A Day at Arches National Park

Where to stay

• Yellow Circle Rd. On this road, there are free campgrounds located about 25 minutes south of Arches National Park. It is less trafficked than campgrounds closer to the park.

Address: 191 and Yellow Circle Road, Moab, Utah
GPS: 38.435474, -109.427631
Directions: When you turn off the highway, you will see a sign saying “No camping for 0.6 miles”. You will turn right at the end of the road and then continue until you see a second sign saying “Only camp in the designated camping sites”. Here you will turn left. When we stayed there in March, it had been snowing for the last few weeks, and the road was slick and muddy. The road might be inaccessible for smaller vehicles during the wet season.

• For more options, here’s a list of other campsites ranging from $15-20 closer to the park.

The park charges $30 per vehicle, so if you’re going with a group, you may want to leave extra cars at the campsite and carpool to the park.

Trails to Hike

All of them! We were surprised at how short a lot of the trails were. Here are our favorites.

• Double Arches. This one was our favorite. Located near the park entrance, it is a very short hike of about 0.5 miles out-and-back. We checked it out as we were leaving, and it was a good way to end our visit to the park.

• Delicate Arch. You may recognize this iconic arch from the Utah license plate. This is a classic, 3 mile out-and-back trail. There are a few steep portions, but overall it is a pretty easy hike. We suggest getting an early start, as it is the park’s most popular attraction. We started at around 9:30 am, and there were already a lot of other visitors on the trail, but it was noticeably busier by the time we returned to the trailhead.

• Devil’s Garden. This trail is a 7.5 mile loop. While it is a longer hike, it has several arches along the trail to break up the hike and keep things interesting. You can choose between the well-marked paths and a couple of designated “primitive trails” along this hike. These trails are not recommended in rainy or snowy conditions, but if they are dry, they are a great option to add a little bit of adventure to the trip.