How To: Arches National Park
Arches National Park is a favorite. There’s plenty of red rock for hundreds of miles around the area, but the park offers much more than the typical scenery. Here are a few suggestions to make your trip memorable.
Delicate Arch
If you’ve seen a picture of Arches, I’d bet this was the arch in the photo. Delicate Arch is not only a 60-foot freestanding arch but is a short 3-mile round-trip hike. So yes, it will be crowded. But everyone does their best to take turns when it comes to pictures. Even though it’s heavily trafficked, you can’t come to Arches and not see it. From the entrance of the park it’s a 20-minute drive to the trail-head and then you follow a fairly well-marked trail, or just follow the people.
Landscape Arch
If Delicate Arch is too far for you, or you just want to see more arches, Landscape is a very easy hike. Go only 1.5 miles round trip on Devil’s Garden Trail and you will find it, the largest arch in the world. The trail is wide and paved until you come upon the arch. Unfortunately, due to large rocks falling off in the early 90’s you can no longer walk under the arch, but it’s big enough to enjoy from a distance.
Balanced Rock
This teetering giant is another well know spectacle of Arches reaching over 100 feet. You can see it from the road as you drive deeper into the park and walk down sidewalks that lead right up to it. I found this to be heavily photographed as I joined at least a dozen others for night exposures in the late hours. Even with the popularity, the rocks made for a great focal point and I highly recommend night photography in this area. Everyone was respectful and kept minimal lighting so the stars could be captured. Jupiter was being especially friendly as well this night and sat perfectly to the right of Balanced Rock. The spot was perfect. If you’re into nature photography, definitely check out this feature.
Corona Arch
Ok, this is sort of cheating because it’s not inside Arches National Park. However, its only an hour outside Moab and offers what the park doesn’t, a personal experience with the arch. It’s much more private and less known about. We spent around 3 hours at the arch and only saw one other person. Being outside the park, the No Fly Zone rule on drones does not apply. In addition, many people climb up the rocks walls just behind the arch and walk over onto of it; something strictly prohibited in the park. Of course, the arch itself is also just worth seeing. It’s over 100 feet and partially freestanding. The hike is 3 miles round trip and is well marked by green painted footprints. If you have any time to explore around Moab, this is definitely worth it.
Canyonlands
I’m going to cheat again and tell you about something close by. Canyonlands is its own national park but can be a mere 30-minute drive depending on where you’re staying. While you’re in the area take half a day to check our Canyonlands National Park and check another park off your list. It offers some incredible views of the green river valley and is typically less trafficked than Arches. In addition, it offers a great contrast with its deep canyons to the tall arches nearby.
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