Under the Desert Sun in Moab
Arches National Park & Moab, Utah
Leaving Grand Junction on our way to Cannonville, we made a day trip to the outdoor recreation hub of Moab, UT. It’s an amazing area surrounded by stunning red rock landscapes set against a backdrop of snow covered mountains. Between our outdoor explorations that we’ll detail below, we also stopped in the town itself for a break. It was fun to see people gearing up to go climbing, mountain bikes getting packed up, and much of the traffic being jeeps and OHVs ready to hit the trails. The main street is lined with coffee shops, restaurants, and gift shops to explore (many let dogs in) along with a food truck park where we ate at.
Not all who wander are lost.
After parking our RV at a rest area (we used this one) and taking just our SUV into the Moab area, we wanted to get a hike in before it got too hot out (even with it being May it get’s hot fast) – this is where things got a bit challenging! Our gps attempted to take us a back way to our planned trail and we ended up about to enter an off-road 4×4 course. At that point we had no gps available to help us re-route, but luckily we were next to another trailhead which looked good and we opted to do that one instead. The trail we ended up doing was called Poison Spider and included a few side trails as well including one where you could view dinosaur tracks. This was a moderately challenging trail which included a lot of scrambling over rocky landscapes and climbing up steep inclines. The other challenging part was attempting to find where the trail even was (marked with faint green dots periodically) and we found ourselves taking a few wrong turns. We ended up not doing the full trail, but really enjoyed the views and challenges it provided – just wished it was a bit easier to navigate.
After completing our hike, our plan was to go explore Arches National Park – the challenge with that was that the park was already at capacity and they weren’t letting vehicles in. The park’s website does a good job of updating when this is the case – busiest times for entry are between 9am and 2pm. Luckily for us, after a break for lunch in town, the park opened back up around 1pm and it took us around 20 minutes of waiting in line to get in. Once in, it didn’t feel overly crowded and so they do a good job of monitoring traffic and keeping it that way. With limited time and dogs not allowed on trails, our focus was on the scenic drives and pull offs that are available. We also opted to purchase the downloadable audio guide ($10) which tracked our gps and provided information along the way – this really enhanced our experience! Even without hiking, we still were in the park for over 3 ours checking out the many different areas to stop at. The arches were great to see and many you can get up close to on the drive (unfortunately the famous Delicate Arch is a ways off), but we were even more impressed with the massive and unique red rock formations that you wind between. It’s like you’re on another planet! Definitely a must-stop in the area and I can see how you can spend days exploring the different trails.
Top Tips for Visiting Arches National Park
- Check the park’s website to ensure gates are open as they will close when at capacity.
- Download a self driving audio tour! We went with this option from Viator for $10 which uses GPS to track your route and plays the corresponding audio to match your surroundings.
- Be sure to purchase in advance as it sends you a password you need to download it which can take some time. Luckily our password came within 30 minutes while we were in line.
- Download the audio tour prior to getting into the park. Service isn’t great and this ensures the audio tour is accessible the entire time.
- Have a full tank of gas, snacks and drinks packed. The wait to enter can be long plus you will likely be in the park for several hours.
- If you want to see any arches up close, be prepared for a bit of a hike. You can see the famous Delicate Arch very near the parking lot but it is a 3 mile hike (round trip) to get up close.
We hope this helps you plan your next trip! Check out more of our outdoor adventures here.