I agree that sleep is very important to your mental and physical well being, but circumstances were a bit different this morning. We woke up at the ripe time of 4 AM and drove an hour to witness the sunrise at Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park.

The road to Mesa Arch was pitch dark and very lonely, but the parking lot was surprisingly already filled with cars. We had to hike to the Arch, but the hike was only eight minutes and mostly sand and pavement, with a few slippery rocks.

Mesa Arch was much smaller and friendlier-looking than Delicate Arch, but the backside was a steep cliff that gave way to a gaping pit. More pinnacles and buttes could be seen in the distance, and even further were the La Sal mountains. The sky was lightening rapidly. In only fifteen minutes it had turned from black to grayish navy.

With passing every minute the color of the landscape changed. The horizon above the La Sal mountains gradually morphed into an orange pink, and the clouds reflected that color. The silhouettes of the pinnacles and buttes became reddish purple. The sky shifted from grayish navy into a calmer royal blue.

You could easily miss the beginning of the sunrise if you looked away for an instant, or sneezed, or blew your nose, or anything. In a split second the sun peeked from behind the La Sal mountains, and quickly inched above them. I could hear a collective gasp from all the viewers, and the rate of camera clicks quickly intensified.

There were many great viewpoints of the sunrise, the most iconic of them being where the sun is sandwiched in between Mesa Arch. You could also climb the rocks above the Arch and get a higher view of the sunrise, which is what I did for the most part. The sky was now streaked with orange, and the rocks were deep red.

Ten minutes later the colors completely changed again. As the sun continued to rise, the pit completely filled with gray and pastel blue colors. It was amazing how every moment looked totally different from the last.

The lack of sleep was completely made up for by that unparalleled sunrise! 11/10 would recommend.

Katie