Arches National Park

 

Arches National Park is located in eastern Utah and when driving home from Colorado we stayed in Moab and visited the park. The park is just minutes away from Moab and it shows the visitor a red-rock wonderland of arches, spires, and incredible panoramic views. Much of Arches can be seen from your vehicle along with a good number of wheelchair accessible trails that will bring you closer to the parks grand features. These paved or packed trails are not too long with some trails asking for a little more muscle and effort if you want a little more adventure, good wheelchair parking is available at most trail heads.

 

Sherrie and I make a point of visiting locations early in the morning to avoid crowds and traffic, usually the park entrance is not yet open but and with a placard in our vehicle we have yet to encounter any difficulties. Accessible parking is through out the park, restrooms are wheelchair accessible, and there are many wheelchair accessible trails in the park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Park Avenue is the first major viewing stop in Arches, it is just a short roll and the trail is flat and paved. From the viewing point there is a trail, not accessible, that leads down to the Courthouse Towers, about a mile long. Sherrie walked this trail and I picked her up at its exit at the Courthouse Towers parking lot.

 

 

Balanced Rock is one of the main sights in the park and it appears that it should fall down at any moment. We were there early but if it is visited later in the day or at sunset we understand that it is saturated in a deep red-orange hue, that would be amazing to see. Wheelchair parking is available.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Windows Trail is a hundred yards of flat hard packed trail that gives an epic view of arches and outcroppings that have been worn away by wind-blown sand. It shows the great expanse of Arches and how small it makes a person feel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Delicate Arch is an icon of Arches National Park being found on the Utah license plate but it is a three mile hike to access it, not wheelchair accessible. I took this photo from a great distance and it is amazing to see the people on top of the ridge line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arches National Park is just minutes from Moab Utah and is one the greatest parks that we have visited.  Arches can have hot summers and cold winters with very little rainfall. Temperatures may fluctuate as much as 50 degrees within a day. Plan for the changes in temperature and when viewing the park you become overwhelmed by its size, the big beautiful blue sky, arches, and other grand geological formations. There are more than 2000 sand stone arches in the park and it contains the greatest density of arches in the world.

The park is adjacent to the Colorado River and 4 miles north of Moab. It is an amazing drive from Cisco, on Hwy. 70, if you follow Hwy. 128 along the Colorado River down to Moab. The park consists of 77,000 acres of high desert located on the Colorado Plateau, with the park elevation being between 4000 and 5500 feet. The best time to visit is in the spring or fall when the temperatures are more habitable. I have driven through there, on a previous occasion, and it was over 110 degrees. A good time to be inside.