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.
After 8/10ths of a mile, you come to Landscape Arch, the longest natural arch in the world at 290 feet.
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.
Unfortunately, sometime during the night of August 4, 2008, the arch collapsed.
The trail has now been rerouted to the other side of the gap that used to be an arch.
The old trail is covered with huge chunks of rock. I'm sure glad I wasn't walking by there when it fell!
Soon we get to my favorite part of the hike -- walking on top of the fins. Yes, this is the trail!
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.
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!
And climbed atop Private Arch.
This trail is more challenging than the main trail, but very scenic and lots of fun.
There are some tricky downs...
And ups!
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.
After 8/10ths of a mile, you come to Landscape Arch, the longest natural arch in the world at 290 feet.
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.
Unfortunately, sometime during the night of August 4, 2008, the arch collapsed. 
The trail has now been rerouted to the other side of the gap that used to be an arch.
The old trail is covered with huge chunks of rock. I'm sure glad I wasn't walking by there when it fell!
Soon we get to my favorite part of the hike -- walking on top of the fins. Yes, this is the trail!
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.
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!
And climbed atop Private Arch.
This trail is more challenging than the main trail, but very scenic and lots of fun.
There are some tricky downs...
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