How to See Arches National Park

Arches National Park boasts both Landscape Arch, the largest natural rock arch in the world, and Delicate Arch, my favorite, which has been featured on the Utah license plate, it’s that famous. If you’re in the ’hood (eastern Utah – or maybe you’re driving on I-70 on your way to or from Colorado…), drop in. Unlike other national parks, the cool stuff in Arches can easily be seen in a day. Here’s how we did it…

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. 

   Early in the morning we started at the southern end of the park with short hikes to the Windows Arch (one mile) and Double Arch (seen here, half a mile, mostly flat). Be sure to put a pal in the pictures so the folks back home can see how large and impressive these arches are.

2. 

   We signed up for a mid-morning hike with a ranger-led tour of the labyrinth of towering walls known as the Fiery Furnace—which actually had a lot of shade in it (the name comes from the red colors that pop out in the sunset) . The ranger told us all about cryptobiotic soil (don’t walk on it, please) and Utah Juniper trees (they shut off water to their branches to conserve water). Most of the hike was moderate to easy, but there was a section of giant boulders to scramble up using your hands. The fee for the ranger hike is $10 but is well worth it.

3. 

   We headed to the northern end of the park to walk the Devil’s Garden trail to Landscape Arch. The two-mile hike starts out easy and then offers some moderate climbing to get up behind the 290 foot arch—which is well worth it because when you look back, the vista is perfectly framed by the arch ala a landscape painting.

4. 

   By late in the afternoon we came back to the middle of the park and hiked to Delicate Arch. This moderate three-mile hike involves climbing up and over rocks and some tricky footwork along exposed ledges, so heads up. You don’t need to be a professional mountain goat to do it, but it’s not for your couch potato brother-in-law, either. The view at the end when you finally see the arch: breathtaking. Give yourself plenty of time and film (or digital space) to enjoy the scene.

5. 

   On another day, I mountain biked into the park via Willow Flats Road and then came out the south entrance, sailing down a long, long hill—yeeha! Heads up: the park doesn’t have single track or trail riding per se (that’s for the many OTHER sections outside of the park—see How to Mountain Bike Moab).

Tips & Warnings

• Colors of the rocks and arches are particularly vivid in the late afternoon up until sunset, so don't be in a rush to leave the park to get to your dinner reservations on time.
• Bring lots of water and sunscreen. We were there in May and it was hot—in the summer months the temperature is near 100 degrees much of the time.
• Don’t walk on the cryptobiotic soil—it’s very fragile and takes five to seven years to grow a delicate crust and up to 50 years to grow all the way back if destroyed.