Our best advice for hiking and viewing Arches National Park with kids.
We recently returned home from a Spring Break trip to all of Utah’s National Parks – “The Mighty 5.” It was an amazing trip, though a bit exhausting to try to fit it all into one week. The kids were troopers as usual though! We flew into Las Vegas and drove to the furthest parks first, which happened to be Arches and Canyonlands in the Moab area. We spent our first day of hiking in Arches National Park because we were eager to get out and stretch the legs, and since Arches was closer it meant less car-time.
Whenever we travel west we like to try to stay on our home time-schedule to take advantage of getting to the parks early. We drove straight to the hike we knew we wanted to do which was the famous Delicate Arch trail. There are 2 different viewpoints for this arch (Lower Delicate Arch Viewpoint, 100 yard walk, and Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint, 0.5 mi. walk with stairs) as well as a longer hike right up to the arch. We chose to do the longer hike right up to the arch and were glad we did!
Arches National Park with Kids
Delicate Arch Trail (3 miles roundtrip, moderate rating)
I will first say that if you’re visiting Arches in the spring, be sure to pack some warm clothes (even hats and lightweight gloves), especially if you plan to hike in the morning or evening. The wind was really cold while we were there and when we arrived at the Arch itself the wind was SUPER strong.
This hike takes you by the historic Wolfe Ranch cabin as well as a short trail loop that shoots off from the main trail and takes you by some Ute Indian petroglyphs. We took the Petroglyph loop trail on our way back down from Delicate Arch and it was worth it if you have a little bit of extra energy. It was a flat easy loop.
Get to this trail early if you want to find a parking spot, the lot is small and filled up quickly. The hike starts on a gravel/dirt trail but shortly brings you to some slickrock and a quick elevation gain.
Grippy shoes, hiking poles, plenty of water, and sunscreen are recommended, especially if you are in the hotter seasons. At the end of the trail there is plenty of space to spread out but you’ll likely have to wait in line if you want a photo of your family right by or under the Arch (though I am not sure I would recommend trying this if you have younger kids as it didn’t look very safe in some spots). You do pass Frame Arch right near the end of the trail before you round the bend to see Delicate Arch and this is another spot to get a good “framed” picture of Delicate Arch.
Overall a fun, somewhat difficult hike. You should also know that the last tenth of a mile or so is along a cliff, so if you have a strong fear of heights or your kids aren’t up for holding hands on a trail, it may not be the right hike for you.
Landscape Arch Trail (1.6 miles roundtrip, easy rating)
After Delicate Arch, we made our way to the picnic area by the Devils Garden trailhead to eat lunch before hiking to Landscape Arch. The lot right by the trailhead was full as well as the picnic area lots and all the spots along the road by the time we had finished eating so we stayed in our parking spot at the first picnic area and walked to the trailhead (if you’re in the first picnic area it is faster to get to the trailhead by going to the left around the loop rather than the right).
After Delicate Arch, this is obviously a popular spot to see in the park and we saw cars heading straight there in the morning, so be patient and you will find a spot!
There are short trails to two other arches along the trail to the Landscape Arch. We didn’t bother going to see Tunnel Arch (the shortest trail) but could kind of see it on our way to Pine Tree Arch. Pine Tree Arch was a longer trail but it was worth going to see as you can go right up to and through the arch. The kids had fun walking through the arch and “Tots” had fun playing in the soft, loose sand by the arch.
Part of Landscape Arch fell in 1991 and they closed the trail that goes right up to the arch and haven’t opened it back up since then. There is still a good viewing area of the arch, but good pictures of the arch are harder to get (unless there is another view further down the trail in the Devils Garden area that we did not do). The trail continues on to a series of other arches, but at this point in the day we were pretty well spent and had a few other parts of the park to see!
Other Spots to See
On our way back and out of Arches we stopped at a few spots that were quick photo stops. The first of these, Fiery Furnace, is a bucket list item that I’d like to do if we go back. Access is very limited (either by permit or more commonly through a ranger hike) and when we were there the hikes had not started for the season yet. So, we add that to our “next time” list!
After Fiery Furnace, we stopped at the Windows section of the park which has the highest density of arches. Because it was so busy, we did not get a parking spot. We instead drove the loop and admired the Double Arch, Garden of Eden, and Parade of Elephants before heading along to Balanced Rock.
All of those stops are short, but are worth seeing at the very minimum. Heading back towards the Visitor Center, we made our way to the Courthouse Towers to view the various formations along the main road. We then turned in our Junior Ranger books and made our way to Moab for dinner (we highly recommend 98 Center Moab).
Next we head to Canyonlands. It is amazing how close these parks are but the landscape is quite different. After Canyonlands we make our way through Capitol Reef and then head to Bryce Canyon and Zion, completing our tour of Utah’s Mighty 5.
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