Arches National Park. Part I

MOAB, Utah

  Arches National Park

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Welcome to PART I

Featuring:  Devils Garden, Pine Tree Arch, Tunnel Arch and overlooks

Part II featuring Delicate Arch published HERE

  The entrance to the park is found 5 miles north of town via US 191.   Being so close to town, and also very close to Negro Bills Canyon (our last hike/park) it made sense to knock off these two parks in one day.  If you are planning to do a lot of hiking in Arches, I would definitely dedicate the entire day to this park.  We had the dog and another park to see so we had an 8am to 12pm time slot to see Arches.  

We drove up to Arches National Park at about 7 pm Saturday night after dinner.  It was a dark starry night and it was a beautiful drive seeing the silhouettes of the rock structures and the full moon.  Hotels were booked for the weekend, the campsites were full, and it was dropping to the low 40's that night, so we settled for some good ol' fashioned car camping.   No need to pitch a tent in the middle of the night and a much warmer option for November in the high dessert at night. 

We stayed at the Devils Garden Campground (very cute very primitive- no showers but bathrooms and drinking water were available) and woke up to sights like this.  There is a 20$ fee and it is first come first serve basis starting November 1st.

  The campground is at the very end of the park so the plan was to slowly drive out, stopping at all the sights.  Everything was new and so surprising because we had driven into the park at night. 

Some of my favorite pictures-  Devil's Garden! 

We started off the day with a quick hike to Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch 

Tunnel Arch 

Pine Tree Arch 

Trail back from the arches. 

The scenery at arches was beautiful and very different from the last two parks we were at.  

The landscape.. the shadows... the valley.  

Yep my favorite park! 

Below is the Fiery Furnance viewing area.  You need a permit/guided tour to hike the fiery furnance.  "The Fiery Furnace offers a labyrinth of narrow passageways and abrupt dead-ends among a series of sandstone fins. Though it does not encompass a very large area, it is easy to become disoriented or lost. For this reason, and to protect native plants and soils, visitors must join a guided hike, or obtain a special permit, in order to enter the Fiery Furnace."  More info here!

A lot of the sights were aaccessibleby car and over looks (what we did with the dog) but there were a few chances for hiking in the park 

TRAILS	MILES/KM	AVG TIME	DIFFICULTY	DESCRIPTION
Balanced Rock	.3 mi/ .5 km	15-30 min	Easy	Rock formation, loop
Broken Arch	1.3 mi/ 2.1 km	30-60 min	Easy	Arch
Broken Arch with Loop	2 mi/ 3.2 km	30-60 min	Easy	Arch, sand dunes, slickrock
Delicate Arch Viewpoint	100 yards	10-15 min	Easy	Viewpoint of Delicate Arch
Desert Nature Trail	.2 mi/ .3 km	10-15 min	Easy	Nature Walk, Trail Guide
Double Arch	.5 mi/.8 km	15-30 min	Easy	Two giant arches
Landscape Arch	2 mi/3.2 km	30-60 min	Easy	Spectacular ribbon of rock
Sand Dune Arch	.4 mi/ .6 km	15-30 min	Easy	Secluded arch/sandstone fins
Skyline Arch	.4 mi/ .6km	10-20 min	Easy	Arch
The Windows	1 mi/ 1.6 km	30-60 min	Easy	North, South Windows, Turret Arch
Park Avenue	1 mi/ 1.6 km	30-60 min	Moderate	Canyon, Courthouse Towers
Tower Arch	3.4 mi/ 5.6 km	2-3 hours	Moderate	Rock wall, dunes, sandstone fins
Delicate Arch	3 mi/ 4.8 km	2-3 hours	Strenuous	Slickrock, arch
Devils Garden	7.2 mi/ 11.5 km	3-5 hours	Strenuous	Eight arches
Double O Arch	4 mi/ 6.4 km	2-3 hours	Strenuous	Scenic, Navajo Arches
Fiery Furnace	No marked trails, permit required, guided tour available

http://www.moabadventurecenter.com/sightseeing/arches.php

Check back in for part II of our day in Arches National Park! 

Featuring the famous Delicate Arch :)