We own a commercial construction company and in between projects, we try to travel. Sometimes the trip is planned and sometimes it is not. We just returned from an unplanned adventure. We had a project get delayed, so we pulled our motorhome out of storage, did a quick clean and headed to southern Utah.

We had visited Moab and Arches National Park with our kids almost 30 years ago. We only drove around the park, and did not do any hiking, so we decided now was a good time to re-visit the park. We booked a campground spot in Moab that was near the Colorado River.

We have been up and down the Colorado River and crossed numerous bridges both by vehicle and by foot, so we headed to the Forces at Play bridge that crosses the Colorado River. It was designed by Michael Ford Dunton and was dedicated in 2015. It’s design illustrates the force of the river. The path to the bridge is part of the Old Spanish Trail.

Arches National Park was established in April of 1929 as a national monument. It was changed to a national park in 1971 and now encompasses 76,000 acres and protects 2000 arches. An arch must be 3 feet wide to be officially be recognized as an arch. During the peak spring and summer months, you have to reserve an entrance time if you are entering between 7am and 4pm. This is done on the park’s website, and costs $2 dollars. After entering the park, our first stop was at the visitor center. Jim laughed and said we didn’t have to go any further as they had “moved” Delicate Arch to make it easy for tourists to see.

From the visitor center, the road into the park is a climb with switchbacks. Once on top we had an amazing view to the north. There were the Three Gossips on the left, Courthouse Towers on the right and a very impressive Sheep Rock

Our first stop was in The Windows Section of the park. We had a short walk to Double Arch. Most arches are formed when the sandstone fractures. Water and wind erode the rock creating a stone fin. Eventually the center of the fin erodes away leaving a hole. The double arch was formed by a downward water erosion.

The rock formation called the Parade of the Elephants, takes a little imagination but really does look like it’s name

We walked across the parking lot to see a view of Turret Arch. It has an opening 65 feet high.

To the east of Turret Arch are the Windows, aptly named North Window and South Window. The South arch is 115 feet wide and 54 feet tall, while the North arch is 90 feet wide and 51 feet tall.

We continued our drive to the north toward Devils Garden trail. The round trip hike is almost 8 miles, but we only hiked 4 miles. The trail was interesting.

We hiked a short side trail to see Tunnel Arch…

There is an unnamed arch to the left side of Tunnel Arch

From Tunnel Arch, it was a short hike to appropriately named Pine Tree Arch

We continued towards Devils Garden. It was a very pleasant afternoon with beautiful scenery.

At the edge of Devils Garden is Landscape Arch. It is the largest arch in the park, with it’s base measuring 306 feet wide. It is impressive!!

Back at the parking lot, we had an amazing view of the park in contrast to the La Sal Mountains to the southeast.

Our last stop was at Delicate Arch. Since it was late in the afternoon and the trailhead parking lot was full, we opted for the hike to the viewpoint rather than hiking to the arch. We had a variety of views as we hike up the small hill.

We had some nice views of Dark Angel which is located at the tip of Devils Garden. We had spoke to a ranger on the trail who told us to look north as we left Arches National Park.

What an amazing afternoon. We were abit worried about what we would get to see, as our reservation time was not until noon, but it worked out perfectly!!