HIKING AT ARCHES NATIONAL PARK
Travis and I went to Arches National Park in October 2023, along with visiting Canyonlands National Park and Capital Reef National Park (click on links for more info on these). We were traveling with his parents and packed most of these parks into one day each. I always wish I had more time to explore but am thankful that we got to experience them the way that we did and we truly made the most of our time. Read on for my favorite hikes in Arches National park!
Scroll all the way down for my ultimate to do at the park ✨
Delicate Arch — this is by far the most popular hike on this list and likely in Arches so it will be busy but there is a reason it’s popular - it’s a beautiful moderate hike and well worth it.
Double O Arch — Travis and I loved this hike. It had a good amount of difficulty with plenty of stops along the way including Landscape Arch and Navajo Arch. You could continue on and make this longer but we had parents waiting on us ☺️. There is a tiny amount of scrambling on this hike and I would consider it moderate.
Sand Dune Arch + Broken Arch Loop — You can easily combine multiple things into this hike as well! We checked out Sand Dune Arch first which was crowded (its essentially a giant sandbox for kids!) but interesting to see. We then continued on to do the Broken Arch Loop which was a perfect sunset hike. Although we got a little lost and had some scrambling thrown in, it was well worth it.
The Windows viewpoint + loop — the most accessible hike that we experienced at the park, which is going to make it busy (clearly a trend at this park) but the full loop (not the mini loop) was much more quiet and you get to see the North and South windows from both sides, amongst other arches. I would suggest this as another late in the day hike - we made it our last of the day.
My ultimate favorite thing that we did at Arches National Park was drive back into the park at night to go star gazing. The park is open 24/7 so once you have gone through the gate during the day and paid your entrance fee (or better yet if you have a National Park pass you don’t need to worry about that) you can drive back in.
Arches is an International Dark Sky Park, meaning that they purposefully limit light pollution in and around the park. This is one of the best places to see stars in the US and the world. *drive to Panorama Point to get settled and take in the beautiful sky. There happened to be a meteor shower while we were there which motivated my husband and in-laws to join as well. At Panorama Point there is a sky map that you can use to determine where the constellations are. Make sure to bring a flashlight with a red light on it so that your vision isn’t affected and some layers as it can get cold up there! 🔭✨
This photo was taken from Travis’ Iphone 15 - imagine what it was like in person!
Let me know if you have been to Arches and what your favorite hikes are, or if there are any I missed in the comments section!