Utah has some of the best National Parks, and hiking Arches and Canyonlands National Parks is an amazing experience. Canyonlands National Park’s Island in the Sky region is characterized by dramatic cliffs and expansive vistas, while Arches National Park is known for its natural stone arches, towering monoliths, and other distinctive rock formations. Both were equally stunning, and I was thrilled to have my friends, George and Sandy, join me on this adventure. Some of you may remember George and Sandy from my Colorado trip (see Peter’s Hiking Highlights in Rocky Mountain NP and Fly Fishing and Cycling in the Rocky Mountains). We, Three Amigos, were on another adventure!
Moab, Utah, is the ideal jump-off for both NPs as the entrances to each lie within a half-hour’s drive of town. It offers a wide array of restaurants, lodging and outfitters. Pretty much everything you’d need. We opted for a very reasonably-priced Airbnb townhouse with a shared outdoor pool and hot tub. Ah, life!
Arches National Park
We drove into Moab in time to check in at the Visitor Center of Arches NP and get advice from the rangers. This is a beneficial practice because I plan these trips based on guidebooks, but local conditions and knowledge can be critical to making good decisions. We had planned to hike to Delicate Arch before sunset for some “magic hour” photography. Still, we abandoned that idea when we learned from a ranger that temperatures are significantly higher at sunset than at sunrise. (Our visit was in mid-July, not the coolest time of year.) Apparently, several visitors were hospitalized the day before from heat exhaustion. So, we decided to visit The Windows (see above photo) that evening, as it is virtually a drive up. (And the temp was over 90F as sunset approached.)
Devils Garden
The following day, we arrived at the Devil’s Garden trailhead just before a 6 am sunrise because the arches are most stunning at daybreak and dusk – and daybreak is the coolest! We hiked to Landscape Arch, one of the world’s largest, and continued further onto Partition Arch and Navajo Arch. It wasn’t the best morning for taking photos, as smoke from forest fires to the west muted the drama of sunrise. (Spring season is less prone to this effect and cooler.) However, we still captured some excellent images.
Fiery Furnace
The Fiery Furnace area is a “Must-Do” for the more intrepid hiker. It offers a primitive trail with few markings through a labyrinth of narrow passageways, sandstone fins, natural arches, and canyons. Navigation here can be challenging. Park administration takes this seriously; you need a pass to hike the Furnace. When we obtained our passes at the VC the prior evening, park rangers required us to watch a video and correctly answer a verbal quiz before granting us access. We were advised that the hike would take about 3-4 hours, and we should aim to be done by 1 pm before the Furnace became too “fiery” – did I mention 110 F?!
The hike was an incredible experience. We hiked through towering walls, tight cracks, and limitless corridors. It was slow going but visually exhilarating. With many dead-ends and the clock ticking past noon, we were perplexed for a way out. Fortunately, we were saved by a fellow hiker who had downloaded the trail map using the Alltrails app and was tracking her progress. She became our ticket out of the Furnace! Within a half-hour, we emerged from the Furnace — hot and sweaty but not too much the worse for wear.
Tips: A day pass is required for the Fiery Furnace, which must be purchased before you arrive. I snagged ours during the online window a week before our arrival. I also recommend you pick up your Fiery Furnace tickets at the VC the evening before the hike so you can complete all the preliminaries then, as this will allow for an early start the next day to beat the heat! And don’t forget to download the trail map from Alltrails while you still have WiFi!
Delicate Arch and So Much More
Delicate Arch is the most iconic of all the arches: its image is on the Utah license plate. And it is very popular: arriving at 7:30 am, we found the parking lot nearly full, So we were accompanied by many, many fellow visitors on the two-mile hike and took our photos of the Arch along with this horde of humanity. Still, very worth it. On our drive out of Arches NP, we captured some final images of sandstone formations conveniently located along the main access road, with such descriptive names as Courthouse Towers, Park Avenue, The Organ, and Balanced Rock. The haze from the fires had subsided, and the morning sun reflected softly off the red rock, bidding us adieu.
A Day Off from Hiking
Rafting the Colorado River is crazy fun!
I highly recommend taking a day off from hiking and rafting the Colorado River with the premier local outfitter, Moab Adventures, which offers a full-day outing in a section called Westwater Canyon. This particular adventure earned the honors of “The West’s Best Short Whitewater Trip” in National Geographic magazine and features a series of rapids with such names as “Funnel Falls,” “Skull Rapids,” and “Sock It To Me.”
With crash helmets and life vests on, our helmswoman, Meghan, bellowed commands that we followed to a “T” and navigated us safely without losing any fellow passengers along the way! It’s a fun and exhilarating activity and a nice break for the legs!
Canyonlands National Park
Canyonlands is the largest of the Utah NPs and is a landscape of canyons divided into four distinct sections. Island in the Sky and The Needles sections are your best bet for day hikers. The other two sections are best accessed by backpackers.
Island in the Sky
Most visitors to Canyonlands are content to drive in and stop briefly at roadside overlooks along the primary access road in this section of the Park. Perched 2,000 feet above the Green and Colorado Rivers, the spectacular views of the river canyons and several mountain ranges justify a visit to Canyonlands. Still, several easy short hikes expand the experience substantially. These hikes involve virtually no elevation change, as opposed to the handful of trails that descend from the rim of Islands in the Sky precipitously down, down and down toward the rivers.
We opted for several short hikes to Mesa Arch and Grand View Point Overlook. Sunrise and sunset are ideal times to visit, and we arrived at Mesa Arch early enough to capture the rising sun. At Grand View, this popular trail is well worth the half-hour investment to get all the way out to the tip.
But the surprise hike was a mile-long trail to White Rim Overlook, not featured on Park maps. (I later learned from a ranger that this is a local favorite but one they prefer not to advertise.) Sensational views. And the tail end of the trail leads to a sliver of rock and sandstone 4 feet wide, with thousand-foot drop-offs on three of its four sides. Vertigo, anyone?
The Needles
Chesler Park Loop is one of the best trails to explore The Needles, which are named after the numerous red/white-banded rock pinnacles found throughout this section of the Park. With another early start (8 am), we hiked through rock spires, arches, canyons, narrow corridors, open terrain, and grassy meadows.
We were fortunate that an overnight storm brought a substantially cooler weather pattern. We hiked 14 miles on what we agreed was the most geologically unusual and spectacular hike of the week. The most incredible portion of the Loop, known as the Joint Trail, took us into a narrow passageway several hundred metres with towering, vertical walls on either side. It was cool within, very low light and a cavernous area for a perfect lunch spot.
Hiking Arches and Canyonlands NPs was truly exhilarating, and any outdoor enthusiast should experience this extraordinary terrain. Sharing these moments with George and Sandy made it truly special.
