A trip to Utah’s National Parks is not complete without a visit to Arches. Just outside of Moab, UT its appeal lies in the magical remnants of erosion over the ages. The park is a beautiful mix of ancient and relatively new land formations that at worst will leave you in awe. At best they will leave you with a sense of growing humility in the face of nature’s grand scheme.
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About Arches National Park
Situated in eastern Utah, the area that now is designated as Arches National Park has been considered special for ages by multiple native tribes. Hunters and gatherers first lived in this area and eventually evolved to farming. But, as you will see for yourself when you visit, Arches has always been more than that.
As recently as 2017 native tribes, six in total, partnered with the University of Arizona and the National Park System to create a comprehensive understanding of how native tribes view this area. Though each tribe brought its own thinking about the Arches area, all agreed it was and continues to be an important and powerful ceremonial space. Arches hold significant meaning to both past and current religious practices.
It’s from this space of respect, awe, and wonder that we encountered the park and we wish the same for you and yours as well.
If you’d like to spend longer in Utah check out how to get the best of your stay with our Utah Road Trip 7 Day Itinerary.
Can You Experience Arches National Park in One Day?
A one-day itinerary assumes a certain level of energy and an interest in easy-to-moderate hiking. This is a very full day. But you can easily adjust it to fit the needs of you and your travel tribe. The park is normally open 24 hours a day year-round. So you can take advantage of that by heading in very early.
An Arches National Park 2-day itinerary would include what you see here as well as the ability to enjoy one or two of the longer hikes. Devil’s Garden Trail offers the ability to push yourself beyond the easy hike to Landscape Arch. You can extend that hike up to 7.2 miles and explore side trails that lead to up to five additional arches.
Or extend your trip by going off-road and away from the crowds into Salt Valley. If you have a 4WD vehicle you can get out to see the Tower Arch and Marching Man structures. However you decide to experience the park, your time will be well spent.
Arches National Park Itinerary
The outline below highlights a very busy day that takes you from one end of the park to the other. As in many of our park itineraries, we begin at the furthest end of the park in order to avoid as much of the crowds as possible. Also, start early, we recommend you enter the park at or before sunrise. In doing this you grab an opportunity not many are willing to take – to have a few hours in the park without the huge crowds that mid-morning can bring.
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Scenic Drive – Begin at the End
If hiking is not a thing for your group then rest assured that you can still see a lot of Arches National Park just by taking a driving tour of the Scenic Drive. Spending 4 – 5 hours on the paved road allows you to take in the majesty of the park. But we always recommend pulling over to park and getting up and out into nature. The recommendations that follow cover the best way to do that in one day.
For this itinerary, you start your day by driving all the way to the end of the Scenic Drive, about 30 minutes, to the Devils Garden parking area. Enter the park as early as you can, by sunrise is best. Resist the urge to stop and gawk. You’ll be tempted to give in to immediate gratification and all I can say is, I get it. The wow factor is huge. You’ll see others pulled over at such intriguing spots as Park Avenue Viewpoint. Or the sign for Garden of Eden or Fiery Furnace will call you. But don’t give in. Stay strong. There’s plenty of time to see it all as you move through the day.
Devils Garden Trail
Kick off your Arches National Park adventure with Devils Garden Trail. This trailhead opens you up to many possible hikes. Devils Garden to Landscape Arch is an easy 1.6-mile hike to one of the most amazingly thin arches in the park. There are smaller side trails that take hikers to both Pine Tree and Tunnel Arches. If doing one day in Arches simply complete the 1.6 miles round trip to Landscape Arch.
Choose to go further beyond Landscape Arch if you have more than one day. You’ll be on a much more strenuous trail. This rocky 4-mile path leads you to Double O Arch, with side trails to Navajo and Partition Arches. You can extend the hike with a 1-mile round trip to a pinnacle named Dark Angel. If you have 3 – 4 hours, take the Primitive Loop to make the whole experience 7.2 miles.
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Skyline Arch
You can see this beautiful arch from a pullout on the road. But an easy 0.4-mile trail gets you a closer look. The geology behind the creation of arches can be reviewed in the short video below.
Sand Dune and Broken Arches
For your next stop, continue back down Scenic Drive and pull into the Sand Dunes Arch parking area. Because it’s still early in the day, you’ll most likely find a space quickly. Head to the 0.3-mile Sand Dune trail first. This easy sandy trail does have narrow one-way sections of path that require climbing up or down a bit of low-lying rock and walking through sand. But we found it to be a very family-friendly hike.
The reward is a secluded arch in between sandstone fins that glows a deep pinkish color in the morning light.
Coming out from between the fins you’ll now pick up a 1.3-mile trail across a meadow to Broken Arch. You can choose to make this a 2.2-mile loop through a beautiful landscape that includes sand dunes and sandstone fins if you have more time.
Fiery Furnace Viewpoint
This overlook is worth a stop to give you sweeping views over a maze of fins, arches, and spires. With just one day you are simply enjoying the view. But with more time skilled hikers can tackle a somewhat strenuous adventure into the Fiery Furnace area. It is recommended to hike this area with a ranger and reservations are required. While they were not taking reservations when we went in 2021, this is an amazing way to extend your time in the park once the reservation system opens again.
The Window and Double Arch Trails
Leave the Sand Dune parking area and continue heading back down Scenic Drive to Window Road. You’ll see an exit to Delicate Arch but we recommend you save that for a hike later in the day as sunset gives you amazing lighting to better appreciate the arch. This itinerary has a whole section devoted to that hike later on.
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Turn left onto Window Road. The Garden of Eden viewpoint is worth a stop for beautiful views of the Turret Arch and the La Sal Mountain range. The road then loops with parking on each side. By this time, the whole lot will be approaching full so take any spot you can find or loop around until you get one. There are stairs and a pathway that crosses the loop and connects the two sides so it really doesn’t matter where you park.
Walk the easy half-mile level trail to Double Arch. The area is a collection of stunning formations. While it’s fairly easy to get a picture of the unique arch formation from multiple spots on the trail, you should definitely take the time to walk closer in order to appreciate the massiveness of this structure.
The double arch formed over eons of time by water that pooled in depressions in the rock. It eventually creates an ever-expanding opening in the roof of the rock. It’s humbling to stand close to the massive expanse and contemplate how short our span of time on this earth is in comparison.
Crossing the loop you’ll see the trailhead for the North and South Windows as well as Turret Arch. With an easy trail that’s less than a 1-mile round trip, you can see the three arches that dominate this side of the park.
If your energy is still high, you can walk to the other side of Turret Arch to get a different view from the more southern side.
Balanced Rock
Leaving the Windows area you’ll turn left. In a very short drive, you’ll be at the turnout for Balanced Rock. It’s worth the short hike to get up close to this example of how erosion impacts the layers of rock differently.
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Seeing the rubble from the 1975-1976 collapse of what was once a mini-Balanced Rock demonstrates how unavoidably the weaker, faster-eroding stone will give way. Eventually, Balanced Rock will be no more.
There is a flat stone area directly in front of Balanced Rock. Here people are creating Zen Garden Cairns. Stop for a look and imagine humans paying tribute to the strength to still stand in the face of inevitable erosion.
Park Avenue
This parking area and trailhead are closer to the Visitor Center. This can either be your last stop in the park or you can hike this trail now if you have the energy, before heading back toward Delicate Arch.
The Park Avenue trail is a 2-mile round trip hike or can be done as a point-to-point hike if someone would like to skip the trail and wait with the car at the Courthouse Towers. Don’t feel too guilty if you stay at the viewpoint. The paved sidewalk and parking area still provide amazing views and allow you to save your energy for our last hike of the day – Delicate Arch.
Delicate Arch Hike
This 3-mile hike is strenuous. The typical length of time it takes is listed as 2 – 3 hours. We are a relatively average healthy crew and it took us around 2 hours from start to end to accomplish the hike. It took just about 1 hour to get up top, with a bit of downtime standing in front of the arch as well as stops along the way to rest. The trip back down was just a bit faster because gravity…
I’ve seen this hike described as a “slight bit of uphill” at the beginning and then relatively level after. Don’t be fooled by these Terminators. This hike is officially strenuous. There is 480 feet of elevation change. All. Up. Hill. Once you get past the slickrock climb there is an area that is more leveled out. There are areas of the trail that have drop-off but are passable as 2-way. You can do this!
If anyone in your group is not up to the hike but would still like to see Delicate Arch, there are two viewing points. Drive past the parking area for Delicate Arch and follow signs to the viewing areas. They have their own parking lot at the end of the road. The Lower Delicate Arch Viewpoint is an easy walk, wheelchair accessible, from the parking area to view the arch from about a mile of distance. Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint is along the left fork in the trail. This part of the trail is much steeper but takes you to the rim of a canyon that is the only thing between you and the Delicate Arch.
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What You Need to Bring for Hiking Delicate Arch
Bring water as there is no drinking water or refill station at the parking lot or restroom area. The nearest water refill stations are at either Devils Garden or the Visitor Center, not conveniently close to this area. Sunscreen or a hat is a must. There is not much shade over the length of this hike.
We did not bring our hiking sticks for this but I wished we had them while hiking back down. It would have taken a bit of the stress off my knees. High-quality hiking shoes or boots are going to benefit you hugely. This is not a place you want to be jogging barefoot downhill while holding your broken flip-flops (and yes, I saw this happen…)
Along the Way
A sign at the beginning of the trail notes that there are rock cairns along the way to mark the path. We did not see these at any point. But there was a strong sense of where to go by following other hikers as well as metal signposts along the way.
Take breaks frequently, especially if doing this hike in the heat of the afternoon. The best break we got was by lying against a shaded wall of rock. Because the sun had never touched this side of the rock face, the cool stone against our legs and back did more to cool us down than any other trick we tried.
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You’ll also find encouragement from your fellow hikers. People on their way back down frequently give those on the way up a bit of encouragement with simple greetings like “You’re almost there!” and “Keep going it’s just a bit further.” It’s a nice energy boost to hear kind words so be sure to do the same when you are on your way back down.
As you get closer to Delicate Arch, the trail becomes much more distinct and has a drop-off to the left side.
A Unique Opportunity
You’ll possibly notice fellow hikers who have scrambled up an incline of rock on the right side of the trail to look through a small opening. This spot is known as Frame Arch, or Twisted Donut Arch, and is not to be missed. This is one of the most unique spots to appreciate Delicate Arch.
Once You’re There
Maybe you, like us, can appreciate Delicate Arch most from a distance. You are definitely not alone in this stance of respect. But the Insta-worthy photos will still be taken and others will head past you to stand under the arch. People will stand waiting in line for you to move on so they can take your spot. This is one of the most popular hikes in the entire park after all. And each visitor will show appreciation in different ways for the accomplishment of being so near these remarkable formations. It will be ultimately up to you and yours to consider how best to treat this space.
Arches National Park Visitor Center
The last stop at the end of our day was the Visitor Center. It has a water refill station, restrooms, and a gift shop. If you did Delicate Arch as a sunset hike then this will be something you have to visit earlier in the day as hours are from 8 AM to 5 PM. For example, if you don’t mind a bit of driving back and forth, this can be a great spot to refuel after visiting the Park Avenue area and just before you head back to hike Delicate Arch.
However you decide to enjoy the Arches National Park area, you absolutely will not leave disappointed.
Interested in visiting other National Parks in Utah? Look at how to spend one perfect day in Zion National Park. Or consider extending your road trip across Utah with this Bryce Canyon itinerary to help you get the most out of your visit.
Passionate about hiking? Consider hiking at Bryce Canyon. Be sure to maintain a strong sense of hiking safety with your children with our tips so everyone can have a great time.
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