, but when it's wet on top of that, it was a bit harry to say the least.  But the rain didn't last long and soon passed over us.  By the time we got to the trail head, we were completely dry again.

Rain clouds off in the distance after passing over us

Still coming down the trail

Shortly before we got to the trail head, we took a little side path to see some Ute Indian Petroglyphs ...

Info about the Petroglyphs

Ute Indian Petroglyphs

A closer look

Next we crossed over a very muddy stream - Salt Wash.  All the rivers and streams are muddy at this time of year due to the run-off. 


Salt Wash



Look closer in the water - what do you see?

Froggy!

Just before we reached the trail head and the parking lot, we passed what's left of the Wolfe Ranch, the home of some early settlers in this area.

Info about Wolfe Ranch

All that's left of the ranch

At the end (or actually the beginning) of the trail (by the parking lot), we looked back to where we had hiked to, and we could just barely see Delicate Arch ...



Counting Left to Right -
Delicate Arch is the 5th rock formation
 between the two big flat looking rocks -
Just about dead center of this photo.

So that completes our adventure for the morning.  We thought we were pretty impressive having climbed over lots of rocks, hiked up that slick rock and walked along cliff edges.  Totally qualified as an "E Ticket"!  But little did we know what was waiting for us in the afternoon! Stay tuned!