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Arches National Park, Utah (View Photos):

When visiting southern Utah, it becomes a challenge to come up with new superlatives to describe the awesome sights that stand before you. There are only so many variations of the word "spectacular". Arches National Park falls squarely into this category. Often featured on the front page of photography magazines, travel guides, and nature books, Arches National Park encloses a high-desert landscape that could hardly be more dramatic.

With over 2000 natural sandstone arches, balanced rock formations, sandstone fins, mesas and slickrock domes, this park will leave you exhausted with sensory overkill. The scale and scope of the landscape is phenomenal, yet this is a park that can be explored in one full day if done with determination (an early start is essential). Situated just outside the outdoor recreation hub of Moab, Arches is one of the many National Park tracts located within the Colorado Plateau country. Rust-colored sandstone dominates practically every square foot of scenery.

Across millions of years, these famous arches came about as a result of the underlying salt layers deforming and dissolving under the pressure of the overlying sedimentary rock layers. Through a complex geological process of uplift and cracking, the sandstone layers formed patterns that were then weathered by rain, ice, snow and wind into the present arch formations.

A main paved road along with 2 smaller branching roads allows easy access into this alien wilderness. There are many dense concentrations of arches, particularly the Windows section and the series of arches located along the Devils Garden trail at the end of the main road. Pullouts are numerous, offering views of petrified sand dunes, rock slabs and pinnacles, and a series of towering sandstone skyscrapers in the Park Avenue/Courthouse Towers area.

Famed author and backcountry park ranger Edward Abbey described the area now belonging to Arches National Park in reverent tones, calling it, "the most beautiful place on earth". Some of his books like Desert Solitaire have become classics, making Abbey a sort of hero among environmentalists. He often despaired about the "industrial tourism" that was despoiling places like Arches and were he alive today, he would undoubtedly find the swarms of tourists rather discouraging. But it's hard to fault people who wish to visit this magnificent park; as long as they respect the natural environment - and obey park rules, visitors to Arches have every right to follow in Abbey's footsteps and enjoy the scenery.

Excursions: The Sand Flats Recreation area in Moab features world-class mountain biking on the famous Slickrock Bike Trail. Many other challenging bike routes lace the Moab area, most notably the Poison Spider Mesa trail. Outside Arches National Park, there are still limitless opportunities for hiking where you can experience a wide gamut of scenery. Hikers will be transfixed by the majestic Fisher Towers rock pinnacles and the snow-capped La-Sal Mountains.

Recommended Day Hikes:
Devils Garden Trail
Round Trip Length: 7.2 miles
Trailhead location: Devils Garden Trailhead, at the end of the main park road
Level of Difficulty: Strenuous
Attractions: Seven major arches line this tremendous hiking trail. Double O Arch, Landscape Arch, and Navajo Arch are a few of the better ones. Far-reaching viewpoints of the red-rock wilderness are exceptional. On the night of August 4, 2008 Wall Arch collapsed, thus depriving us of one of the parks' premier landmarks. In time, likely measured in thousands of years, the others will eventually succumb to gravity, snow, ice, and wind.

Park Avenue - Arches National Park
Round Trip Length: 2.0 miles
Trailhead location: Park Avenue parking area
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Attractions: On this trail, hikers are flanked by tall sandstone fins and walls. A number of freestanding buttes and rock towers can be viewed from this quintessentially southwestern high-desert environment

Delicate Arch - Arches National Park
Round Trip Length: 3.0 miles
Trailhead location: Wolfe Ranch parking area
Level of Difficulty: Strenuous
Attractions: An exposed trail that leads up a slickrock dome to one of the West's great natural landmarks - Delicate Arch. This massive freestanding arch sits on the rim of a large sandstone amphitheater. Fantastic views of the surrounding canyon country can be taken in from this precarious perch.

Fisher Towers - Fisher Towers Recreation Site (Bureau of Land Management)
Round Trip Length: 4.4 miles
Trailhead location: 21 miles east of the Utah 128/US 191 junction, turn right and go 2.2 miles on an improved dirt road to a parking lot where the trailhead is located
Level of Difficulty: Moderate
Attractions: Fantastic, up-close views of the Fisher Towers - a tightly formed group of soaring stone pinnacles in bright hues of orange and red. Excellent views of Castle Valley, the Colorado River, and the distant Book Cliffs

Recommended Points of Interest (all overlooks are accessible off the main park road):
Petrified Dunes viewpoint (along the main road); Balanced Rock; Fiery Furnace viewpoint (along the main road); also, be sure to explore the following arches, all of which are accessible on short hiking trails at the Windows Section parking lot - Double Arch, South Window, North Window and Turret Arch.

Helpful travel tips and observations
Under no circumstances should you leave your pet unattended in a vehicle. Doing so is illegal. Even on seemingly mild days, your dog can die of heat stroke if he or she is left in a car, van, or SUV. On hot days, they can die quickly, even if the windows are cracked open. If you see any animal trapped in an automobile, immediately call the Park Service or simply free the animal yourself.

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