Double Formation Near Arches

Two layered sandstone domes rise together here, the larger one banded in smooth curves up to a rough-capped top, a smaller twin behind it. The row of dark pockets across the face is solution weathering — the rock dissolving cell by cell.

Photographed June 2003, shot from below against a streaked, dramatic sky. The horizontal erosion lines and the pitted holes give the stone its texture. Monumental from this low angle, and very much alive to the weather above it.