Finishing up the Devils Garden loop, we hit Private Arch, Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch, adding to our checklist of landmarks. Hard to believe it’s only 10 a.m. and we’ve already explored ten arches.

May 11–13, 2023

All packed up we drive out from Castle Rock, Colorado, to Moab, Utah, for a mountain biking, park-seeing adventure. Though there are no mountain bike trails in Arches National Park, Moab and the surrounding public lands draw bikers from around the country for its technical sandstone routes. Arriving early afternoon along the scenic Colorado River, we locate our rental house and drop off our gear. That afternoon, we take to the nearby Porcupine Rim trail for some downhill biking outside the park. A quick bite of dinner and early night sleep ends our first day in Moab.

The next morning comes early as we must enter the park before the Timed Entry Reservation System begins at 7 a.m. Though we booked this trip in advance, the entry tickets were all sold out for our dates. But it’s no big deal as our desire for sunrise would force us into the park early either way. Our first stop is the Window Section. The blue sky lightening in the east is still not bright enough to make our way along Windows Trail towards Turret Arch. So by the light of our headlamps, we walk the loop scouting out the best places for sunrise. North Window offers a good view of Turret Arch so we hunker down in the breezy morning air waiting for dawn.

Slowly, the sun makes its debut igniting the red rock orange with its golden light. The soft glow begins to warm up my spirit before my limbs. Frantically, we run around the trail snagging the best photos we can in the rising sun. An unintentional photo from Turret Arch looking out over the parking lot towards Elephant Rock turns out to be my favorite from the photo session. Orange light kisses the top of the rocky mounds contrasting nicely with the cool greens and blues of the desert floor—a great start to our time in Arches.

With the rising higher, we cross the parking lot and check out Double Arch. Still shrouded in shadow from the surrounding stone walls, we climb up under its arms and take in the morning scene before us. Red fins, spires and walls bask in the morning light as we sit tucked away in cave-like shadow.

Not wanting to waste the cool of the day, we race to Devils Garden at the end of the road. Wolfing down a simple breakfast of energy bars, juice and yogurt, we stock up on water and hit Devils Garden Trail. Traversing the loop clockwise, our first stop is Landscape Arch and Partition Arch. Landscape Arch towers above us barely hanging on by a mere 6 feet of rock spanned over 306 feet of distance. We can almost feel the weight of the arch about to give way under its fragile frame. Partition Arch doesn’t interest us much so we press on towards Double O Arch.

About a mile further back we round a corner and come face to face with the impressive scene of Double O Arch. A nearly perfect circular opening in a massive red rock wall offers a window into the backcountry of Arches with its labyrinth of fins and spires. Enamored by the bizarre formation, we hardly notice another smaller arch sits directly below it, giving it the name Double O Arch. This whole place feels like some foreign planet, both entirely unfamiliar and familiar all at once.

Finishing up the Devils Garden loop, we hit Private Arch, Pine Tree Arch and Tunnel Arch, adding to our checklist of landmarks. Hard to believe it’s only 10 a.m. and we’ve already explored 10 arches.

Returning from Devils Garden back to the park entrance, we drive by Skyline Arch and decide to make a pitstop for a bit to plein air paint the scene. Pulling out my bag of oil paints I trek up the short path to a nice shady spot beneath a juniper. Sometimes I have to pinch myself in moment like this just to make sure I’m not dreaming.

With no lunch packed, we exit the park and head back to the house to refuel and recharge. Unable to return to the park, we enjoy the evening biking the trails of Moab.

The next morning is another early morning to avoid the timed entry system. Our goal today is Delicate Arch at sunrise. Donning headlamps we race up the trail in the dark fearful we are no going to make it. Unknown to us, we miscalculate the trail distance on the map and assume we must hike twice the distance than actuality. We quickly find this out when still under the cover of darkness the trail rounds a corner and opens up to a wide bowl of rock. On the far side in the faint morning light we make out the silhouette of Delicate Arch. A bit shocked at arriving so quickly we find a spot to wait out the remainder of the morning.

Like a timelapse the sun slowly creeps over the horizon illuminating the La Sal Mountains in the background first, then distant mesas, and finally the arch itself. And boy what a show it is. The scene is almost unbelievable. Like liquid gold, light drips down the enormous free-standing arch, a curious landmark on its own, much less draped in golden light. Otherworldly is the only word fit for the sight before us.

Our return hike to the car calls for a quick detour to Petroglyph Panel. The path leads to a small exhibit on ground level of a rock scattered with images of horsemen and bighorn sheep. As history would tell it, these images depict an era after 1600 when Spanish settlers first introduced horses to the native tribes in the region. The petroglyphs are a fun change of pace from the parade of arches the past two days.

Having hit all the major attractions we hoped to, we return to Double Arch from the day before to see if the midday light creates any compelling photos. Sure enough, the high sun casts beautiful dramatic light on the archway framing hikers against the bright blue sky of afternoon. Arches National Park is truly a playground of light and shadow, creating fresh compositions from the same landmarks time and time again. This caps off our time in Arches, though not our time in the national parks. We leave the park looking forward to exploring Canyonlands National Park in the coming days all while making plans in our heads to revisit Arches someday.