Our stay at Devils Garden Campground was for three days, but there was still more that we wanted to see in Arches National Park as well as other areas. On our 2007 trip, we had stayed 3 nights at the KOA southeast of Moab. This time, we decided to stay there again for four nights, extending our time in the area out to a full week. Driving distance was just 28.6 miles from Devils Garden to the KOA – the shortest distance between campgrounds we’ve done since September 2009.
Moab is the county seat for Grand County, which takes its name for the original name of the Colorado River, which runs north and west of town. The town’s population is around 5,000, with an economy largely based on tourism and outdoor adventure activities.
After Landscape Arch, we went see some of the sights nearer to the entrance to Arches National Park.
It’s 9 miles (14.5 km) from the park entrance to the Balanced Rock parking area. There are four viewpoints along the way for parking, viewing some of the park’s extraordinary and unusual formations and, at a couple of points, hiking.
Park Avenue viewpoint – trail leads downhill through the “Park Avenue” canyon to Courthouse Towers viewpoint.
La Sal Mountains viewpoint.
Courthouse Towers viewpoint – we hiked up the canyon from this point and back later in our visit.
Petrified Dunes viewpoint.
Balanced Rock is one of many popular rock formations in the park. From the parking lot, a short trail leads out to near the base and loops around it. The height of the pillar and rock on top is about 128 feet (39 m). The balancing rock is about the size of three school buses, estimated at 3577 tons. During the winter of ‘75 – ‘76 a smaller companion balanced rock fell. It had been called “Chip Off The Old Block.”
Landscape Arch is one of the more popular attractions in Arches National Park. Located in the Devils Garden area in the northern part of the park, the trailhead was only a short drive from our site in the Devils Garden Campground. Landscape Arch is 1.5 miles from the trailhead.
It’s the longest arch in the park and according to The Natural Arch and Bridge Society, the longest natural arch in the world, laser measured in 2004 at 290.1 ± 0.8 feet (88.4 m). Since 1991, three sandstone slabs have fallen from the thinnest section of the arch, resulting in closure of the trail that once passed below it. Several other arches are accessible in the Devils Garden area.
Our three night stay at Arches National Park was in the Devils Garden Campground. Eighteen miles from the park entrance, the campground is located in the middle of red sandstone fins, boulders and rocky hills, Utah juniper and pinion pines, yucca and prickly pear cacti. The La Sal mountains can be seen in the distance. There are also a few arches nearby. One of them, Skyline Arch, was only a short walk and climb from our campsite, though climbing up into the arch itself was a bit of a stretch.
The nearest town, Moab, is 23 miles away, so there is very little light to pollute the night sky, making the campground a great place to view the wonders of the night sky.
Like most U.S. national park campgrounds, Devils Garden has no hookups for water, electricity, or sewer. Facilities do include potable water, picnic tables, and grills, but there are no showers. There are 50 sites that can be reserved between March 1 and October 31. This is a very popular campground and, for anyone who would like to camp here, I would recommend making reservations.
After finishing the Delicate Arch hike, we went to the visitor center, near the park entrance.
Dedicated on September 17, 2005, the Arches National park visitor center includes, outside the front entrance, Matthew Gray Palmer’s Desert Animal Series sculptures – a bighorn ram, ewe and lamb, two ravens and two lizards. These still life animals are popular with visitors (pdf).
The sculptures provide a close-up look at these magnificent animals. To make the sculptures, the artist first made life-size wax models of the animals. A mold was made from the wax, into which molten bronze was poured. Additional details are worked into the bronze by hand to make the pieces as realistic as possible.
Palmer, a resident of Washington state, is a mixed media sculptor who also draws and paints. In 1995 he created Parallaxis, “an endeavor dedicated to making a difference in the world by educating people about natural science and conservation through public works of art and multimedia events.”
Our first hike of our 2011 visit to Arches National Park was the 3.0 mile (4.8 km) round-trip trek to Delicate Arch on September 21. We had done this hike almost exactly 4 years before, so we knew what we were getting into.
The trail begins at the parking lot adjacent to the old Wolfe Ranch cabin. A side trail near the cabin leads to some petroglyphs.
The Delicate Arch trail has very little shade. Most of the trail is over open “slickrock” sandstone – a term given by early settlers because of the difficulty of their horses’ metal shoes getting traction on the sloping surfaces of the rock. There is some exposure to heights. The trail can be a brutal hike during the summer, when temperatures can exceed 100°F (37.7°C). The park service recommends at least a quart of water per person on this trail. Across the rock, the trail is marked by rock cairns.
We had planned the southwestern part of our trip for late September into October to take advantage of cooler weather. The high temperature for our hike was probably in the low 70s.
The trail to Delicate Arch is a nice hike and I heartily recommend it for a spring or autumn hike, or even an early summer morning hike provided you’re off the rock before the extreme heat of the day.
Park Avenue viewpoint – trail leads downhill through the “Park Avenue” canyon to Courthouse Towers viewpoint.
Like most U.S. national park campgrounds, Devils Garden has no hookups for water, electricity, or sewer. Facilities do include potable water, picnic tables, and grills, but there are no showers. There are 50 sites that can be reserved between March 1 and October 31. This is a very popular campground and, for anyone who would like to camp here, I would recommend making reservations.
Our first hike of our 2011 visit to Arches National Park was the 3.0 mile (4.8 km) round-trip trek to Delicate Arch on September 21. We had done this hike almost exactly 
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