Whether this is your first trip to Arches National Park or your 20th, there are important things to consider as the National Parks continue to be crowded! I visited Arches National Park over Memorial Day week in 2016 and decided to go back during this same week in 2021. Arches NP was extremely busy last year, so I’m glad I had a flexible schedule! If you’re interested in getting the most out of your 2022 trip to Arches NP, this is for you.
Pro Tips:
1. Plan time to find a camping spot or reserve accommodations in or near Moab. National Parks’ campgrounds are often limited and booked months in advance. Don’t expect to be able to reserve a spot in the park a few weeks ahead of your visit. In Moab there are plenty of first-come-first-serve Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campgrounds near Arches. These often fill up before noon. Plan your trip so that you can either look for campsites in the morning, or have alternative plans. We drove around campgrounds for hours on the afternoon we arrived to Moab only to end up camping on free BLM land instead (not a formal campground).
2. Plan time to drive into the park. Check to see how long it takes to drive from your campground to your first stop in the park. It can be further than you think!
3. Get there early! Beat the heat and the crowds by getting in the park beforeĀ sunrise. Seriously! The day that we visited Arches this year, we got into the park at about 4 a.m. because we wanted to hike to Delicate Arch for sunrise. By the time we were done with that short hike the park was heating up and parking lots were full. We talked to a ranger at our next stop and she let us know that the park had been closed to incoming cars every day in May 2021 before the park “opened” at 8 a.m. This means that anyone trying to enter the park after about 7 a.m. was risking a multi-hour wait to even enter the park. The park is “open” 24/7 so people that have National Park vehicle stickers can enter at any time. But so many people were entering early in the morning that they had to start limiting even the early arrivals! Note: You can buy annual passes online ahead of time to avoid waiting until the park opens.
Finding a Camping Spot
When I visited Arches NP in 2016, a friend and I camped in free BLM land just outside of the park. We only needed a parking permit to park overnight in one of the park’s parking lots. I anticipated doing something similar in 2021. Someone recommended finding a spot in a campground along the Colorado River, but for our first night we had no luck! We ended up camping in BLM land on the first night and at the campground the second night.
BLM Camping
The Moab BLM District has maps that are easily downloadable online, but these can be confusing if you’re not familiar with BLM camping in the area. My recommendation is to ask a park ranger as soon as possible for a recommendation on where to camp on BLM lands. There is also a BLM Field Office in Moab that would be helpful to ask.
A lot of the land in Utah is BLM land, but signage can be sparse and confusing. One of our main challenges was that we were traveling in a 2-wheel-drive van, so we were hesitant to drive on unpaved roads. A park ranger at Canyonlands National Park (near Arches NP) assured us that one of the unpaved roads was drivable with 2-wheel-drive and that there were many dispersed camping sites there. This provided us with our first free night of camping. We stayed on Mineral Bottom Road, off of 313 (Island in the Sky Road) that goes into Canyonlands National Park. Although this was further from Arches than we wanted to be, there were plenty of options to pull off the road and find a camping spot.
Campgrounds
The BLM website is also a great place to find affordable campsites. Most of the BLM campgrounds around Moab are $20/night. Most that we looked at did not have shower facilities. Because of the lack of shower and the desert heat, I’d recommend looking for a campsite on the Colorado River! You can’t swim in it in most places but it’s a nice place to dip your feet and likely the only water you’ll see.
There are several BLM campgrounds along the Colorado River on 128, which borders the southern side of Arches NP. We got really lucky with our campsite there. We met some nice girls who were hiking in Canyonlands and after talking for a few minutes they let us know that we could share a campsite with them that night! They had similarly shared a campsite with a stranger the night before after seeing that all of the campsites were taken. We simply split the cost with them and made some friends!
The campsites are spread out, so there was plenty of room for two sets of adults and two cars to be parked at one campsite. We just shared the picnic table! If you can’t find a campsite and are desperate, it might be wise to find another small group or an individual and split the cost of the campsite with them. Otherwise, get to the campsite before noon!
Hiking
After touring much of Arches by car in 2016, I was looking forward to doing a longer hike this year! Personally, I didn’t feel like I needed to see all of the Arches on the short trails again. However, if you just have time to drive through the park, they are very impressive and nice to stop at if you’re not a big hiker. I recommend the following hikes for a day at Arches.
Sunrise at Delicate Arch
Again, go early! We got there well before sunrise so we had time to follow the trail for about 30 minutes to Delicate Arch before sunrise. Be sure to take some pictures of the arch before people start posing under it! It was very busy by the time the sun was risen, but such a peaceful experience.
Hike the Devils Garden Loop
This is a great trail! While most of the trail is a moderate hike, the landscape is constantly changing so it provides some challenge. If you have several hours or want a substantial hike, I recommend doing the whole loop (under 8 miles) starting to the right. When you take the trail to the right of the initial split off, you get a rolling hill hike through desert landscapes and then through canyons. This part of the trail was nice and quiet early in the morning because most of the arches that people visit are on the other half of the loop. All of the arches were impressive, but it was so nice to take a long snack break under Private Arch, in the middle of a shady canyon! The views from the more heavily trafficked half of the trail are stunning, but we thoroughly enjoyed the quiet half of the trail as well!
Overall, we just spent one day in Arches National Park and it was enough to have an excellent time with several different views! If you’re planning to go to the Moab area for a longer time, it might be nice to split these hikes into different days and add on some of the other arches. The canyons along the Colorado River are equally as impressive as the park, so even if you don’t camp on the river, it’s worth the drive!
