Arches National Park 2025
- otomola
- 14 minutes ago
- 5 min read
October 19-23, 2025
I arrived at sunset to Arches National Park on Sunday evening. It took me about thirty minutes to park my van in my campsite. The driveway had an awkward pitch, more so than any other site in the campground. There are 53 campsites. I finally figured out the best way to park, on a diagonal across the sloped driveway, so that with the levelers I carry with me, I could park so the bed was comfortable.
Levelers are plastic devices that I can put under the wheels when needed. I carry a set of ten with me as well as level to check things in the van. It was dark by the time I was done parking. My new neighbors, Simon and Berengere, came over and helped me with making sure I stopped the van at the right spot on the levelers, directly under the tires.
Simon and Berengere are from Montreal. They were on the last two weeks of a four month trip across Canada to the west coast, then down the west coast into the USA and several national parks in the states. I could not pronounce her name very well. We had a few laughs with me doing the best I could. There are accent marks after the first e and before the second e. And, she teaches French in school. Who knew? With my New England/Connecticut accent, I butchered the pronunciation.
I spoke with them again in the morning briefly before they headed off to Canyonlands and then Natural Bridges National Parks over the next few days before driving cross country back to Montreal. It’s always interesting meeting people on the road, especially in the parks circuit.
On Monday, I did a three mile hike right from the campsite. It took me to three arches: Tapestry Arch, Broken Arch, and Sand Dune Arch. There was amazing scenery every step in every direction. The landscape fills you, overwhelms you at times. The sky was nearly free of clouds, deep shades of blue. It was breezy all day, high temps in the low 60s. The trail was mostly through flat terrain, nothing was strenuous, and most of it was on dirt and sand with a few parts on slickrock. I left my campsite around 11:30 AM, returned around 2:30 PM. I was not in a hurry, not trying to walk fast. I stopped and looked around. I took a lot of photos. Hiking was comfortable in a t-shirt and shorts, but sitting around, especially in the shade, required more clothing.
On Tuesday, I did a seven mile hike past Landscape Arch out to the Double-O-Arch on the Devil’s Garden Trail. This trail is strenuous with a fair amount of elevation gain utilizing steep slickrock. Good boots enables one to obtain a good grip along the pitched, uneven surface.
There is substantial hiking along sandstone fins on this hike. Sandstone fins are products of erosion that has taken places over hundreds of thousands of years or more. At one time, the land in this area was more or less flat with little relief. Over time, a combination of erosion, plate tectonics, and work done by a layer of salt buried beneath the land resulted in uplifting of the region. This created cracks in the rock, allowing water and wind to shape the landscape. Fins are one of the several landform objects. Arches form when erosion occurs within a portion of a fin, removing a good deal of material but leaving the topmost rock in place, creating an arch. It’s quite a geologic phenomenon. And overall, this is a very dramatic hike with outstanding views of geologic wonders and sweeping panoramas. Once could take photos every minute of the hike.
On Wednesday, I moved to a different campsite. I talked myself into not hiking today. I may be overthinking this, that my body needs rest and it is good to take days off. I developed some arthritis in my right hip towards the end of summer. I had a cortisone shot on Friday, September 26. It seems to have done the trick in relieving any discomfort, but I am hesitant to do my normal degree of hiking and cycling. I am monitoring my gradual return to “normal” parameters of hiking 5-7 miles each day and riding approximately 150 miles each week. I’m also staying clear of big hills if possible, as it puts more pressure on the hip joint. I did a short ride near the campground Wednesday afternoon. Normally I would have been sure to do the entire road through the park, a 36 mile out and back over hilly terrain (18 miles each way.)
There is a great deal in the park that I did not visit. There are may iconic arches, such as Delicate Arch and The Windows, that I did not see them this time. I have been to this park several times, having been to Moab about twenty times, and this time around I stayed in the campground area.
Other people I met camping included a guy with his family living in a 36 foot fifth-wheel camper. He had 600 watts of solar and was running a generator during the hours it was allowed (8-10AM and 4-8PM). He was having a hard time charging his batteries up to 100% before sunset each day. He said the main power drain was the furnace, which surprised me, as for me it is the refrigerator. Then I learned, via the sound it makes, that he was running the heater much full time right after sunset. He must have been trying to keep the entire camper warm all night.
I also met a woman from Germany camping with a college friend who now lives in Arizona. College was thirty years ago, she told me. They were here in Arches three days before moving on to Escalante National Park and Bryce National Park in the coming two weeks. I was a little confused as the pickup truck camper they were in had a German front license plate. It turns out there was an Arizona rear plate and the front plate seems to be a souvenir of when her friend’s parents lived in Germany years ago.
Thursday morning it stormed for a while. I left the campground around 10AM, heading to the visitor center where I watched a short film about the park. It stated there are over 2,00 arches in the park with the highest concentration anywhere in the world. Next was shopping at City Market followed by a shower at Moab Cycles. I met a woman there who had just used their shower. She was in Moab to do rock climbing, having driven from Tennessee for the adventure. She seemed quite happy about it.
Moab has a multitude of outdoorsy adventurous types driving around the streets. The grocery store parking lot has a variety of state license plates. Walking the aisles of the store, one can obtain a diverse picture of people’s adrenalin tastes by reading the t-shirts worn. There is a range of ages, too, from teens to seniors, all out for some outdoor fun in the Sun. Except today, it’s raining. It is my first day of rain on this trip, too. (It’s Day 19 BTW.)
From here, I go to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. It’s only about 65 miles driving. I have been to Needles a few times before, but not in several years. I’m looking forward to it. Off I go!
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