Arches National Park
Square Miles: 119.8 miles squared
2017 Annual Visitors: 1.8 million visitors
When we visited: March 24-27, 2018
Where we stayed: Canyonlands RV Resort and Campground (Cabin #92)
Trails we took: Devil's Garden to Landscape Arch and Navajo Arch
Activities: Hiking, Mountain Biking, Horseback riding at Hauer Ranch
What we liked most:
- Climbing on and around slickrock is SO FUN. Kids love it, adults love it.
- Trekking into remote areas, between rocks, jumping over crevasses, scrambling up rocky inclines is SO FUN.
- Desert areas like this provide a lot of variety of activities without too much concern for rain. Camping and being outside is relatively easy. However, there was a lot of wind. But that's how the arches formed, right?
- Being with family and exploring is the best.
What surprised us the most about this park:
- Even though there are 2000 arches in the park, there didn't seem to be as many as we expected to see.
- The size of the arches was surprising. We thought that the arches would be smaller. Many of them were enormous.
- It was chilly and windy in midMarch
We did it! On the first day in Moab, we got up early in order to avoid the crowds at the entry and also to get some pictures with the iconic Delicate Arch without people in it. It was tough, and we missed sunrise over the arch which was our ultimate goal, but we did it!
Started out around 6:30 and drove to the park. We entered with no lines or wait whatsoever. This is huge because by 9AM the line is already over an hour long in wait time.
We all became immediately amazed at the formations and huge rock walls that we saw as we drove. The sun rose while we were still in the car, but we got some pictures of the beautiful colors over the park nonetheless.
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| Entering Arches National Park at sunrise |
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| We are all really happy about our hike ahead to Delicate Arch |
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| Goofball #1 and Goofball #2 |
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| Delicate Arch at about 8:30AM |
After parking in the lot that was about 1/2 full (yes, many people had beaten us to the show), we parked and headed up the 1.5-mile hike. It was a lovely hike, making our hearts beat a bit faster on the steady incline and around the narrow ledge but once we rounded the corner and saw the arch we were blown away. Literally. It was so windy.
The arch is enormous. When you see people under it, you get a sense of the scale. They are tiny and the arch is huge. The surrounding area is also different than I expected. The area at the base of the arch is a huge round bowl. It is quite steep and pretty far down.
And at the base of the arch, on the west side is a drop-off.
We got a couple pictures without any people in them (yahoo!) and a couple under the arch. People were steadily streaming into the area, so it was so good that we got there when we did. On the way back, the stream of people heading up was constant and several people deep. We kept remarking how glad we were that we went early.
We drove up to and explored the Devil's Playground area (which I am still bummed I miffed the plans on camping there) and decided to head back to it for an evening hike to avoid the masses of people we were encountering.
Then we moseyed toward the exit as our hunger was growing and we needed to get our stamp at the visitor's center. We couldn' resist stopping at the Park Avenue Trail and containing our awe at the way some rocks were balanced on the ones below.
We hiked into the canyon between to huge walls of rock, exploring the washes and the varied texture of the rocks all around us.
When we finally headed back to the Arches National Park visitor's center we were astounded at the line of cars waiting to get into the park. Poor people, their wait would probably be very long. We stopped, scored a Fiery Furnace Permit (whoop), got our souvenirs and passport stamp, etc. and then headed back to our cabin to rest up for our evening hike into Devil's Garden. Because we were tuckered after our morning excursion we went back to the cabin and snoozed, but were back at it again soon.
This time we went to Devil's Garden for a sunset hike. We found the light made the formations and rock quite magical in the morning and the evening.
We hiked up to Landscape Arch and then on to Navajo Arch. The kids LOVED hiking through slots and on slick rock. It was a wonderful hike especially at that time of day, the light was magical.
We headed back to the cabin for a dinner of
Green Chile Enchilada Chile, fritos and banana bread.
We certainly experienced a bit of the wind erosion that the area is known for. Our faces and skin were suffering a bit from the cold blasts of wind through the day.
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| Landscape Arch |
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| Navajo Arch, Alexis McDowell Copyright 2018 |
The kid's joy from running around on and exploring these rocks is infectious.
When I was young in rural-ish PA, I remember it being a fantasy of mine to be able to explore places like this. When I saw them on TV or in movies I longed to be there to explore those smooth looking rocks that looked so intimidating.
Now, I am older and my children can do these things. The smiles on their faces are of pure joy as they climb along the slick rock and investigate cracks and potholes in the rocks.
I am so grateful that I have the resources (including but not limited to the husband who has a great mind to put toward a great job) to make these adventures and discoveries happen. I am thankful for the capability (strong legs to carry us up and down into these dramatic places), the healthy children, the desire to get out in nature....I am so thankful for it all.
I am also thankful to men like John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt who had the forethought to preserve these beautiful places so that generation after generation can enjoy them. Nature's call is deep within us all and they had a keen sense to recognize it for more than just hunting or pioneering.
There's a reason we feel relief and peace and serenity when out under that deep blue sky, walking along a quiet mountain trail or along a mossy streambed...
On our second day in Moab, we got outside the park a bit and rode mountain bikes and then went for a horseback ride. Steel horses and real horses as my husband said.
We chose a mountain bike trail about 10 minutes north of the town called the
Bar M Trail. The views on this trail were wide. Expansive. Open. It was quiet. All we heard as we glided along was the gravel crunching under our tires. At one point along the way, you can see Balanced Rock that is within Arches National Park. It was surprising to see, yet gave us some perspective on where we were relative to the Park.
The bike ride was long, but the kids did it. I am amazed at each of the experiences how much they are capable of. And then, the next time there's even more. I love that we can experience these adventures collectively.
On to the real horses. We chose a guided tour by the people at Hauer Ranch. It was a good experience because it took us out a bit east of the park. The drive on HWY 128 followed the Colorado River where there are many beautiful campgrounds. We were sad that we hadn't chosen to camp there, because the combination of walls of rock, the enormous talus, the river and the beautiful cottonwoods had us in awe, once again.
The ranch was tidy and well managed and before we knew it we were off on horseback exploring the area west of
Fisher Tower.
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| Annabelle leads the way |
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| Great view of Fisher Towers as we rode |
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| Cowgirls and Cowboys-ish |
We got another early start the next morning knowing we had to check out of our cabin by 11. This time we visited the Windows Loop and Turret Arch Trail. We LOVED this spot. Mostly, Double O Arch. It wasn't so windy or chilly, it was fun to climb under the enormous expanse of rocks and the pictures came out pretty great. We had fun here. We would have liked to stay, but our check out time was nearing.
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| Windows Arch |
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| Turret Arch |
Arches National Park was the sixth park that we visited in our second year of this "Discovery". Our favorite things about this park and visit: Delicate Arch early in the morning, Devil's Garden hike and Navajo Arch at sunset, Double O Arch in the morning.
Arches is a natural playground that even adults take pleasure in "playing" in and around. There's a unique feeling one gets from scrambling over enormous boulders that have tumbled down from high up places, or from scrambling into small spaces between them heightens your sense of adventure and frailty.
There's a fear mixed with curiosity when climbing up the steep walls of rock and into crevasses. There is also a deep gratefulness, again, at being able to see these places and do these things that not everyone gets to see. Well, maybe that doesn't apply to places like Arches where 1.8 million people visit per year....but it certainly applies to our next stop: Canyonlands National Park where we took a very long hike into a very remote spot.
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| Delicate Arch |
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| Navajo Arch at about 7:15PM |
Arches National Park: check! 6 Parks down and 53 left to go...
