Arches National Park
Arches National Park has one paved road that bisects the park. This drive has many stop/view areas and is the road to most of the Arches hikes.
Length:
Time:
35.5 miles round trip
2-5 Hours
Trail Type:
Out and back
Rating:
Season:
Fees:
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
All Year
National Park Entrance Fee
Arches became a National Monument in 1929 and an official National Park in 1971. The main park road was first paved in 1957 and ended at the Windows Section of the park. Today you can drive with ease all the way from the entrance of the park to Devils Garden. There are spur roads you can also explore in the Windows Section and the Delicate Arch and Wolf Ranch sections of the park.
Route Info
The Arches entrance is just a few minutes north of Moab on Highway 191. This route describes the road beginning at the visitor center which is just past the park entrance ranger stations. The visitor center contains flush bathrooms, clean water to fill up with as well as the usual National Park geology and history displays.
Starting the drive into the park, the road immediately climbs the sandstone benches with several hairpin curves. Keep an eye out for the Three-Penguins sandstone feature as the road makes its way higher. Once you reach the main Arches plateau, the road calms down on tight turns and begins to make its way into the park.
Next, you’ll arrive at the Park Avenue trailhead. Continuing on past here, the road will wrap around to the back part of the Park Avenue trail. Here you can see the Organ formation, Sheep Rock and the Three Gossips. As you keep driving, the road will turn in the northern direction as it heads towards the Windows Section.
After another 5-6 miles you will reach the turn off to the Windows Section. This is also where Balanced Rock lives. You will easily see this on your right-hand side before the turn off to Windows. Explore the Windows area and when you make it back to the main road, keep heading north.
Another few miles will bring you to the Delicate Arch turn off. If you haven’t hiked Delicate Arch before, you should seriously consider doing it. This is one of the most unique arches in the world. It gets crowded here and the hike can be really hot in the summer so plan accordingly.
After the Delicate Arch turn off, the main road continues north and passes the Fiery Furnace. This maze-like feature requires a special permit and fee to enter it that you can obtain at the visitor center. For first time visitors, you might want to consider visiting this area with a ranger guided tour to prevent getting lost.
Finally, the park road ends at the Devils Garden section of the park. The Arches Campground is located here as well as the Devils Garden trail and primitive trail. This area has a lot of really impressive arches including the worlds longest spanning arch, Landscape Arch.
There are a lot of side trails, arches and features to explore in the park. Visitors can easily spend several days here hiking and driving before being able to see all that the park offers. If you only have half a day to spend in the park, you should definitely check out the Windows Section and then either try and hike a portion of Devils Garden or take the time to see Delicate Arch.