My husband, Gary, and I visited Arches National Park in late April and discovered an amazing part of God’s amazing Creation. We didn’t plan far enough ahead to secure an early reservation—you have to reserve a time to enter the park—so we entered the park at 11:00 a.m. Parking lots were already crowded, but we were fortunate to nab the last open parking spot at the Sand Dune Arch/Broken Arch trailhead. It was sunny and warm out, but not hot. I donned my ugly flop hat to avoid sunburn and my Osprey pack, with plenty of water, and we were on our way. A little lizard warmed itself on a rock just down the trail, not particularly afraid of all the people trooping past.
The wide path led first to a side trail to Sand Dune Arch. A narrow slot canyon led into an area of deep sand. It was a short walk to the arch—pretty, but not spectacular, fitting inside a larger red rock shape. People waited their turns to take photos of their loved ones in front of the arch. A nice couple offered to take ours, so we actually have proof we were there.
Heading back out to the main trail, we walked across an area of sagebrush and juniper toward Broken Arch. Reaching an area of tall rocks, we noted the return trail to the left. To the right, the trail wound over some rocks and past tall rock formations until we saw Broken Arch ahead. (It’s not actually broken, just kind of dented.) The trail guide said we could walk through the arch to continue the hike. I expected a nice trail going under the arch. Reality was a rather steep expanse of slick rock that had to be climbed. Gary scrambled up the rock while I searched for an easier approach. None was to be found. Another group at the arch offered to help. Gary borrowed one of their hiking poles and held it out to me to grab. Then he helped pull me up until I was good on my own. I am very thankful that slick rock doesn’t live up to its name—maybe it’s slippery when wet, but dry slick rock is easy to walk on.
On the other side the trail alternated between sand and slick rock with some nice rock formations off to the sides, plus a great view down into a valley and across to the mountains. At one point after crossing slick rock, the group who had helped me debated which way to go. We consulted the map, and a consensus was reached: go straight, not to the left.
Not far past that we could see Tapestry Arch off to the side. We took a sandy side trail to a better view but didn’t cross the rocks to actually get to it. Heading back to the main trail, we came out at Devil’s Garden Campground. After a restroom break, we located the return route—which ended up being much nicer than expected. The first part crossed slick rock interspersed with juniper. Small rock cairns were helpful in marking the path. Then we entered a slot canyon, where we made our way down more red rock—not as bad as at Broken Arch, but I did sit down and slide a little a couple of times. Gary, of course, had no issues.
It was cooler in the shady canyon and gorgeous with sunlight shining on the higher red rocks. We both felt this was the best part of the hike, especially since we were alone for much of it—a rarity in this busy park. We came out to the open area where we completed the loop and walked back to the truck, quite pleased with the hike we had chosen. It would have been even better had we been able to secure a camping site at Devil’s Garden Campground. Maybe next time…