Hipfig travel channel offers DIY travel video guides for more than 25 cities in
Asia, US, and Canada. If you like this video then subscribe, give us a thumbs up,
or a comment. Hello welcome to hipfig's beautiful America series episode for
arches national park in Utah. Hipfig's beautiful America series is dedicated to
highlighting nature's wonders in American and Canadian national parks
monuments, and vistas. Arches national park is located in moab, utah and one of
the big five utah national parks. Did you know that this National Park, Arches, has
over 2,000 natural stone arches in it? It does and it also has hundreds of soaring
pinnacles, enormous fins, and giant balanced rocks and many many trails
Arches is an amazing place to hike. Along its red huge stone formations watch
sunsets and then bask in the Stars and the moon. Our national park travel guides
are designed for you to plan your own trip to places like arches national park
let us know by commenting below if hipfig's free travel guides are helpful to
you. This hipfig arches national park travel guide will provide information on
how to get to arches, what to see once you get there, and provide helpful tips
for your trip to arches national park.
Arches National Park is located along u.s. highway 191 near Moab, Utah. Moab
Utah is a large town with lots of hotels, restaurants, shops, and gas stations. This
is a good place to stay and refill your supplies. Arches national park entrance
is north about five miles on US Highway 191 from Moab Utah. There is no public
transportation inside arches national park. You may need to rent a car, ride a
bike, or take a tour to get to and around inside this arches national park
From Salt Lake City arches national park is about 236 miles and takes about 4
hours by car. From Capitol Reef National Park in Utah it's an about 2 hour drive
if you drive without any stops. Please use your GPS from your location and make
sure to download the maps to your phone as the cell service is spotty in several
areas
we stayed overnight in Moab and headed early at 8 a.m. for arches national park
we drove five miles north on Main Street which is also US highway 191. After we
passed the end of the town of Moab and crossed the Colorado River bridge we
found the entrance of arches national park on our right hand side. Signs for
arches national park is clearly marked along u.s. highway 191. From US Highway
191 we made a right to the entrance of the park. There is a turn-off on the
right hand side near the sign at this arches national park if you want to take
pictures. We continued to the toll booths where you'll have to pay an entrance fee
or show an inter-agency or annual pass to the Ranger. The fee for a
car and all passengers up to 15 people is $30; the fee for motorcycles and all
riders is $25; the fee for bicyclists, hikers, and pedestrians is $15; Youths 15 and
under are admitted free. We showed our national parks interagency pass which is
$80 to the Ranger and got a park map. An interagency pass is good for one year
and might be worth purchasing if you're going to other national parks in Utah or
elsewhere in the United States. There is also the southeast Utah parks pass for
$55 which is also valid for one year to arches, canyonland National Park, and
National Bridges National Monument. There were a lot of people when we got there
and the line was long even this early in the morning. At arches national park
entrance the arches visitor center is located one mile from the entrance to
the right after the toll booth. Since arches national park is open 24 hours
you might want to arrive before 7 a.m. and go around the park then visit the
visitor center in the afternoon when it is the hottest or you can arrive after 3
p.m. especially during the
peak summer season. The arches national park visitor center is open every day
except for December 25th. This Visitor Center at arches is generally open from
7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily. For your information the restrooms and water
fountains at this Visitor Center is available 24 hours seven days a week. At
the Visitor Center you can talk to Rangers, get a junior Ranger book, fill up
water for the day, and use the restrooms. You can also watch the park film windows
in time which plays every 30 minutes, and look at the displays inside and
outside the Visitor Center. Once we completed our time at the visitor center
we entered into the park. We drove along a steep two way curving road up the
mountain. As we were driving we were mesmerized by the hues of oranges and
reds and the massive size of the rock formations. We've been here several times
over the years and Arches just never ceases to impress. We always discover something
new as the area is continuously changing due to the wind and water erosion. Here's
a safety note please don't speed in the park drive the speed limit for your
safety and others in the park and park or pull out only in designated areas
Even though there are many people in the park, the park is so large almost a
hundred and twenty square miles that you can still feel like you're in a remote
and pristine area if you come at the right times. As you enter into the
national park the first major area stop is the area called Park Avenue and the
courthouse Towers. We parked in the parking lot and walked on the paved path to the
viewpoint. Here you'll see the monolithic towering walls and views of the nearby
LaSalle mountains. If you choose you can hike on Park
Avenue trail which is classified a moderate trail and is about two miles
roundtrip. The trail goes down 320 feet into a
canyon and continues down to courthouse towers. If you have a person who doesn't
want to hike you can begin at this point and be picked up at the other end
otherwise you'll have to return the way you came. Here are some hiking tips
please make sure to carry at least one liter of water per person, wear good
walking shoes,and sunscreen and if it's raining you may now want to hike due to
the danger of slippery surfaces. Please walk only on trails and avoid sand stone
basins called ephemeral pools or potholes which are
home to a variety of life in arches, and finally do not climb on top of any
arches. We continued on the main road to balance rock which is about nine miles
from the visitor center. This teetering giant is a hundred and twenty eight feet
tall. For your information this rock formation is not actually balancing. The
sandstone rock Boulder is sitting attached to its eroding pedestal of
Dewey bridge mud stone. See it while you can, eventually this 3,600 ton Boulder will
fall down as it's continually eroded and pushed down by gravity. There is an easy
point three mile loop trail to the base of the balanced rock formation part of
the trail is paved and accessible to wheelchairs. Our next stop was to
delicate arch viewpoint and trailhead. Delicate arch is about four miles from
balanced rock. Continue driving on the main road of the park and make a right
at the delicate arch sign. Delicate arch is an iconic symbol of Utah and a very
popular spot in arches national park. Delicate arch is the largest
freestanding arch in arches national park with an opening beneath the arch of
forty six feet high and thirty-two feet wide
on the road to delicate arch you will come across the trailhead parking and
then the parking for the ViewPoint area. We parked in the lower delicate arch
viewpoint parking lot. There is a flat 100 yard paved path to see the delicate
arch from one mile away. There's usually a ranger led activity here check at the
visitor center. This area is wheelchair accessible. If you veer left from the
parking lot you can get a closer look you can hike up the moderate 1/2 mile
trail to the upper viewpoint for a better view of delicate arch. The upper
delicate arch viewpoint is not accessible to wheelchairs and it has a
steep rocky trail. To see the delicate arch up close you'll have to take the
difficult 4 mile delicate arch trail. This trailhead starts at Wolf's ranch
but this parking lot fills up fast. This trail climbs up 480 feet on slick rock
with no shade. There's also a narrow rock ledge you'll have to climb and walk on
to get to delicate arch. Along this trail visit the wolf ranch cabin and the wall
of the Ute Indian petroglyphs. We continued from the delicate arches area
to devil's garden which is another very popular spot in the park. Along the way
you'll see sand dune arch which is an easy point three mile trail through the
sand which can be hot on summer days. Another place to stop along the way is
the skyline arch which is a flat point four mile trail. Both sand dune and
skyline arches at this arches national park are easily accessible from the
parking lot. The drive time from arches visitor center to devil's garden parking
lot is approximately 45 minutes parking can be an issue during the peak season
if you wait you might get lucky and find a spot as people come and go regularly
you will need to be patient. There are restrooms and a water refilling station
at the parking lot near the trailhead of Devil's garden. There's a campground at
devil's garden inside arches national park
The Devil's garden campground is available by reservation from March
through October first-come first-served. There's also a day use picnic area
located just south within walking distance of the campground entrance. In
the devil garden area of arches national park you'll find arches spires and
narrow rock walls called fins. Fins form when rainwater erodes parallel fractures
caused by the uplift of salt deposits below the surface. As fins erode they
form the formation of arches like landscape arch. Devil's garden is
particularly popular because of its hiking. The main trail is devil's garden
trail. An easy trail is a landscape arch trail which is part of the difficult
devil's garden trail. This relatively two-mile flat trail follows near tall
fins to a spectacular view of landscape arch. From the landscape arch
trail you can continue off to Pine Tree arch or tunnel arch on this trail to
landscape arch. The hike on Devil's trail becomes difficult after landscape arch
towards double o arch. If you don't want a difficult hike return back on the
trail to return to the parking lot. The 4.2 mile round-trip trail to double o
arch is considered difficult as it climbs up and on the sandstone fins
you'll be walking on rocky a narrow ledges with steep drop-offs and you'll have to
use your hands and feet to climb over the rocks the most difficult trail
on the devil's garden trail system is the primitive trail. By the time we
finished our hike at devil's garden it was nearing evening. We headed east to
the windows area between delicate arch and balancing rock to watch the sunset. The
windows area is nine miles north on the park road and 2.5 miles east on the
windows road. The drive time from arches visitor center is approximately 25 minutes
the window section has the most number of arches in arches national park and is
one of the most scenic areas. You'll see the north window, Tourette
Arch, double arch, garden of eden, Elephant Butte, and parade of elephants
this area is great if you're short on time and want to hike but don't want
anything strenuous. This is a good place for the whole entire family. The arches
here created by windblown sand is easily accessible by a paved trail from the
parking lot. An easy climb up a gravel trail leads to the massive north window
south window, tourette arch or take the slightly longer primitive trail around
the windows by starting at the South window viewpoint. The first hundred yards
may be accessible to wheelchairs with some assistance. You can take an easy
walk to double arch from the other side of the loop road there's a smaller
parking area there or you can walk on a trail between the windows trailhead and
the double arch trailhead. Double arch is the tallest and second longest arch in
the park. The windows area is amazing and one of my favorite parts of the arches
national park especially at dusk. You can see balancing rock as the Sun is setting
and what a view it is. Afterward if there's a full moon you can walk around
gazing at the Stars. We recommend at least one full day if not more in this
breathtaking National Park. If you have time combine your visit with
Canyonlands National Park which is about 26 miles from arches national park and
about 30 miles from Moab. Arches national park is a perfect example of desert
beauty crafted by nature. It's a definite must visit if you're in the area
Happy travels! Go to hipfig.com for more information or go to our Hipfig
travel channel on youtube and be sure to subscribe for regular updates