GMills31's photostream  

The windows arch is visible in the left foreground. This is a nice area of the park for hiking in the rock formations and for a sunset shoot. You can frame the mountains in your shots to give you more interest.

"The Petrified Dunes are a series of rock formations located in Arches National Park.[1] The dunes can be found just off of the park road between the Courthouse Towers and the Windows Area. The formation was produced when ancient sand dunes hardened into stone under the overlying subsequent material, which later eroded away." from Wikipedia.

Shortly after entering the park you come to the La Sal Mountain overlook. The range is in southeastern Utah and is in the southern part of the Rocky Mountains. It spans some 18 miles. The highest peak is Mount Peale at 12,721 feet. Originally these mountains were a landmark on the Old Santa Fe Trail which runs from Santa Fe NM to Los Angeles CA. These mountains are in the Colorado Plateau. They form a nice back drop for the red rock of Arches.

My wife Denise hiking in the canyon. We did walk part way down the canyon that day. You can see the trail on the right of this picture.

Zoomed in here to isolate the rock formations without the foreground.