Arches National Park

Date: 7/12/2008

Difficulty:

Delicate Arch - Strenuous

Devils Garden Loop - Easy to Strenuous

Distance:

Delicate Arch - Approx. 3 miles round trip

Devils Garden Loop - 7.2 miles round trip

Rating:

Eastern Utah is home to some marvelous landscapes. One of the most interesting areas I've been to is Arches National Park. There is a lot to see in the park so plan on making a fairly long day out of it if you plan on going. Arches National Park is just outside of Moab Utah. From Grand Junction head West on I-70 for about 43 miles until you come to exit 214 which will take you to Cisco Utah. Cisco is pretty much a ghost town now so there are no services available. Continue on this road and follow the signs to Moab. Eventually you will come to the Dewy Bridge which until recently was still standing until it caught fire a short time ago and burnt up. From Dewy Bridge the road continues to follow the Colorado River past Fisher Towers and through Onion Creek and eventually comes out in Moab.

Once in the park, our first stop was the Devils Garden area. We started on the Devils Garden Primitive loop trail which is the longest of the maintained trails in the park. A short distance from the trail head the trail branches off to the right and leads you to a nice set of two arches high in the cliff wall. If you backtrack to the fork in the trail and take the left portion that will lead you to Landscape Arch which was as far as we went. Landscape Arch is considered to be the longest natural arch in the world measuring over 290 feet long.

Our next stop was Delicate Arch. Delicate Arch is the most widely photographed arch in the world and is on the Utah license plate and a postage stamp. In 2002 the Olympic torch relay for the 2002 Olympics winter games passed through this arch. The hike to the arch is not real easy, it is a 1.5 mile hike one way and has a significant elevation gain to it. Plan on a little less then and hour each way to get there and back. 

Moab Arches