Do you need help finding things to do in Arches National Park? Near Moab and Canyonlands National Park, you will find plenty to do on the drive between Courthouse Towers, Sand Dune Arch, Landscape Arch, and Fiery Furnace.
How many other things are there to do in Arches National Park? I bet there are more than you realize. Read on for the many activities one can enjoy at this natural wonder.
I Expected Arches, Not Blue Ground
Arches National Park is really special. It features hiking, camping, mountain biking, and spectacular stargazing. What I did NOT expect to see was blue ground. A little geology will help before we get into the park details, and history is important to understanding the park itself.
Arches National Park was formed over 100 million years of erosion by water and ice, extreme temperatures and underwater salt movement formed the arches this park is known for.
The land continues to change, sometimes dramatically.
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Landscape Arch
The park contains over 2000 arches. The arches range from a three-foot opening to the largest of these beauties, Landscape Arch. Landscape Arch is a staggering 306 feet from base to base and is one of the most recent dramatic changes to the park. In 1991, a rock slab 60 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 4 feet thick fell from the underside of Landscape Arch. I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine a slab that size, much less to have it fall.
Even more amazing to me, is that Landscape Arch continues to stand as the thinnest section appears fragile.
Most changes in the park happen much more slowly than this change to Landscape Arch.
Things to do in Arches Include Exploring Moab.
Moab lies just outside the borders of Arches National Park and Canyonlands and is an experience on its own. I just can’t talk about Arches without including Moab.
A visit to Moab wouldn’t be complete without a stop at the Moab Rock Shop. Moab Rock Shop was founded in 1960 by Lin Ottinger, and has been family-owned and operated for over 50 years. Lin’s knowledge of rocks, minerals, and fossils, along with his discoveries, has earned him the title of The Dinosaur Man.
Many of his dino discoveries have been donated to museums and universities, including Brigham Young University in Provo, UT.
Many of his dino discoveries have been donated to museums and universities, including Brigham Young University in Provo, UT.
He found at least four species of dinosaurs in the Moab area.
Cool right!
These finds include Saurapods (Apatosaurus / Brachiosaurus), Euoplocephalus, Utahraptor (Jurassic Park’s Velociraptor was modeled after this guy), and Iguanodon Ottingeri. Since this was the first Iguanodon found in the US, it is named after the shop owner, Lin Ottinger.
Yep, dinosaurs are definitely part of the Moab experience. If you have a future archeologist-in-the-making, a visit to Moab, Arches, and Canyonlands may just be in the cards for you.
And if the Rock Shop isn’t for you, check one of the city’s numerous posted trails just outside of town so you can look for dino relics of your own. The kiddos love this stuff.
Ever Heard of Uranium?
Who hasn’t? In the 1950s Moab became the so-called “Uranium Capital of the World”. We even drove by the mine. No lie.
Fun Facts About Arches and the Surrounding Area
- The name “Moab” comes from an ancient Biblical kingdom. The name “Utah” comes from the Ute language, meaning “people of the mountains”.
- Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch gang got into many robberies and shootouts with Moab’s lawmen. Their Robbers Roost hideout was in a wild maze of canyons east of town. I think we drove through those canyons…
- Moab is a mountain biking mecca. Local Slickrock Bike Trail is one of the most technically challenging bike trails in the world.
- The yearly average rainfall in the Moab area is 9 inches.
- The Moab dirt is alive! A living crust called “biological soil crust” covers much of the surrounding area. Composed of algae, lichens, and bacteria, this crust provides a secure foundation for desert plants.
- Airplanes aren’t allowed to fly over Arches National Park because the vibrations from the planes could potentially break delicate arch features.
- To be classified as an arch, the arch’s opening must measure at least three feet across.
I am Ready to Celebrate Things to do IN Arches National Park!
We visited both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks on both trips to the area. On our second visit, we thoroughly enjoyed our Navtec guide in Canyonlands, which we visited before our full day at Arches.
Remember we had already been to both Arches and Canyonlands before this trip, so it was interesting to hear our Navtec guide compare the geology of the two parks. There is scientific evidence the comparison is accurate.
Much of what we had seen before and on this trip made much more sense after his geology lesson. To do your own comparison, check out my Canyonlands story.
How do the 2 parks compare?
I mean really – they are literally across the highway from each other, how can Canyonlands and Arches be so different from each other? Oh my – read on!
Both Arches and Canyonlands rest on top of an ancient underground salt bed. Layers and layers of salt beds… The difference, as our guide explained it, is that the salt beds of Canyonland have collapsed, resulting in a mature geologic structure. Arches salt beds, on the other hand, have not collapsed, resulting in an immature geologic structure.
The National Park Service park brochure describes Arches as an “ever-changing” park. According to the National Park Service, new arches are constantly forming, while old ones occasionally collapse.
Will you find things to do in Arches National Park?
Yep. You betcha.
Of course, you will find arches here. Lots and lots of arches. And towering spires, and pinnacles. Balanced rocks – yep, those too.
Beautifully colored hills, seemingly with all colors of the rainbows. Hiking trails – easy AND difficult. I did not make it to Delicate Arch along the hiking path. I could come up with all sorts of excuses – I ran out of drinking water, didn’t have the right kind of shoes, had no hiking poles, and we started out too late in the day…
The truth is the truth. Delicate Arch is a difficult trail.
We did hike to Pine Tree Arch, Tunnel Arch, Landscape Arch, North and South Window Arches, Turret Arch, Double Arch, and my favorite, Sand Dune Arch. Parking lots made visiting Fiery Furnace and Courthouse Towers very easy.
4-wheeling, camping, and mountain biking are also popular activities in the park.
Landscape Arch is one of the park’s most iconic features.
It is easy to see why. Landscape Arch is the longest arch at almost 306 feet across. Landscape Arch is very fragile and is almost gone. There are 2,000 arches and counting in Arches National Park.
I was pretty impressed by Double Arch.
Scale helps
It is difficult to imagine the size of the rock structures in Arches until you have the opportunity to actually SEE them, or have something to compare for size. Courthouse Towers provides an excellent opportunity to do that.
There are several geologic structures in the Courthouse Towers Viewpoint and Fiery Furnace that are mammoth-sized. The photo on top above is zoomed in to show scale. If you look at the base of Courthouse Towers in the photo on the right, you can see the man – he is barely a speck.
The general landscape was pretty incredible. One of the things I was most impressed with, was the colors of the ground. I expected variations in rock colors, but we saw blue hills, green, tan, brown hills… all mixed together. Incredible. Our YouTube video has some great examples of the landscape colors – check it out!
The view of the La Sal Mountain range finishes up the drive out of the park. Seeing the mountain’s white caps against the brilliant blue sky was pretty breathtaking.
What are other things to do in Arches National Park?
This may sound weird, but I missed an amazing opportunity to photograph a raven. I always thought they were “less than attractive” birds, and mysterious to those who are superstitious. According to the local folks, ravens are extremely intelligent.
Close up I realized they are much more attractive than I thought, with their black feathers glistening in the sunlight. We saw quick glimpses of small reptiles (lizards maybe) and quick flashes of jackrabbits, but they weren’t sticking around for any photos.
Critter sightings were rare, but pretty cool when they happened.
Arches version of trees.
Did you know Juniper trees grow for centuries and self prune?
By its size and dead branches, this specimen has been around for a while. According to our guide, it is not unrealistic to believe this guy could be 1000 years or older. Truly amazing!
What can you NOT do in Arches?
As beautiful and enticing as the arches are, climbing on the arches is prohibited, but some trails allow for areas to climb. No climbing is allowed on spires or hoodoos either. Sand Dune Arch is one area where climbing is allowed – and is really fun! You can see visitors playing in approved arch settings in our YouTube video.
Visitors are also highly discouraged from walking on the crypto-soil. If a trail isn’t clearly marked, don’t take off across the countryside. You may be causing centuries of damage with each footstep without even realizing it. Not to mention surprising an unexpected slithering creature sunning on a rock. Just don’t do it.
Drones and quadcopters aren’t allowed to fly over the park, and no airplanes are allowed to fly over the park. Papa Joe also didn’t do well with flying his drone in Moab either.
Ready to buy your Arches National Park pass yet?
No matter what time of year you decide to visit Arches, it is truly beautiful. However, if you don’t care for cold, don’t go in the winter because it is very cold. See the snow.
In the winter months you are more likely to see the park covered in a light dusting of snow and overcast sky.
If you are not RVing to Arches National Park, you can find great lodging in Moab so you can stay a while. Also, don’t forget to grab food at the local Moab restaurants.
Time for Advice
Arches National Park has easily navigable roads and is a short drive from Moab. It contains multiple pull-offs and parking for easy access to the sights. The National Park Service has done a good job in making this park and all its miraculous features accessible.
We learned the National Park Service would be implementing a shuttle bus system for the park in Arches. This isn’t the first park we have visited that offers this mode of transportation. I anticipate there will be frequent stops, and utilize a hop-on, hop-off feature that allows the same access available today. On both trips, we visited the National Park in the low season and experienced full parking lots throughout the park, so this is probably a wise implementation.
Considering the pollution and traffic congestion during peak season, a shuttle system may end up being a win-win for visitors, the park service, and the environment.
Regardless of the park, make sure to stop at the visitor’s center. It is always a good practice to talk to park rangers and look at the park information being handed out. Get a stamp for the park if you keep a passport book – I also like to buy a sticker for each park to go with my passport stamp. A visit here is literally a 2 for 1 with Canyonlands and Arches basically being across the street from each other.
There are lots of things to do in Arches National Park
Arches National Park has a great campground. Add in the ability for several difficulty levels of hiking, places to go 4×4 off-roading, and being a mountain biking haven – this park has it all. Since Arches is accessible to young and old and is handicap accessible, this really is a visitor-friendly park. Arches National Park offers a rare opportunity to experience true nature, up close and personal.
So what is our advice for Arches National Park?
Go. That’s it. If hiking Arches National Park is on your activities list, make sure you are prepared, have your hiking equipment, and stay hydrated.
You also need to have your camera loaded – be prepared to take lots of photographs. Get out of the car and enjoy the desert landscape. Check out the Petroglyphs and Wolf Ranch at the Delicate Arch trailhead. Let the kids play in the sand and on the rocks at Sand Dune Arch and Double Arch. Get out of your car and be overwhelmed at Courthouse Towers.
Take an excursion and go 4×4’ing through the rugged landscape. We love our 4×4 trips in the Moab and Canyonlands area with Navtec. You can find them here .
Most of all, just get here and enjoy the majesty that is Arches National Park.
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