Moab, Utah

Arches Nation Park is situated near Moab, Utah. The park is filled with natural sandstone arches and unique rock formations. The well-marked trails are suitable for the beginner to the avid hiker, and each trailhead has outhouse-type bathrooms.

We visited the park in early June and the weather was HOT compared to the milder temperatures we came from in Michigan. We started our visit early in the morning arriving before the park opened at 7:00 am to help beat the heat. We also carried plenty of water with us and a few salty snacks. The park is a timed entry National Park and tickets need to be purchased before your visit. We were able to get tickets the night before for our early morning time. Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.recreation.gov

We spent one day at the park, but if you are an experienced hiker, used to rock scrambling on smooth sandstone, then two days may be better to complete some of the more advanced hikes.

Park Avenue Trail

The first hike we did was the Park Avenue Trail. This was an easy hike with towering red rock formations. The trail is 2 miles round-trip. One of my favorite rock formations along this hike is called the Three Gossips, which appears as three peaks that resemble figures standing together chatting. My other favorite part of this hike was the rock formation below that resembles my home state of Michigan.

Devils Garden Trail

Devils Garden is located at the end of the park road and takes about 45 minutes to reach from the visitor center. The trail offers a variety of options with six different natural arches to view. I would consider the trail up to Double O Arch easy and we did not continue past this to Dark Angel or continue to the Primitive trail. These trails were considered moderate. The key arches include Landscape Arch, Double O Arch, Navajo Arch, Partition Arch, Pine Tree Arch, and Tunnel Arch.