bugsy running on lone rock beach with the airstream and f-150 in the background

Arches National Park

We first visited Arches in April 2016 during Big Trip #1, then again in November 2018 during Big Trip #2.

Arches National Park is a geologist’s wonderland. On our first visit, we got there early, perhaps too early for good photography, but early enough to beat the crowds at our first couple stops. This is Delicate Arch, which you may recognize from Utah license plates. I replaced the previous boring photo of Delicate Arch all by itself with an exciting new photo of me underneath Delicate Arch from our second visit in 2018! 😀

delicate arch arches national park

And here is Landscape Arch, J’s favorite of the arches. You can’t tell from the picture, but it is the longest natural arch in the world, at 290 feet. At its narrowest, Landscape is only 6 feet wide. It could literally collapse at any time. Go see it now!

landscape arch

Near Landscape Arch are Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch:

pine arch
tunnel arch

We took a break from arch viewing to have breakfast with Bugsy at the Courthouse Towers overlook:

arches national park

and then finished our arch viewing with Turret Arch:

windows arch

and Double Arch:

double arch

We also stopped by North and South Windows and Balanced Rock, but they were so crowded that I didn’t take pictures. Isn’t that sad? I guess I should be pleased that so many people want to get out into nature and see the arches. I’m working on my attitude…

A vista on the way out:

arches national park

A lovely stroll down Park Avenue to wrap up the day:

hiking park avenue arches national park

and to say goodbye, the Three Gossips:

three gossips arches

Arches has wild formations and expansive views and we had a super visit. As always, I recommend that you get there EARLY and zip through as many of the trails as you can before the crowds hit.

Comments

5 responses to “Arches National Park”

  1. […] write separate posts for the two National Parks we visited (Arches and Canyonlands), and the one BLM hike (Negro Bill Canyon Trail) we did (twice) while in Moab. Moab […]

  2. […] Arches, home of the second-largest concentration of natural arches in the country (behind Arches National Park), and maybe the world. A shorter version of the hike (6ish miles) is possible from the upper […]

  3. […] southern UT, which runs along or close to five National Parks (Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Arches, and Canyonlands) plus amazing national forests, state parks and BLM Land. If we had to pick a […]

  4. […] a pretty little canyon in the Ajo Mountains, and the arch is cool if you’re not used to the arches in Utah. It’s an easy 1.2-mile hike up into the canyon to the base of the cliff (on the backside of […]

  5. […] spending a day at Arches last trip, we planned to do all our hiking outside the National Park to avoid the crowds… but […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *