A few years ago, I picked up a well-loved, second-hand copy of Time Magazine’s “America’s National Parks” at a library book sale. Call it kismet: I’d mistakenly yanked the book off the shelf thinking it was a Hawaii hiking guide. Our youngest was still in diapers, and we’d yet to embark on a single road trip or visit any National Park other than Hawaii Volcanoes or Haleakala. Flipping through the pages, though, I was spellbound. Smack dab in the center of the book was a sunrise photo of Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know when, but I promised myself there and then that we’d be standing at Delicate Arch someday.
Three years later in 2014, we took a leap of faith and planned a Southwest National Parks road trip. Our youngest was only five, and we weren’t sure how he’d fare with all of the hiking and driving, but we’d had a taste of Mount Rainier and Redwood in 2013 and found ourselves craving more. It was a challenging itinerary–9 parks in 18 days towing 3 littles over 3,000 miles–but 2014 holds a special place in our hearts as our first in-depth Parks experience. If we were smitten before, we were head-over-heels this go-round!
We visited Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde before stopping at Arches for 3 days. With a quick stop at the Visitor Center to view the park film and exhibits, we spoke with a park ranger regarding trail conditions and Junior Ranger booklets. Our youngest was especially thrilled to borrow a Junior Explorer bag. With binoculars, a jeweler’s loupe, colored pencils, field guides, and an activity binder, this backpack was free to borrow and held our youngest’s rapt attention throughout our stay. After participating in a kid-geared Ranger Talk (Highly recommend! We love Ranger Talks and try to squeeze in as many as we can), we set out to explore:
- Landscape Arch (1.6 miles + 0.5 miles more for Pine Tree and Tunnel Arches): From the moment we stepped foot in Devil’s Garden, the striking terrain was like none we’d experienced before: orange sandstone against the bluest of skies, miles of desert sand giving rise to wild green junipers. It was a divine master class in complementary colors and textures. The trail itself was relatively flat with minimal elevation gain; gravel and sand underfoot made Landscape Arch accessible to all. At 290-feet long, Landscape Arch ranks among the five longest arches in the world, but what is perhaps more impressive is its improbable width. Impossibly long and thin, this oxymoron of a spindly mammoth seems to defy the laws of physics.
Unfortunately, it was 94 degrees the day we visited, and our youngest had no intention of hiking another four miles, so we divided and conquered: the hubby took the youngest an extra half-mile to Pine Tree and Tunnel Arches (which they loved), while the older two and I continued on to Double O Arch.
- Double O Arch (additional 3 miles RT from Landscape Arch + 1 mile more for Partition and Navajo Arches): The trail becomes significantly more challenging after Landscape Arch. The gravel and sand trail morphs into steep inclines, slickrock scrambling, and narrow fins. While doable for older children (ours were 9 and 11), parents should exercise caution as this primitive trail contains steep drop-offs and areas of exposure. We lost the cairn trail several times, but hiking to Double O was worth every ounce of effort. The Disneyland crowds vanished the minute we left Landscape Arch, affording us blissful solitude the entire way.
The kids enjoyed climbing the endless slickrock until the final fin to Double O when the wind suddenly picked up. Sand whipped into our eyes, and we dropped to all fours as persistent gusts threatened to knock us from our narrow perch. Low-pitched wind howled through rock wall tunnels, adding to the eeriness of the experience. Several parties ahead of us turned back, urging us to do the same for the kids’ safety. Being stubborn, we soldiered on for a few minutes until a rogue gust nearly knocked the kids off a narrow fin. Pride goeth before a fall, and I wasn’t sticking around to lose a kiddo to hubris. While disappointed to turn back so close to Double O, we were happy to have at least caught a glimpse of the overlook. Turning back turned out to be serendipitous as our favorite Arches experience occurred at Partition and Navajo Arches on our return trek. Partition Arch in particular framed an insanely gorgeous vista at a dizzying elevation. There were shaded shelves on either side of the arch that made for lovely impromptu sketch studios; moved by the spirit and beauty of Arches, we journaled here for close to an hour.
- Double Arch (0.5 miles): Though tuckered out from Landscape and Double O Arches, the kids caught their second wind at Double Arch. A gentle half-mile stroll led us to the base of this spectacularly intertwined behemoth. We lay humbled beneath Double Arch and watched clouds roll by before climbing out as far as we could along the sandstone ledges. Though you could easily check Double Arch off your list in half an hour, we loved lingering here. Exploring every nook and cranny fostered an intimate sense of connection to the park; the kinesthetic and visceral connections forged here remain strong for the kids to this day. Our youngest still talks with affection about exploring Double Arch with his jeweler’s loupe!
- Delicate Arch (3 miles): Though NPS classifies Delicate Arch as difficult, most families would probably find it more moderate. There is a 200-yard ledge near the end with drop-offs, but not to the degree or sketchiness of Double O Arch. Traversing the rocky terrain is safe and doable for even the youngest of hikers if taken slow. With a 7 am start time on Day 2, trailhead parking was plentiful, and we were able to avoid the previous day’s soaring midday temps. The landscape evoked “John Carter’s” arid slickrock glory, offset only by Utah’s endless blue skies. Long, rocky inclines allowed the kids to choose their own path between cairn markers, making for a memorable experience. Rocky inclines gave way to spiraling rock stairways, eventually yielding to a narrow ridge pathway boasting multiple arch sighting opportunities across the valley (keep your eyes peeled!).
No matter how many times I’d dog-eared that Time Magazine page or read online about how the arch appears right after this ledge, nothing could prepare me for that first glimpse of Delicate Arch. At over 60-feet tall and 40-feet wide, Delicate Arch holds top honor as the park’s largest freestanding arch, but here’s what mere photos and statistics cannot convey: Delicate Arch is huge. And glorious. And fleeting–a temporal blip in a scheme of eons. It dwarfs and humbles you; you can’t help but contemplate time and tide and the transient nature of existence. On your return trek, be sure to take the short spur trail to Wolfe Ranch Cabin to see an early turn-of-the-century ranch building as well as intricate and well-preserved Ute petroglyphs.
- Balanced Rock Loop (0.3 miles): More gentle stroll than hike, kids and adults alike will enjoy walking the circumference of this gravity-defying icon. Studying Balanced Rock from multiple angles gave us a true appreciation for its precarious size and structure. Stay tuned for hikes #6 and #7 and whitewater rafting at Fisher Towers in Arches, Part II!
It’s hard to articulate just how much that little 50 cent book from the book sale changed our lives. In the years since, we’ve visited 21 National Parks and hope to visit 12 more by summer’s end. What began with a dog-eared photo and a promise has evolved to become the thread running through the fabric of our family history. The Parks are a hundred stories of bonding in the rain on the Olympic coast and trout-fishing on Yellowstone Lake and marveling over bighorn sheep on Iceberg Lake Trail. They’re stolen moments of holding hands through a Yosemite meadow and jumping at the top of the world in Mesa Verde. They’re three kids who consistently rank Park Ranger at the top of the ever-evolving list of what they’d like to be when they grow up. In no small way, the Parks have changed the way we see ourselves and the world. We are addicted!
I love reading about your family’s adventures! Thanks for taking the time to share.
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Thanks so much for your sweet comment, Morgan! Blogging is such a fun way to relive happy memories. 🙂
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Great post! We are heading there in May, but don’t have three days 😦 Will see how much we can accomplish off this list. Thank you!
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Thanks so much, Sunny! How fun, the weather should be perfect in May! The great thing about Arches is that all of the trails are short; I bet you could squeeze all 7 hikes into one day. Looking forward to reading all about it!
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Great. I am going with an older couple from Australia, so short trails are just perfect! Thank you for the tip!
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Another fun thing to do, especially with kids: make up names for some of the unnamed rock formations.
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What a fun idea! Thank you for the great tip–it sounds exactly like something our kids would love.
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Oh, this post makes me want to travel there now! Beautiful pics and love the descriptions of the hikes. Will definitely use your hiking guides. The Utah 5 is up there on the top of our list, but we just haven’t had the time YET. I’ve been scared of going in the summer, but maybe it looks doable. I’m kind of wimpy, 94 deg sounds pretty warm. Love your last paragraph and how you describe what the parks mean to you guys, feel the same! Looking forward to part II 🙂
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Thanks so much, Aya! I bet you guys would have so much fun in UT (I hear you, though–so much to see, so little time to see it all)! Honestly 94 degrees was pretty brutal and that was only June 1st, yikes. But…Zion and Bryce have beautiful lodges, and I bet they put on an amazing Thanksgiving. Long family weekend, beautiful parks, great food, non-94 degrees, lol…just saying. 😀
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I love that idea about Thanksgiving at Zion! We’ve considered it before, but chickened out when we thought there would be snow. I guess sometimes you gotta go for it. Thanks for planting the seed again.
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Oops, I was so focused on non-94 degrees that I didn’t even think about snow! Which there totally could be, but hopefully not a ton?? (Yep, I’m really selling the experience here, aren’t I, lol?) If nothing else, it’ll probably be a peaceful, quiet time to visit without the crowds…and hopefully just cold without the snow. Would love to hear about it if you go!
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What a fun post. We haven’t visited Arches so I enjoyed reading about where you guys have been. As always, love the adventurous spirits of your family.
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Thanks, Keng! Arches was a lot of fun–love that whole Moab area. It’d be fun to go back now that the kids are older.
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Fabulous post, beautifully written and solid gold for this trip-planning Mama! Thank you very much!
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Yay, so glad to hear the info’s useful! From one trip-planning mama to another, thank you for reading! Your sweet comment brought a smile to my face.
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Oh I love these photos of a really special park! It’s great that you have kept such detailed notes and photos of the different arches and hikes. And how wonderful to see your family amidst these stunning formations. I still have a photo on our fridge from 8ish years ago of our family posing at Delicate Arch. You are giving your children a precious gift with your journeys to America’s national parks.
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I love that you keep travel photos on your fridge! We do something similar with souvenir park magnets. It’s a sweet reminder of happy times during meal prep, which can sometimes feel like a bit of a slog. If your son was anything like mine as a teen, I know you can relate to that feeling of being chained to the kitchen 24/7. 😀 It was fun to look back at old journal entries–I’d forgotten so much!
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Your blog is inspiring me so much to travel right now! I live in London and my biggest dream is to travel cross America and your posts always provide me with new places to add to my list! The photos are great in this post – you have a beautiful family
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Your kind words mean the world to me–thank you so much for reading! Love the UK. I haven’t visited in decades, but you live in a beautiful part of the world for sure. Here’s hoping a cross country US trip finds its way into your future soon! 😀
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Oh, this post brings back wonderful memories of our time at Arches last year. Those views are so amazing! And I totally agree with you about Delicate Arch. Coming around the corner and catching a glimpse of it in person for the first time was incredible! That was definitely my favorite arch. We have a picture of a Utah sign like that from just yesterday! Utah is one of our favorite states too. We’re at Bryce Canyon right now and it’s snowing!
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Aww, this makes me so happy to hear! I love that you have those same wonderful Arches memories! Looking through these photos brought back so many happy memories for me, too. How awesome that you guys are in Bryce! Brr on the snow, though–here’s hoping the weather mellows soon. (Though I bet the snow-covered hoodoos are lovely!) I love all 5 parks, but Bryce is my favorite for sure. Please eat a slice of sour cream raisin pie at Pine Restaurant for me! 😀
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What a great story all spawned from a little book. I too will never forget those Utah blue skies.
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Love library book sales–never imagined how far 50 cents could go. Looking forward to reading more about your epic FL trip!
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We have just arrived in Moab this afternoon, so I devoured your fabulous blog post. Thank you for the beautiful pictures and wonderful descriptions of each hike. We too seem to have hit a heat wave, so choosing our escapades carefully.
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