Mike in the Wild

I recently visited for the first time the two National Parks near Moab, Utah: Canyonlands and Arches.  Maybe due to the heat - it was almost 100 degrees F - or possibly the long time it took driving there earlier that day from Durango, I was disappointed on my initial visit to Arches.   Undeniably, the namesake sandstone formations were beautiful.  And so was the isolated desert setting in view of snow-capped mountains.  But my first stop in the park was at a site described as Fallen Arches, where a drawing reimagined the vista.  Instead of gazing at the two distant red-rock mountains, the viewer was invited to imagine a time when the formations were connected via two towering arches.  My immediate thought was that the park was originally created because of this no-longer-existing Natural Wonder of the World.  Due to some unfortunate event since the park's founding one hundred years ago, like an earthquake, visitors would have to settle on witness...