Arches National Park

Visited: May 2014

Nearby city: Moab, UT

The state of Utah takes great pride in its "famous five" and Arches is one of the best and most famous of its five national parks. Arches is a compact park that can easily be explored in one day, but you might want to take a couple of days to do the main hikes and soak in all the great sites. There are over 2000 natural sandstone arches in the park, and many of them are easily accessible from the Park Road and relatively short hikes.

Natural arches are formed by the erosion of softer rock stratum underneath the harder stratum, or caprock, of a narrow fin of sandstone or limestone with a very steep or vertical cliff face. If the erosion is primarily caused by wind and alternating frosts and thawing, it is called a natural arch. If the erosion is primarily due to a river or the sea, it is known as a natural bridge. The arch will continue to erode and erode until eventually it will disappear. Since Arches became a National Park in 1971, 43 arches in the park have collapsed. So although these arches have been 300 million years in the making, hurry up and see them because they won't be around forever! 😊   

The lively and beautiful town of Moab is your base for exploring Arches NP and the surrounding area. If you want to camp in Arches, your only option is Devils Garden Campground (which is unfortunately closed this year due to road construction).

My first tip for visiting is, start EARLY! The park attracts tons of crowds, and there's nothing worse than waiting in a long line at the entrance station. The Park is accessed by The Main Park Road. Once you pass the entrance station (entrance fee is $25), you'll see the Visitor Center and then the road climbs steeply to the top of the plateau. Once you get atop the plateau, the first main trail is Park Avenue. This 1-mile trail along Park Avenue to the Courthouse Towers is a popular and beautiful hike for great views that you may recognize from the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade:

Park Avenue

We didn't take this hike. We made a beeline to Delicate Arch. Stop here if you wish, or continue down the road. Once you get to Balanced Rock (another nice stop with an easy hike around the rock), there is a turnoff to the right to the Windows Area. More on Windows Area later, we visited it on our way out of the Park. Windows is a must see, per the Park Website the area is closed for a few weeks due to road construction, so if you're planning on visiting the park later this year check the website to make sure that the area is open.

Eventually the road will fork. To the left (west) is Fiery Furnace and Devils Garden and to the right (east) is Delicate Arch. We took the right fork first. There are two ways to view Delicate Arch. The first is to follow the road until it ends at a parking lot. From the parking lot is a short walk to the Lower Delicate Arch Viewpoint and the Upper viewpoint. This is a much easier way to view the Arch, but it will be from quite a distance. If you want to get right up to its base, you need to take the 3 mile roundtrip hike starting at Wolfe's Ranch (you'll hit this parking lot shortly after the fork). This is a moderate hike, but it's totally worth it. If you do just one hike in the park make it this one.

We got a early start on the trail and it was great. The first landmark is the Wolfe Ranch House, built in 1906, a remnant of the hardscrabble life of early pioneers and ranchers.

The hike started out very pleasant in the morning sun. Shortly after the ranch, you'll find yourself on a gradual incline (but not too steep) along a giant slab of bare slickrock. There's no shade along this portion so bring plenty of water because the sun will beat down on you relentlessly at this part.

You can see the Windows in the distance from the Delicate Arch hike

Once you get past the slickrock, the trail flattens out on top of the plateau. And then you'll come to a spot where you can get a view of the Arch through a small hole in the rock.

Just past this point, there is a rather narrow ledge that is the last climb of the hike.

Right around this corner, the Delicate Arch dramatically comes into sight. And it is a treasure to behold.

The Delicate Arch is of course featured on the Utah license plate, and for good reason. It is an iconic sight of our National Parks. Technically it is best to view the Delicate Arch at dusk/sunset. The lighting at that time of day perfectly lights the arch. In the morning, the arch mostly lies in shadow. However, since we started the hike so early we essentially had the Arch to ourselves. It was amazing. Years ago I visited the Park while an undergrad at BYU, and we arrived at Delicate Arch in the late afternoon and it was packed. There were people everywhere! So go first thing in the morning to have this beautiful site basically to yourself.

sitting under the arch

Once we had our fill of Delicate Arch we headed down the left road at that previously mentioned fork. Shortly after the fork, you'll see the turnoff of the Fiery Furnace. This part of the park can only be explored by a guided tour or if you purchase a permit at the Visitor Center. We did not go, but I hear it's a very neat place to visit. We'll have to check it out next time. Further down the road you can take a left on to an unpaved road that leads to the Salt Valley and the trail head for Tower Arch.

Once you get to the end of the road you'll find the Devils Garden Campground and parking lot. This lot fills up quickly, but we got lucky and we were able to find a spot. From this parking lot you can head south to view Tapestry, Broken, and Sand Dune Arch. But I would suggest you head north and you can take the Devils Garden Trail. The entire trail is 7.2 miles and you'll see a whole lot of arches. Or you can just go a mile down the hike and see the grand Landscape Arch, the largest arch in the park, 306 ft from base to base. We took the Devils Garden Trail to Landscape Arch.

The trail used to go under the arch. However, a gigantic chunk of the arch fell off back in the 90s. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But the arch is very fragile and could go at any time. We continued on the trail a ways past Landscape Arch. You scramble a bit up the rocks, and we could view some other arches. We didn't take the full Devil's Garden Trail, but I would recommend at least going to Landscape Arch.

Navajo Arch

Partition Arch

Pine Tree Arch

Tunnel Arch

Along the road to Devils Garden we made a quick stop at Skyline Arch. You can see it from the road, or just park your car along the side of the road and it's a short walk to the base.

Our next stop was the Windows Area. There's a number of parking spots here and short walks to Turret Arch, North and South Window, and my personal favorite, the incredible Double Arch.

Turret Arch

North and South Window

The hike around the Windows is only a mile. Then a half-mile trail on the other side of the parking lot leads to Double Arch.

We did all this and saw all this in one day. It's a full day, but the Park is definitely doable as a day trip. When we go back, we'll spend a couple days in the park so we can hike Fiery Furnace, Devils Garden, and redo Delicate Arch. Summers can get pretty hot, so a visit in spring or fall might be the better choice. Arches is one of my favorite parks that we have been to, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did. Park website: https://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm