Arches National Park
Since we were staying in Moab, we had about a 5 minute drive to Arches National Park. There was a line of cars, but it only took about 20 minutes to get into the park.
You MUST have a timed entry pass to enter the park. (This is the only park we were visiting where a timed entry pass was required). Go to Recreation.gov to get a pass and it will cost $2.
You can either pay per park (usually about $35 per vehicle) that you visit or you can get an annual America the Beautiful Pass to get into any national park. The America the Beautiful annual pass is $80, the Senior pass is $20 per year or $80 per lifetime, and for military members and veterans the pass is free. Each pass is good for everyone in your vehicle. To read about the America the Beautiful Pass, click here.
We passed the visitors center and stopped at Park Avenue Viewpoint, the first viewpoint on Arches National Park Road. From the viewpoint, there is a 1 mile trail that takes you to Courthouse Towers if you want to do a quick hike.
We drove about 6 miles from Park Avenue Viewpoint and came upon Balanced Rock, one of the most iconic sights in Arches. Balanced Rock can be seen from the park road and you can take a short hike (less than half a mile) around the rock’s base.
From Balanced Rock we turned onto Windows Road that goes to the Windows Section of the park. The Windows Section is one of the most scenic areas in Arches. We saw the North and South Windows right before we came to the parking lot.
There is a 1 mile trail around both windows where you can also see Turret Arch, Bicep Arch, and Seagull Arch.
Directly across from the parking lot is Double Arch. Double Arch is the tallest arch in the park and you can walk a half mile roundtrip from the parking lot to its base.
We left the Windows Section and went back to Arches National Park Road and then turned onto Delicate Arch Road. We parked at the Lower Delicate Arch Viewpoint where you can see the Arch from a mile away. The trail to Delicate Arch is about 3 miles and we chose not to hike it. We didn’t have the best view because we were pretty far away, but it was still awesome.
Because we were short on time, we headed out and passed by various beautiful sights.
On our way out we stopped at the visitor center and got an Arches National Park stamp for my passport book.
We were so glad to be able to spend some time in Arches National Park, even though it was brief since we were heading to Zion National Park the same day. Arches is definitely a park worth spending several days exploring if you have the time.
