Hiking in Arches National Park

Hiking: Arches

Arches National Park is one of the most spectacular places on earth. Fantastic sandstone arches, fins and spires overwhelm the senses at every turn in the road. This park is ideal for those who like to do their sight seeing from the road. The area’s most famous formation, Delicate Arch, is visible from a large viewing area. Another interesting formation is Balanced Rock, this is a huge boulder defying gravity atop a slender tower.
Arches is a beautiful place in the spring. The desert comes alive in the early season; green vegetation and flowers make the views of the red rock cliffs and formations even more astounding.

For the more ambitious traveler there are numerous hiking trails throughout the park. The Devil’s Garden area has trails of various difficulties. Landscape Arch is an easy trail leading to a 300 foot long arch, this trail is 1.6 miles and easy walking the whole way. The Delicate Arch trail is a 3 mile long trail which leads to the arch itself. The rangers lead a hike through the Fiery Furnace area every day, these hikes usually fill up in advance so you should call ahead. When hiking anywhere in Arches be sure to take lots of water, the desert climate will suck the moisture out of you.

If you have a four wheel drive vehicle you can get away from the crowds. There are several off-road trails which lead to solitude. The Klondike Bluff’s are reached by a couple different 4 wheel drive trails. This area has fantastic scenery and a chance to get away from the RV crowd. Most any stock 4 wheel drive vehicle should be able to negotiate the trails in the park.

There is a 52 site campground in the park but it fills up very early. If you are tent camping there are numerous places around Moab that are better. A lot of the land around Moab is BLM land and you can camp in established sites. Please leave all campsites cleaner then when you got there. The desert environment is very unforgiving and all of our trash remains there to be seen for quite some time. The town of Moab has a number of hotel's and RV campgrounds.
If you are going to Arches and Canyonlands you can buy a pass which lets you into both areas at a discounted price. If you are hitting numerous national parks the Eagle pass is a good way to go.

Have fun in your journey to Southern Utah.

Additional Resources

CAMPGROUNDS

Devil's Garden Campground
18 miles outside of Arches
$10 per night, open year round

To reserve a campsite, click here for the form and fax or mail 2 weeks in advance to:

National Park Service
Reservation Office
2282 S. West Resource Blvd.
Moab, UT 84532-3298
Fax: (435) 259-4285

BOOKS

Utah's National Parks: Hiking, Camping, and Vacationing in Utah's Canyon Country: Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, Canyonlands

Utah Camping: The Complete Guide to more than 400 Campgrounds (Foghorn Outdoors)

Camping Utah (Camping)

Utah Camping Guide : The essential handbook for ...

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