Guide to Arches National Park, Utah

Wake Up Early

• A 4:15-4:30am wake up is perfect timing (non negotiable), I promise it’s worth it.

• If you want to catch sunrise right at Delicate Arch (3 miles round trip) leave even earlier; we were too late and only stayed one day in Moab, so was not able to make it in time.

• If you plan to spend more than one day at the park, still wake up early. You could plan on doing the Delicate Arch Hike one morning and the Devils Garden Hike another morning.

• It was the perfect plan for our group by starting the hike with no people and the early morning made for good pictures along with perfect weather.

Safety

• STAY HYDRATED & bring granola bars.

• Not an easy hike, so don’t make it harder by going at wrong time of day (get up early). A lot of people who go later in the morning only make it to Landscape Arch and then turn back bc of the heat.

• Rocky & sandy, so wear appropriate shoes with traction.

Logistics

• The entire loop for Devils Garden Hike (Primitive Trail) is 7.6 miles, and it truly is the best hike I have ever done, but keep in mind that it will take approximately 4.5 hours.

• Landscape Arch: one of the world’s longest arches... Mother Nature is very impressive!

• The park used to let visitors go right up to it until it partially collapsed, so you can’t get right next to it. However, it's still a spectacular view (and there were wild deer on the trail when we were there early in the morning, wink wink).

• From there GO LEFT not right.

• GO TO Partition Arch. This was my personal favorite moment of the hike because we had the whole arch to ourselves and you feel as though you are inside the two side by side arches. Overall, SO SO SPECIAL, best photos of the trip from a photography point of view.

• Next go to Navajo Arch (more like a cave) very unique from the others.

• ***If you plan on turning around and not going the full way, this would be where you would stop, but the rest of the hike was incredible and worth the extra miles if you’re up for it!

• Next you will walk for a while and see the sandstone fins, even walking above them to Double O Arch: the perfect place for a snack break (and in our case to empty your shoes of Utah sand)!

• Next you can either go right to continue the loop (refer to "Devils Garden Hike Map") or you can go to Dark Angel which adds an extra mile round trip.

• Dark angel was impressive, but if you want to take time off the hike, you can get the general idea from photos online.

• The rest of the hike you will pass by various unnamed arches which are incredible, but the path itself was the best part of the hike because it was so unique. Sometimes you are on a path through a wooded area and other times you are jumping rock to rock!

General tips

• Go to the bathroom before you start and bring your own hand sanitizer in case the bathrooms run out.

• Getting there early also means better parking! We got to the entrance of the park at like 5:15 and no one was there so we didn’t have to pay an entrance fee!! This might not be true when you go, but good possibility you could get in for free.

• ****Buy a styrofoam cooler and fill with ice and waters, so by the time you get back to the car, you have nice cool drinks and ice water to pour on your head and feet as a refreshing reward!

• Sunscreen, sunglasses, hats (bucket hats), and LOTS of water bottles.

• Do your research on the trail map (with mile markers) so that you know how far to go to get to each point (if you have Apple Watch or anything with mile tracker it is really helpful).

• Stacks of rocks = trail markers

• Be careful of your step!!

• There are some incredible photo opportunities on this portion with the rocks, but be careful not to go too far off path or you could get lost.

• The hardest section of the Primitive Trail was definitely the 2.1 miles from Black Arch area back to end of loop/Landscape Arch mostly because it was starting to get hot (10:00 am summertime) and the sand made it much harder to walk. with this said, it feels so good once you hear other people’s voices because you know you’re getting close to the end!!

• By the time we arrived back to Landscape Arch, the number of people on the trail had grown SO much and my dad and I were laughing because we knew there was no way these late comers could start the trail late and go all the way around in the summer heat.

• As far as restaurants in Moab goes, we only went to one place for dinner called The Spoke on Center and it was good. Would definitely recommend!

Other Utah Destination Recommendations

• Salt Lake City

• Bryce: This was my favorite park of our Utah trip, it feels like you’re on a different planet!

• Goblin Valley: Such a geologically fascinating destination! In my opinion, it was not a standout compared to others and was a little pricey.

• Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon

• Canyonlands National Park

• Park City (make sure to grab breakfast at Harvest)!

• Snowbird

• Calf Creek Falls

Additional information about Utah and other National Parks can be found at: https://www.nps.gov/state/ut/index.htm