hiking to Delicate Arch - Arches NP

Arches National Park is beautiful and remote and popular. We spent a couple days there in 2006 on a Utah National Park road trip. This past fall, while driving by on the way to Grand Junction, CO, we decided we should drop in for a quick hike, because, why not?

For some reason, on our last visit, we did not hike to Delicate Arch, we only viewed it from afar, so that seemed like a good option for a quick stop, as it’s about a 3 mile round trip, and was exactly what we were looking for that day.

It’s a popular hike, and there is a large parking lot at the trail head. It also starts with a historic cabin and some pictographs.

The trail starts pretty normally, but it quickly turns into a wide open rock face, which is perfect for hiking while social distancing.

There were some warnings about narrow ledges, and drop offs, but it was not that bad.

After the narrow ledge, around a corner, there’s Delicate Arch.

There were lots of people there that day, but there was also lots of room to spread out.

If you are brave and ready to wait in line, you can get pretty close or stand right underneath the arch for a photo. Although the drop off was not that close, it still made me a bit nervous to get too far under the arch, but it is a cool view.