Arches National Park

How to Get There

From Moab, UT: Head west on E Center St toward N Main St. Turn right onto US-191 N/N Main St Continue to follow US-191 N. Turn right onto Arches Entrance Rd.

Overview

Arches National Park is located in eastern Utah. The park, adjacent to the Colorado River, 4 miles (6 km) north of Moab, Utah. More than 2,000 natural sandstone arches are located in the park, including the well-known Delicate Arch, as well as a variety of unique geological resources and formations. The park contains the highest density of natural arches in the world.

The park consists of 76,679 acres (119.811 sq mi; 31,031 ha; 310.31 km2) of high desert located on the Colorado Plateau. The highest elevation in the park is 5,653 feet (1,723 m) at Elephant Butte, and the lowest elevation is 4,085 feet (1,245 m) at the visitor center. The park receives an average of less than 10 inches (250 mm) of rain annually. The park received more than 1.6 million visitors in 2018.

Recreational activities include auto touring, hiking, bicycling, camping at the Devils Garden campground, backpacking, canyoneering, and rock climbing, with permits required for the last three activities. Guided commercial tours and ranger programs are also available.

Features

Among the notable features of the park are:

1. Balanced Rock - a large balancing rock, the size of three school buses
2. Courthouse Towers - a collection of tall stone columns
3. Dark Angel - a free-standing 150-foot-tall (46 m) sandstone pillar at the end of the Devils Garden Trail
4. Delicate Arch - a lone-standing arch which has become a symbol of Utah and the most recognized arch in the park
5. Devils Garden - many arches and columns scattered along a ridge
6. Double Arch - two arches that share a common end
7. Fiery Furnace - an area of maze-like narrow passages and tall rock columns
8. Landscape Arch - a very thin and long arch in the Devils Garden with a span of 290 feet (88 m) (the longest arch in the park)
9. Petrified Dunes - petrified remnants of sand dunes blown from the ancient lakes that covered the area

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Arches National Park", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0