The typical visitation pattern is numbers steadily grow until midsummer when temperatures are at their highest. At this point the local market is buoyed somewhat by Europeans visitors, along with those touring the country. Numbers start to pick up again in September and October.

The most recognized site within Arches is Delicate Arch. It has been reproduced on license plates and in TV, newspaper and magazine ads.

It is, however, only one of nearly 2,000 arches discovered within park boundaries. And while Delicate is the most recognized, the largest is Landscape Arch, which measures 306 feet from base to base and is recognized as one of the longest natural spans in the world.

The road into the park stretches 28 miles from toll gate to Devils Garden and includes side trips to the Windows Section and Delicate Arch. Round trip, figuring in stops along the way, takes roughly three hours.

Arches has been called a "windshield" park because many visitors see it only through their windshields as they drive through the park. More and more people, however, are starting to leave their vehicles and hike to areas, which include guided tours to Fiery Furnace.

And while Delicate is probably the most photographed, it is not the most popular. That honor belongs to a cluster of arches in Windows area, mainly because of accessibility.

Canyonlands is cut into three pieces by the Y-shaped meeting of the Colorado and Green rivers. In the center is the Island in the Sky District, a broad plateau rising above surrounding canyons. To the right is the Needles District, an area filled with standing rock figures. To the left is the Maze District, the wildest of the areas filled with carved canyons and detached rock figures.

It is a park with some highway views and paved turnouts for visitors to look from, but most of its features can be reached only by hiking trails and backcountry roads. Four-wheeling is the most popular means of travel within the park. These days, too, there is a sharp increase in biking interests, especially in the spring and fall.

The park holds some of the more remembered features within the park system, which would include Devil's Pocket, Angle Arch and the meeting of the two rivers at the Confluence. Also, there is Cataract Canyon, known for its "man-eating" rapids, as told by John Wesley Powell; Standing Rock, a lone figure in a flat desert land; The Maze, a vast area of carved canyons and valleys; Elephant Hill, a rugged hill and a favorite of four-wheelers looking for a challenge; Upheaval Dome, a strand sandstone "blister" cut into a huge natural amphitheater with walls 1,200 feet high; and the White Rim Trail, frequently written up in major publications as one of the most spectacular view trails in the country.