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ARCHES NATIONAL PARK

Park Information | Geological Features | Activities | Hiking Trails

Arches National Park preserves over two thousand natural sandstone arches, including the world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to a variety of unique geological resources and formations. In some areas, faulting has exposed millions of years of geologic history. A striking environment of contrasting colors, landforms, and textures highlights the extraordinary features of the park, including balanced rocks, fins, and pinnacles.

PARK INFORMATION

Hours
Arches National Park is open year round 24 hours a day. season runs from mid-March through October.

Location
The entrance to Arches National Park is located in southeastern Utah, just 5 miles north of the town of Moab, on Highway 191.

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Entrance Fees

Pass	Fee	Valid For	Time Valid
Vehicle Pass	$10	1 vehicle and all passengers	7 days
Individual Pass	$5	1 individual. Good for walk-ins, motorcycles, and bicycles.	7 days
Local Passport	$25	Entrance into Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Hovenweep National Monument and Natural Bridges National Monument.	1 year
National Parks Pass or Golden Pass (Age, Eagle, and Access) are accepted.

Reservations

Reservations for the Devil's Garden Campground, located approx. eighteen miles in the park, can be made in advance through Recreation.gov. The park does not coordinate the reservations. The campground has fifty individual sites available at $20/night. Each site will accommodate up to ten people. Recreation.gov requests that reservations be made no less than four days in advance. From November 1st to February 28th, sites 1 through 24 are available on a self-serve basis.

Group reservations for groups of eleven or more people can also be made through http://www.recreation.gov. The Canyon Wren campsite is available year round and will hold up to 35 people. The Juniper Basin campsite will hold up to 55 people but is only available from March 1st to October 31st. There is a $9 booking fee for reservations. RVs and trailers are not permitted on the group sites.

Reservations can be made by calling Recreation.gov at 877.444.6777, 877.833.6777 (TDD), or 518.885.3639 or by visiting http://www.recreation.gov.

Ranger-Guided Hikes and Tours are offered regularly from March through October. Walks average a mile (90 minutes in length). For information and start times, check in at the Visitor Center.

Tickets can be reserved in advance for the Fiery Furnace Tours by booking online at http://www.recreation.gov. Visitors are advised to book in advance as these hikes fill up quickly. More information can be found at the National Park Service Webpage.

Mail:
Arches National Park
PO Box 907
Moab, UT 84532-0907

Phone:
(Visitor Information)
435.719.2299

(Headquarters)
435.719.2100

Email:
General Information

Visitor Center Hours
April-October:
7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

November-March:
8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Closed on December 25th.

Park Brochures
Brochures can be found on the webpage for the National Park Service.

Park Map

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GEOLOGICAL FEATURES

Delicate Arch

Easily the most recognizable Arch in Utah, Delicate Arch has become the symbol of Utah and the Moab area. The Arch stands at 52 feet tall. The Arch, formed of entrada sandstone, is home to white-throated swifts that build their nests on top of the arch in summertime. The hike to Delicate Arch begins at the Wolfe Ranch parking area and is a three mile hike round trip with an elevation change of 480 feet. It is advised that visitors take at least 1 quart of water per person as there is no available shade on the trail.

Double Arch

Double Arch was formed differently than most arches in Arches National Park. Where most other arches were formed by erosion from the side, as with Delicate Arch, Double Arch was formed by erosion from the top. In 2009, the arch was measured using precision lasers to find that the largest arch is 104 feet tall with a span of 148 feet. Visitors can explore directly beneath the arches. The trail to Double arch is only .5 mi in length and is relatively flat and sandy. Double Arch was also featured at the beginning of the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Balanced Rock

Located just off of the main road into Arches, Balanced Rock sits only nine miles from the park entrance. It stands at 128 feet. The balancing rock, which is the size of three school buses, stands 55 feet above the base. There is a short .3 mile trail that loops around the base of the formation.

Landscape Arch

Landscape Arch is considered by the National Arch and Bridge Society (NABS) to be the second longest natural arch in the world. In 2004, NABS measured the arch at 290.1 feet long (longer than a football field). In recent years, three rock slabs have fallen off of the thinnest section of the span. The first occurred in 1991 when a 73 foot slab fell. A Swiss tourist happened to capture the event on video. In June 1995, a 47 foot span fell. Two weeks later, another 30 foot rock fell, prompting the National Park Service to close the loop trail that once went underneath the arch. Landscape Arch is located in the Devil's Garden area of the park.

ACTIVITIES

Scenic Drives

Camping

Climbing

Many of the natural features of Arches National Park can be seen through scenic drives that range from 1.5 hours to 4.5 hours. Parking in Arches can be difficult at times, especially at popular sites like Delicate Arch or Devils Garden, which can fill up for hours at a time during peak season, weekends, and holidays

Traffic congestion can lengthen driving times through Arches, so plan accordingly. Peak hours tend to be between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., though parking at the Delicate Arch trail head also tends to back up at Sunset. Some of the busiest weekends and holidays include Easter week, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Utah Education Association (UEA) break.

For a shorter drive (approx. 1.5 hours), visitors can drive to the Windows Section, which features some of the largest arches in the park. For an added experience, visitors can also spend an extra half hour on a short walk beneath Double Arch or North Window. In the same amount of time as visiting the Windows Section, visitors can drive to the Delicate Arch view point and still have time to stop at Wolfe Ranch on the way back. Both of the above suggestions can be accomplished in three hours.

It takes approximately 4-5 hours to drive all of the paved roads in the park. That time estimate includes time spent at each viewpoint. Suggested viewpoints are Delicate Arch Viewpoint, Wolfe Ranch, and the Window Section.

Driving Tips:
Avoid weekends and holidays.
Try to visit the park before 8 a.m. to beat the crowds.
Carpool if possible or hire a shuttle.
Leave oversized vehicles, such as RVs, at the visitor center or in town.

Individual campsites and group campsites are both available in Arches National Park at the Devils Garden Campground. The campground is open year-round and is situated eighteen miles in the park. Camp facilities include potable water, picnic tables, grills, and both flush toilets and pit-style toilets. Some places will accommodate RVs up to 30 feet long. The facilities do not include showers or RV dump/fill stations. Visitors are also advised to bring their own wood or charcoal for the grills.

For $20 a night, the park has individual sites accommodating up to ten people. There are also group sites available for groups of eleven or more. The Canyon Wren campsite, open year round, will hold up to 35 people. The Juniper Basin campsite, open from March 1st to October 31st, holds up to 55 people. RVs are not permitted on group sites.

From March through October, campground availability is very limited. The park does not coordinate campground reservations. Reservations are needed and can be made by visiting http://www.recreation.gov.

The rock at Arches offers excellent climbing opportunities, despite its sandy nature. Most climbing routes in the park require advanced techniques. Permits are not required, unless the trip involves an overnight stay in the backcountry. Climbers are encouraged to access climbing routes via established trails, slickrock or sandy washes.

It the responsibility of all climbers to know and obey park regulations and route closures. Closures, conditions, and restrictions apply to rock climbing or similar activities such as, but not limited to, technical rock climbing, free climbing and clean aid climbing within Arches National Park. For a list of closures and restrictions, visit the National Park Service page at http://www.nps.gov/arch/planyourvisit/climbing.htm

Backpacking

Photography

Hiking

Being a small park, Arches has few backcountry areas. There are no reliable water sources, campsites, or designated trails outside of the park's main areas.

A backcountry permit, acquired at the visitor center, is needed to backpack in Arches. Group sizes cannot exceed ten people, and the park encourages smaller groups in order to reduce impact.

The National Park Service suggests that backpackers should know how to navigate with a topographic map, recognize safety hazards and practice low-impact camping specific to the high desert. Primary safety considerations include steep terrain, loose rock, lightning, flash floods, and dehydration.

The time to capture the best light in arches is very early in the morning (at Sunrise) and late after/sunset when teh horizontal angle of the sun gives the rocks the stronger three dimensional quality. The dust the light passes through filters the light, leaving mostly the red part of the light spectrum visible. This serves to enhance the natural red hue to the rocks.

The National Park Service provided a list of suggested photography locations. The list, organized by early morning and late afternoon locations, appears below:

Early Morning	Late Afternoon
Moab Fault The Three Gossips Sheep Rock The Great Wall Turret Arch The Spectacles Double Arch Cache Valley Wolfe Ranch Landscape Arch Double O Arch	Park Avenue Courthouse Towers Petrified Dunes Balanced Rock The Garden of Eden North and South Windows Delicate Arch Fiery Furnace Skyline Arch Fins in Devils Garden Tower Arch

Arches contains a wide variety of hiking trails ranging from very short fifteen minute walks to long 7.2 mile hikes. Some of the easier trails include Landscape Arch, Double Arch, and Skyline Arch. Some of the long trails are Delicate Arch, Double O Arch, and Fiery Furnace. Fiery Furnace has no marked trails, and visitors must obtain a hiking permit at the visitor center or sign up for a ranger-guided hike.

For more information about the hiking trails, see the table below.

HIKING TRAILS

Easy Trails	Length	Time Required	Description
Balanced Rock	.3 mi (5. km) round trip	15-30 min	A loop trail around the base of a fragile, picturesque rock formation.
Broken Arch	1.2 mi (2 km) round trip or 2 mi (3.2 km) with loop	30-60 min	From the Sand Dune Arch parking area, the trail cuts across a large meadow to the arch and continues to the campground. Loop trail leads through fin canyons with sand dunes and slickrock.
Delicate Arch Viewpoint	100 yards (91 meters) round trip	10-15 min	In addition to the short accessible trail, another (moderately strenuous) hiking trail climbs one-half mile (0.8 km) toward Delicate Arch and ends at the rim of a steep canyon that separates the viewpoint from the arch. (This is not the popular trail to Delicate Arch, which starts at the Wolfe Ranch parking area. See "Delicate Arch" under "Long Trails")
Desert Nature Trail	0.2 mi (0.3 km) round trip	15-30 min	Discover the adaptations of plants and animals in the desert on a self-guided nature walk. Trail guide available at the trailhead near the Visitor Center.
Double Arch	0.5 mi (0.8 km) round trip	15-30 min	A relatively flat, sandy trail leads to the base of two giant arch spans which are joined at one end.
Landscape Arch	2 mi (3.2 km) round trip	30-60 min	A relatively flat, gravel-surfaced trail leads to a spectacular ribbon of rock, whose span is more than a football field in length. Short side trips to Tunnel and Pine Tree Arches.
Sand Dune Arch	0.4 mi (0.6 km) round trip	15-30 min	Trail leads through deep sand to a secluded arch among sandstone fins. Kids love the sand!
Skyline Arch	0.4 mi (0.6 km) round trip	10-20 min	A short hike on a flat, well-defined trail.
The Windows	1 mi (1.6 km) round trip	30-60 min	A gentle climb up a gravel loop trail leads to three massive arches (North and South Windows and Turret Arch). An alternate return, slightly longer, is by way of the primitive loop around the back of the two Windows. The primitive loop trail starts at the South Window viewpoint.
Moderate Trails	Length	Time Required	Description
Park Avenue	1 mi (1.6 km) one way	30-60 min	From Park Avenue parking area, the trail descends steeply into a spectacular canyon and continues down the wash to the Courthouse Towers parking area. If you have a shuttle driver, you can begin at one parking area and be picked up at the other. For round-trip hiking, retrace your steps along the trail.
Tower Arch	3.4 mi (5.6 km) round trip	2-3 hrs	The trail climbs a steep, but short, rock wall, then cuts across a valley and then meanders through sandstone fins and sand dunes. An alternate, shorter trail (0.3 mile [0.4 km] one way), begins at the end of the four-wheel-drive road on the west side of Tower Arch. This unpaved road washes out quickly in rainstorms; inquire at the visitor center about road conditions before heading out.
Long Trails	Length	Time Required	Description
Delicate Arch	3 mi (4.8 km) round trip	2-3 hrs	Take at least 1 quart (1 liter) of water per person! There is no shade. Open slickrock with some exposure to heights. The first half-mile is a wide, well-defined trail. Upon reaching the slickrock, follow the rock cairns. The trail climbs gradually and levels out toward the top of this rock face. Just before you get to Delicate Arch, the trail goes along a rock ledge for about 200 yards. Elevation change: 480 feet (146 meters)
Devils Garden Primitive Loop	7.2 mi (11.5 km) round trip	3-5 hrs	Longest of the maintained trails in the park, the Devils Garden Trail leads to eight awe-inspiring arches. Expect narrow ledges with rocky surface hiking and scrambling on slickrock. Not recommended when rock is wet or snowy.
Double O Arch	4 mi (6.4 km) round trip	2-3 hrs	Beyond Landscape Arch, the trail becomes more challenging as it climbs over sandstone slabs; footing is rocky; there are narrow ledges with exposure to heights. Spur trails lead to Partition and Navajo Arches. Dark Angel is one-half mile (0.8 km) farther. Trail guide available at trailhead.
Fiery Furnace			The Fiery Furnace is a labyrinth of narrow sandstone canyons and fins. There are no marked trails. Visitors who want to explore the Fiery Furnace must obtain a hiking permit at the visitor center (fee charged) and watch a minimum impact video. All groups are encouraged to sign up for a ranger guided hike.