During our big epic road trip across the southwestern United States, we stopped at seven national parks (and a bunch of other cool spots) in our two week trek. We spent our first night in Moab, Utah. The next day, we spent the morning in Canyonlands National Park (park #1), and the afternoon and evening at Arches National Park. Both parks are very close to Moab. The entrance to Arches National Park is right at the north end of Moab.
Getting into the Park
One of the things to keep in mind when visiting Arches National Park is that from April 1 to October 31 (as of 2024), you will need to make a reservation to enter the park. You will get a time block that you can enter the park (our entry time was from 1:00-2:00). Check out the web site in the link above to get a time. To enter the park, you will need your reservation and a park pass or entry fee. If you have a 4th grader in your family, make sure you check out the Every Kid Outdoors Program, and you’ll all get in for free!
We made a stop at the visitor center to check out the sweet national park merch and grab some maps. There is one main road that meanders through the park, with a few roads that branch off to different features within the park.
As you enter the park, you’re surrounded by towering sandstone structures. And it’s so exciting when you spot your first arch! Over 2,000 arches are featured throughout the park, having been formed over 65 million years.
Park Avenue and Courthouse Towers
One of the first stops along the road on your way into the park is the Park Avenue Viewpoint. We just visited the viewpoint, but there is a trail that leads between the rising rocks on both sides to the Courthouse Towers. The road leads around the rock formations, and you’ll find yourself at the Courthouse Towers, that features The Organ, Tower of Babel, Three Gossips, and Sheep Rock. To see the Courthouse Towers area, there is a small parking lot where you can park and walk around the area. If you take the trail starting at Park Avenue Viewpoint, you will end up at the Courthouse Towers.
The Windows Section
After this stop, we kept driving along the main road through the park, and as we drove, weather was moving in. We started seeing clouds build up and lightning streaking across the sky. A turn off the main road will lead you to The Windows Section of the Park. We took the short hike to North Window, South Window and Turret Arch. When we arrived, it started to sprinkle….. and we thought, well, it’ll cool us off a little! So off we went in the few raindrops to explore the area. This is a really cool spot! The hike is fairly short from the parking lot and you can climb right up into the Windows!
As we climbed up into the area of the North Window, the rain started to fall a little bit harder, and it turned out to be the perfect place to wait out the rain a little bit and take in the views! The Turret Arch is across from the Windows and I thought it looked like and a-ok symbol!
In the same loop as the Windows parking lot, is the parking lot for Double Arch. Double Arch stands 122 feet tall and is just a short walk (.3 miles) from the lot. It is so worth taking the walk down to see it up close! It. Is. Huge. It was sprinkling when we walked up, but when we got there, it started to POUR! And for the most part, we were able to stay tucked away from most of the rain while we were in there… but it didn’t really stop right away… so we made a dash back to the car when it lightened up a little!
When we got back to the car, we dug in back to make some sandwiches and find a snack and wait out the rain. We decided to keep driving along the road towards the end of the park. We were hoping the rain would move on so we could explore a couple of other places.
Devil’s Garden and Landscape Arch
At the far end of the main road into the park is the Devil’s Garden. In this section of the park, is the longest arch in the park, measuring 290 feet across. The trail at Devil’s Garden begins with a dramatic entrance as you walk along a narrow path between really tall sandstone rocks. The hike to Landscape Arch is .9 miles, so 1.8 miles round trip. The trail goes farther if you want to see more of the area, but we were almost to sunset and were racing to see Landscape Arch before we ran out of daylight (and more rain that was heading our way). One note about hiking in this area… it’s hot and we visited in June. Make sure you bring enough water! We bought the Camelbak Hydrobacks and LOVED having them. Everyone had their own water with them and it made the hikes we did on our trip just a little bit easier! You can check them out on Amazon.
The hike to Landscape Arch was a really neat hike to take. On our way back, we spotted a couple of deer that were quietly grazing along the side of the trail. We tried to be quiet so we wouldn’t scare them, and they didn’t try to run away from us at all. It was a magical moment in a magical place!
As the night was starting to close around us, we made one last stop… you can get a view of one of the most iconic arches, the one featured on the Utah license plate: Delicate Arch. We would have liked to have taken the hike to see it up close, but night was fast approaching. You can get a view of Delicate Arch from a parking lot that is a distance away… so we did see it, and leave the hike to get close to it on our bucket list!
Delicate Arch
We fit quite a bit in during our 8 hours at Arches National Park. That evening we still had a three hour drive to our next stop: Monument Valley. We stayed at The View Hotel, where every room overlooks the monuments! More on that in our next post! Subscribe if you’d like to get updates when we make a new post!
Thanks for stopping by and checking out our stories! We hope you enjoyed and are ready to have some of your own adventures!
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