This post is part of the Destinations blog carnival #3 and the August 7th Carnival of Travelers.
Part of a series: (links to go live as they get posted)
The entry fee is $10 for a seven-day pass. Always make sure you have plenty of water. There are only two water sources within the park. Keep a large supply in your car and keep refilling your portable containers. Pack in your meals. You can’t buy food anywhere inside the park. For more information about what to bring, please see my post about packing for Arches.
The first thing to do is stop in the visitor center and sign up for the ranger-guided Fiery Furnace hike. It’s an extra $10 but well worth it. There are two per day, and these are very popular. They fill up days in advance. Phone reservations are not accepted so you have to make them in person. If they do have spots open during your time in the area, I would highly recommend putting your names down and reworking your schedule.
Despite the strenuous warnings you’ll receive when signing up, I think anyone in reasonable condition can do it. The tour does last three hours and once you’re in, you will need to stay with the group. There are plenty of rests while the ranger talks about the area, the park, and the plants and animals.
You will need to do some scrambling, some leaping across rock gaps, some facing of exposed heights, and climbing and descending regularly. I think younger children (8-year-olds?) would have a blast on it. There really isn’t a danger of the fall-and-you’ll-die variety except for one cliff edge but that cliff is maybe twenty feet wide. Unless you get dizzy around heights, it’s safe.
The ranger information is fantastic and the hike is really fun. You get close up and personal with a lot of fins, rock formations that eventually go on to become arches. Once again, I’m stressing the need to carry sufficient water. Bring food on the hike if you need energy boosts.
So after signing up, maxing out your water supply, and hitting the restrooms, it’s time to enter the park. Depending on how much time you have and how much hiking you want to do, there are different ways to approach it.
If you have one day and are doing a car tour, I would suggest seeing the park’s three main attractions in this order. Stop at Balanced Rock and The Windows. (Right by the side of the road with short walks.) Drive all the way down to the end of the park to see Landscape Arch. (The trail to this is marked Easy but it is not. You will need to work for it.) There’s a nice picnic area to eat lunch. Drive back to see Delicate Arch, the unofficial symbol of Utah.
There are three options to see this famous formation. A far away view is possible from just off the parking lot. There’s a closer view with a short but vertical hike. Then there is the long trek that will get you right to the natural amphitheater within which it sits. That one is a lengthy, climbing hike. (For Star Wars fans, take a look at this Jabba rock formation.)
If you have more than one day to spend at the park, I would suggest splitting it up by regions. In my mind, there are four main areas to tackle: the Landscape Arch area, Delicate Arch, the Fiery Furnace, and the rest of the park.
In part 2, I’ll describe how the boyfriend and I handled our two days.
Tags: Travel by Ms.
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