Arches National Park – Moab, Utah

Arches National Park

This park is located in Moab, Utah and supposedly has the largest collection of arches in the world. We have visited this park before and know that it can be quite crowded. Their website even advises that you should arrive long before 8am during peak season if you want to avoid the long lines to enter the park and that between 9am and 3pm parking is very limited/non-existent at most of the trailheads/viewing areas. We arrived around 5:30am and we left before 9am. By that time the trails and parking were getting full. It is way too crowded for us but we still love and enjoy the park and continue to come back. Note the entrance queue (below) before 9am when we left.

Entrance

Devils Garden – Landscape Arch

There are a number of arches near the campground at the northern most end of the park. We arrived there by sunrise and enjoyed the trails in the area.

Hiking the trail at sunrise

Great trails

Scenery in Devils Garden

Hiking the Landscape Arch trail

Another arch

Along the trail

Landscape Arch

Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch (60 feet tall) is probably one of the most popular areas of the park. The hike up to the arch is about 1.5 miles one way with a 480 foot elevation gain. There are also two areas for viewing the arch.

Delicate Arch – as seen from a distance

Delicate Arch – showing hikers at the arch

Around the Park

The drive around the park is stunning as there are rock formations and vistas at every turn. After sunrise we had some clouds roll in which added to the views and was a welcome relief to the high heat in the area.

Sunrise at the park

Vista view

Arches everywhere

More stunning vistas

Clouds rolling in

Fiery Furnace

Scenery along the drive

The drive

Dark clouds, a few raindrops, but no real rain

Devils Garden Campground

The Devils Garden Campground is a dry camping campground with approximately 50 campsites about 18 miles from the entrance of Arches National Park. The views are fabulous and there is also great access to trails. The campground allows RVs up to 40 feet but we thought that there were very few, if any, sites that could accommodate a big rig. Most of the sites were short, not level, and very close together. The campground is also quite far from the entrance and requires dealing with traffic (tourist crowds) if you would like to head into Moab for amenities. The campground is difficult to get a site during peak season and a reservation is a must. But, if you are lucky enough to get a reservation, have a tent or small rig, and remain in the area it would probably be a fantastic place to camp.