I have been to Arches National Park probably half a dozen times in my life. I have a favorite trail that, if memory serves me correctly, I have hit up every time I’ve been. It’s the perfect length for a solid run/hike, it samples a little bit of everything the park has to offer, and, while it’s packed with high-heeled tour bus patrons at the very beginning, the far end of the loop is usually only sparsely populated.
Arches National Park is located a few miles North of Moab, Utah, the well-known mecca for mountain bikers. Because mountain biking usually causes me to fall a lot, I skip the bike trails and hit up the hikes the area has to offer.
Pine Tree Arch
Since I’m always on a budget (and I’d rather spend money on events, not on where I lay my head down at night), I recommend two places: Lazy Lizard Hostel or any of the campgrounds (I’ve stayed at the “Moab Rim Campark.”) The Lazy Lizard Hostel costs an amazingly low $9/night for a room in a mixed-sex dorm. There are several dorms and also private cabins in the back of the property. There are showers inside and a functional (but not particularly tidy) set of showers in a building in the backyard, as well. At $9, I feel that you get more than what you paid for. There’s a cozy social area with the requisite reading materials (Readers Digest, National Geographic and several books you’ve never heard of); an ancient, wheezy Apple iie-era public computer with dial-up internet; a slew of popular (and not-so-popular) board games; a cooking area; and a number of tables and saggy couches, from which to plan out your adventures.
There are also numerous campgrounds in the area. There are really too many to choose from to have something to say about them all.
Arches National Park is only about 5 miles North of Moab. The trail head for my favorite hike is all the way on the far end of the park, but the drive through is utterly amazing. It simply doesn’t look real. The colors are outstanding and the rock formations along the way are big and bizarre and bulbous. Traffic can be a bit thick, as there’s only one road through the park, but the sights along the way are so breathtaking, you really won’t mind the drive.
Fast-forward workout: Devil’s Garden Primitive Loop, 7.2 mile loop
Park in the Devil’s Garden parking lot. There are a few shorter hikes (rather, strolls) that a lot of tour bus patrons shuffle along, but it only takes a few minutes to get past them and on to the virtually empty “primitive” part of the trail. Also, it’s a loop; most of the people will be trekking out to see Landscape Arch, which means they’ll be going clockwise. All you have to do is go counter-clockwise.
Devil’s Garden Primitive Trail Loop
BRING LOTS OF WATER. I have a very distinct memory from early childhood of hiking the trail with my family with only a juice box per person and having our dehydration level reach scary heights.
The hike is awesome. Again, I recommend doing it counter-clockwise. It starts out with a jog through a sandy, dessert setting. It’s hot and there’s no shade, but the contrast between the richly red sand, the green sagebrush and the crisp blue sky is awesome. At every turn of the trail, there’s a photo-op. Further on, the trail involves a lot of scrambling over boulders and rocks and walks along narrow rock ledges. I’m scared to death of heights and cliffs, but I can manage this part. The views are definitely worth it. At this point in the hike, the “trail” goes mostly over rocks and boulders, so you have to follow the rock cairns in order to stay on the right track.
Eventually, after much scrambling up and over rocky areas, the trail dumps you back on solid (dirt) ground, and there are several arches to explore. Private Arch, Double O Arch and Dark Angel are all accessible from this part of the trail. This is about halfway through the hike, so it’s a good idea to take some time out to look at the arches and rehydrate. Double O Arch is my favorite. There’s a large circular opening on top and a much smaller one on the bottom. With a little finagling, you can get up into the top one, and it provides a pretty unique photo op.
The top part of Double O Arch
The way back involves more trips over rocks and then flattens out for the last part. The last stretch is usually frequented by the tour bus crowds. You can expect to bump shoulders and fight for a spot from which to snap photos of Landscape Arch, but it’s a pretty unique arch. At 290 feet wide, it is the longest arch in the park, and the second longest in the world (behind Kolob Arch, in Zion National Park).
View from up above (nice tan lines!)
Bonus:
Make sure to visit nearby Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park.
In your own shoes 