Arches National Park

    Snow warnings across Northern Utah was not going to stop Michael and I from journeying down to the Red Rock of Southern Utah. On April 1st, I woke up to my parents telling me they don't think it would be safe to drive down to Arches National Park in the snow/rainy weather. Being April 1st, I assumed it was an April fool's day joke. I let the "joke" slip by and continued to pack up my gear into the car. Finally, they said "You need to go check the weather and make sure it will be safe to drive". Being stubborn I said "fine" and check... 'Mostly sunny with a chance of snow' according the the National Weather Service. This was fine by us and were quickly out of town.
    Once we made it to Moab Utah, we planned out our days. Because we got there in the late afternoon we decided we would start off with a hike to the famous Delicate Arch. This hike stuck out to me not because of the breathe taking views, but because of how ignorant some people are.
    With the parking lots completely full, and having to make a spot on the side of the road, we knew it was going to be a busy day on the trail. There were people all ages, young to very old. A lot of foreigners were on the hike as well. We heard languages ranging from German to Chinese. All these people seemed to be wanting to do the same thing: hike to the arch, take in all of the views, and take a family shot under the arch for a Christmas photo.
    After reaching the arch, Michael and I decide to take a break, climb up some rocks and just watch everything around us. At this very moment we hear a very pompous man yell at a Chinese family trying to get a family photo to get out of the way. He tried to make it sound like it was against the law to get a picture under the arch. The family couldn't understand, but everyone else sure got his point. No one else went near the arch until he stormed off.
    I found this disgusting. This man couldn't have waited five minutes. There was plenty of time where he could have made the "perfect" shot. Everyone looked at him like he was a nut. The larger families were in rage. You could see they were fuming. Everyone who hikes up to the arch wants to get a picture with it.
    The family yelled at walked by us, very carefully as the man was just a short distance in front of them. They were scared and couldn't believe what just happened. I am not sure they understand everything the man said, but they got the point. He didn't want anyone to get in the way of his recreational photography.
    People who are taking pictures of just the arch don't want anyone in them. But it would have been smarter for the man to not try and hike it and expect no one to be there at noon. Others would have arrived much earlier, waited for a time when there was no one in the view, or went later in the day.

    "A few people were starting to gather for sunset pictures so we thought it would be best to get up close now, and then return to our vantage point as soon as possible—we didn't want to "ruin" anyone's photo with our presence. We arrived at the base of the arch at 3:50 pm"http://www.naturalbornhikers.com/DelicateArch/delicatearch.htm

Every other hike we took was very relaxing. The people we would pass by were very friendly. I never heard someone getting in the way of someone else photos. Everyone else besides that one man were very happy to be down there. Being able to roam in the desert and experience something new (each hike is different every time I have been down to Arches). Arches in a place to enjoy the earth and not disturb the peace.