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One of my favorite hikes anywhere is the Devil's Garden trail in Arches National Park. I just never get tired of it! This is the trail right at the start, where it's practically paved.
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After 8/10ths of a mile, you come to Landscape Arch, the longest natural arch in the world at 290 feet.
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Soon after that, you used to come to Wall Arch, 71 feet wide and 33 feet tall. It was the 12th largest arch in the park. This is a picture I took just last year.
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Unfortunately, sometime during the night of August 4, 2008, the arch collapsed.
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The trail has now been rerouted to the other side of the gap that used to be an arch.
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The old trail is covered with huge chunks of rock. I'm sure glad I wasn't walking by there when it fell!
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Soon we get to my favorite part of the hike -- walking on top of the fins. Yes, this is the trail!
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The goal for most on the hike is Double O Arch. By climbing through the little O at the bottom, you get a great view of the landscape from the back side of the arch.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiorDOLJliRQgOpEKPLi0xfd6SExM8btcUwQA44bwErsIJps4JtHEYOIxtt9qX4QxDcywHeDahrggS9irKEbHYChDlT7bCeJQevU6AWwCbPodELaf4oYT9IGyvXm7GRBxpfPOlxJnVJR6g/s400/IMG_6951.JPG)
From there, we decided to take the primitive loop back to Landscape Arch. It adds about a mile to the hike, but is well worth it. I saw some local wildlife that I had never seen before!
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And climbed atop Private Arch.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJgE9wZDvDJMeDN5xCpR2tuDUk9Nr3SvKpgWtqsW67CmwNuplxjZ8vbr-S_I_mmpgeAmxjAoZ58WZ9fBcw-ZlPuCmtlSP0dU2EdjVzHBhrHQgicGzLXc4zKceZwa1HuzJ-WiAl-1MWtFY/s400/IMG_6965.JPG)
This trail is more challenging than the main trail, but very scenic and lots of fun.
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There are some tricky downs...
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And ups!
Love that last picture!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful (as always) photos of your wanderings. Wish I were there hiking too. I'm having wrist surgery (again) and hope to be in Borrego Springs for Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteUntil then, I'm stuck in the day-to-day life of work. You look happy and healthy!
Thanks for more beautiful pictures!!
ReplyDeletei love hiking and this one is the best trek i will enjoy nice rock formations and the wall arches ! how many hours will it take in trekking? i wonder if there's anyone can make a clone of this wall arches think to make a design on my garden and my wind spinner will match on this
ReplyDeleteTony, the trail to Double O arch is 4 miles round trip, or about 2-3 hours. If you do the primitive loop, that adds another mile.
ReplyDelete