One Day in Arches
Moab used to be one of the better kept secrets of the West:
abundant campsites, vast expanses of federal land, and access to two national parks. But in the age of Instagram, the secret has long been out of the bag. Here are a few of our recommendations to make the most of your trip to Utah’s most iconic national park.
Go Off-Season
During the summer, average highs hover just below triple digits, and little shade can be found. Scores of families, RVs, and camper vans will be lined up just to get into the park. The experience skews more toward a sweltering day at Disney than a cathartic escape to nowhere. If you can, aim for the shoulder season. We’ve been in October, and it was absolutely lovely.
Go Early
Parking can be challenging at some of the more popular trailheads, and the rangers strictly enforce parking restrictions. Besides, the light’s better earlier in the day.
Pick Your Difficulty Level
Everyone comes to see the Delicate Arch (the one on the license plate), so that trail tends to get the most traffic. The cool thing is there are more than a dozen other arches in the park with access at varying difficulty allowing you to string together an itinerary at whatever pace you like. Feeling more on the chill side? We suggest sauntering through the Sand Arch and Broken Arch trails and pairing that with some sightseeing from the car or even a trip to Delicate Arch. Either would make good half-day visits.
Visit Devil’s Garden
Feeling more adventurous? Plan to spend the majority of the day circumnavigating this labyrinth of rock that brings out the kid-in-a-cornmaze excitement with a healthy dose of fear. The area contains the most arches, some more elusive than others, and it can be fun wandering down the side trails trying to find each arch. We recommend taking the “primitive trail” that branches to the right and runs counterclockwise back to the entrance.
The primitive trail departs the rock amphitheater with the crowds and traverses a rather long section of loose sand before setting into wash beds. The trail eventually fades into rock and you find yourself navigating between (and sometimes over) massive rock formations shaped kind of like shark fins. I highly, highly recommend good shoes with rubber soles able to grip rock (more climbing shoe than hiking boot). There are a couple points that require some “scrambling.” Given it’s sandstone, you more or less have to tree-frog it up over a couple ledges with nothing to hold on to. Making friends on the trail helps, too.
We recommend this approach because the trail eventually climbs out of the valley revealing the maze of rock you’ve just climbed out of and traverses the tops of the fins giving 360 views of the high desert and the La Sal Mountains in the distance.
If you’re not feeling the climbing, you can just stay on the main trail and turn back whenever it starts feeling too sketchy. This has been one of our favorite trails to date, so we highly recommend checking it out in some capacity.
In Town
Moab Garage Co.
MOYO Moab Frozen Yogurt
Moab Coffee Roasters
Doughbird
Moab Food Truck Park
Where to Next?
Telluride, CO
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Canyonlands National Park
