Arches National Park:
This was our first stop of the Mighty 5 Roadtrip
We didn't want to visit when it was hot and crowded (summer) but also wanted nice weather, so we opted for April. April-May daytime highs average 60 to 80 F and lows average 30 to 50 F.
Check out the chart on this website. It shows the dates that are the least busy for April. https://www.nps.gov/arch/planyourvisit/traffic.htm
Basically, the week after Easter is a perfect time to go, bc DURING the week of Easter, it's crowded, as kids are out of school and families travel.
Visiting Arches from April to October? You'll need to make a timed entry reservation in advance to enter the park. We booked the earliest time slot: 7-8am, for $2.
Fees:
Private Vehicle Fee - $30.00
Admits one private, non-commercial vehicle (15 passenger capacity or less) and all its occupants. Admission to Arches National Park is good for seven days. You can come and go any time with your seven-day pass
Southeast Utah Parks Pass - $55.00
Valid for one year through the month of purchase. Admits one (1) private, non-commercial vehicle or its pass holder to Arches and Canyonlands national parks, and Natural Bridges National Monument.
Interagency pass- $80.00
The $80 Interagency Annual Pass is good across the US at all federal fee areas. Two people can share one pass, as the pass will admit all that are in the car with the pass and the passholder (who also has to be in the car). The pass cannot be shared between two vehicles however.
We went with the interagency pass, bc we were going to hit all 5 National Parks. However, we learned that when we enter early, like 7a to hit hikes early, there is no one there to take your money/pass. Soooo we deff could have gotten away with only paying entry into 2 parks. Kinda annoying.
We followed the map above via Earth Trekkers one-day guide to Arches. They are incredible.
Devils Garden (B on the map)
- We headed straight to the back of the park to hit Devil’s Garden first; Scenic Drive ends at the trailhead for the Devils Garden Trail so we parked in the large parking lot.
- The Devils Garden Trail is a 7.8-mile loop where you get to see eight arches, and it was not crowded.
Follow the main trail until you get to Landscape Arch.
The Spur trail to Navajo and Partition Arches adds 0.8 miles round trip and it takes about 30 minutes to visit both arches. We would have loved to have done these, but I was recovering from a GI bug still, so we skipped them.
The first arch is Tunnel Arch. We skipped this one bc we read you can only see it from a distance
Pinetree Arch is close-up and there aren't too many ppl
DONE! on to the next spot...
Hopped back in our car and headed to Skyline Arch (C). 5-min walk to see this arch.
Sand Dune Arch (D) is tucked in between fins of sandstone, & the walking surface to get back there is sand. Takes 30 min round-trip. There were lots of kids playing in this area, as it mimicked the sand at the beach. One dad commented "yup. we drove 5 hrs to play in the sand." hahah.
We almost didn't do Broken Arch, but it turned into one of my fav hikes of the morning. Little to no ppl. We could climb up under the arch and take lots of photos. Passed some mule-deer on the way only a few feet away. This would be rough in the summer, as there is no shade during the hike.
We continued the drive along Scenic Drive towards the front of the park. Passed Delicate Arch Road and turned left onto The Windows Road. The Garden of Eden (E) is a cool stop for a panoramic view over the park.
We continued along he Windows Road and parked at the end in the lot for the Windows and Turret Arch. .7 mile walk connects North Windows, South Window, and Turret Arch (F). Out of these 3 arches, Turret was our fav, as you could climb up underneath and get some cool shots, with not as many ppl. Took about 45 min.
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| North Windows |
We hopped back in our car and drove to the other side of the parking lot to get closer to the trailhead for Double Arch. This is a short walk, and a COOL thing to see! Getting underneath and looking up is simply beautiful. This is the tallest arch in the park. It was busy when we went with kids scrambling all over the rocks. Took about 30 min.
From the Windows Road, we turned left onto Scenic Drive to get to to Balanced Rock (G). In 15 min you can walk the .3 mile trail around the rock.
From Balanced Rock, we continued on Scenic Drive towards the park entrance. Drove 15 min to get to Park Avenue Trailhead (H). Short walk to the viewpoint. We did not walk the trail through Park Ave; it is 2 miles out-and-back (1 mile each way).
We wanted to time Delicate Arch up with the sunset, so we actually left the park, went into Moab to get food, and then came back into the park.
Delicate Arch (I) is the "most iconic sight in Arches National Park."
It is one of the most photographed spots in the park, so good luck going when there's not ppl lol. "Famous for its ideal lighting at sunset, this is a very popular spot for camera-wielding photographers late in the day."
These photographers were hard-core. Once the sun started to go down, they would yell out for ppl to stop walking under the arch for their obligatory photo-op, so they could get their shots in. So we had to be quick for one of us to stand under the arch, and have the other person stand "across the bowl" to take the photo.
The took Scenic Drive > turned right onto Delicate Arch Road > turned left into parking lot. We even sat in the car a bit and took a nap waiting for the right time to start our hike. So for example, sunset was at 751p, so we should summit no later than 650. We went at 630 to give us wiggle room and time for photos.
The hike is about a 3-miles round-trip. Longggg uphill walk. Like that incline. smh. Takes about 2-3 hrs for this hike.
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| The "hill" off in the distance |
There are various spots to view the sunset. What the photographers are capturing is the sunlight hitting the arch, making it glow orange.
We were worried we would need headlamps on our hike back after the sunset, but we were ok, and there's a lot of ppl walking back.
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