Arches National Park In One Day - Hike 1
This past week my wife and daughter were going on an over night trip in Moab, UT. I was towed along to drive home when they got back. This left me with a day to do whatever I wanted.
The Idea
We had just purchased a National Parks pass and had a few beers in me when I had a thought... What if I could hike to and see every Arch in Arches National park in a single day?
The night before I pitched the idea to my wife who looked at me somewhat skeptically and said: "that sounds like a lot of hiking."
The Plan
Arches National Park is a pretty big place and requires a lot of driving to see all the arches. Most of them are in an area called the "Devils Garden" and can be seen by hiking a loop. Most of the others are just off the main road and one of them (the outlier) is in the far west of the park.
My plan was to start in the deepest part of the park to get the longest hike done before it got too hot (it was forecasted to reach 108 degrees F).
I made sure to fill my hydration pack with 3L of water along with plenty of snacks. I also packed a cooler for the car with another (iced) gallon of water, lunch, and electrolyte replacement drink.
The Main Event
After filling the car with gas and dropping off my wife and daughter I drove to the back of the park. The lot was almost full and I managed to find a parking spot pretty close to the trailhead.
Devils Garden Trail (11:00 AM)
Arches:
- Landscape
- Navajo
- Partition
- Black Cave
- Double O
- Private
- Tunnel
- Pine Tree
- Skyline (along the road)
I started later than I wanted so I went past the first two arches (Tunnel and Pine Tree). After about a mile I came to the Landscape arch:
After that the trail got a lot more technical. I had to climb up a very steep rock incline:
The next arches I arrived at were the Navajo and Partition. These are set back and can't be seen from the main trail.
After some more rock scrambling I reached the Black Cave Arch view point. I didn't see a trail to this arch so I just took a picture.
The next arch on the trail was the Double O. The approach and exit were a bit confusing since it's the turn around point for many people
After I found my way back to the trail I got to the Private arch. This arch is .25 miles off the trail and set down between some taller fins. When I arrived there was nobody around...so it was really "private"
After the private arch I continued along the Primitive trail. The rest of the hike had some sketchy rock scrambles and a lot of really hot and soft sand. This part of the trail made me glad I had 3L of water in my pack!
I finally reached the end of the loop and visited the Tunnel arch
and Pine Tree arch
The hike was a total of 7.21 miles and took me 2 hours and 32 minutes to complete (moving time).
I got back to the car ate lunch and drove to the Skyline arch view point. This is along the road so no hiking necessary 😁
