Evening light over North Window with Turret Arch in the distance, Arches National Park, Utah

© Anthony Heflin/Shutterstoc

A work of arch. Arches National Park, Utah, USA

If you fancy a stroll through time, Arches National Park is the perfect gateway! With over 2,000 natural stone arches, hundreds of tall pinnacles, large rock fins and giant balanced rocks, this park is among the world's most scenic destinations. In a space of just over five square kilometres, there are spectacular sights including North Window, part of the popular windows section, Turret Arch and Double Arch. Named features such as Garden of Eden, Elephant Butte, a 1,723-metre summit, and Parade of Elephants mean that visitors are never short of spectacular landscapes to visit.

The region was once a vast dry seabed hidden beneath thousands of metres of earth. However, as time passed, the landscape was gradually transformed by geological forces to become the spectacular space we see today. Humans have explored and lived in this area for millennia. Around 2,000 years ago, the nomadic inhabitants of this area began to cultivate crops. However, environmental challenges, possibly aggravated by climate shifts, eventually led to a decline in farming activities.