AARP’s Guide to Utah's Arches National Park

For something truly special, sign up for a ranger-led hike ($16) through the Fiery Furnace, a 2-mile, three-hour adventure through an isolated labyrinth of canyons, fins and body-scraping passageways. Offered daily March through October, you’ll need to reserve your ticket online at nps.gov) as spots typically fill up a couple of months in advance. (Note: In a fragile ecosystem like ANP, one errant footprint can cause years of damage. Martinez likes to remind all visitors to “stay on the trail and don’t bust the crust!” Cryptobiotic crusts are an amalgamation of green algae, fungi and other tiny organisms that hold the soil together and prevent erosion).

The wheelchair-accessible Park Avenue Trail, with its skyscraper-canyon walls, is one of the most beautiful walks at ANP. The easy stroll (2-mile round trip) along the valley floor gives you a close-up of the Courthouse Towers, towering stone columns that shoot from the desert like a NASA rocket.

Discover unique (non-arch) geology: Archways are ANP’s marquee attraction, but its other head-turning geological features deserve attention, too.

As you cruise the scenic drive, it’s hard to miss the Three Penguins, the park’s first significant sandstone tower (130 feet tall), which hovers above the visitor center and resembles a marching trio of the tuxedoed seabirds.

To the south of Double Arch, the Parade of Elephants — a lone section of sandstone shaped like a single-file herd of elephants parading through the desert — would make Michelangelo envious of nature’s ability to sculpt a masterpiece.

Balanced Rock (nine miles from the park entrance), a giant chunk of sandstone standing 128 feet tall, sits atop an eroding pedestal of mudstone like a sundae cherry. You can see it from the scenic drive, but hike the short 0.3-mile trail around its base to fully grasp its size and beauty.

Stargaze: On a clear night, a wealth of stars can be seen from anywhere in ANP, a certified “dark sky” destination. During the summer months, rangers lead one- to three-hour stargazing sessions that include constellation talks and telescope viewing at Panorama Point (11 miles from the park entrance). Reservations aren’t necessary, but check with the visitor center for an updated schedule.

More Parks Nearby

Take in more natural beauty at two other national parks within driving distance of ANP: Canyonlands National Park (26 miles southwest of ANP) and Capitol Reef National Park (132 miles southwest of ANP).

Canyonlands National Park

Vast mesas, ethereal pinnacles, canyon mazes and remote backcountry buttes paint the sprawling red-rock hinterland of Canyonlands National Park (CNP). Even though it’s Utah’s largest national park, the 337,598-acre desert wilderness attracts fewer than half the visitors of nearby Arches, which is less than a quarter its size.

CNP is divided into three land districts split by the Colorado and Green rivers: Island in the Sky, the Needles and the Maze, spread apart by miles of roadless red rock. (Visitors must return to U.S. Route 191 and drive to the different park sections, which takes anywhere from two to six hours).

More than three-quarters of visitors go to the Island in the Sky district, where the 34-mile scenic drive is the park’s best sightseeing option. The high mesa, cradled by the confluence of the rivers, rests atop a sandstone bench — the White Rim — that rises 1,000 feet above the surrounding terrain. “Mesa Arch and the Green River Overlook are the best viewpoints, with Green River being the best for photography,” says Brian Martinez, with Navtec Expeditions. A short half-mile loop trail (not wheelchair-accessible) takes you to Mesa Arch, the park’s signature vista at the edge of a cliff. The Green River Overlook, ideal at sunset, provides a rooftop view of one of CNP’s powerful riverways.

The park offers ranger-led talks spring through fall at the Grand View Point Overlook (accessible to wheelchairs), a sweeping panorama of the CNP’s multilayered geology. And do stop at the Shafer Canyon Viewpoint for a bird’s-eye view of the snaking 18-mile Shafer Trail, a cliff-hanging dirt road with steep drop-offs that descends 1,500 feet to the canyon floor.

For backcountry exploration, head to the Needles district, a two-hour drive away. The park’s southeast corner, named for the multicolored sandstone spires that skyrocket from the desert floor, is home to 74 miles of trails, ranging from short interpretive loops to heart-pumping day hikes.

The Maze district exemplifies some of the Lower 48’s most untrodden terrain. Located on the other side of the Green and Colorado rivers, getting there requires a nearly six-hour drive from Moab. For unmatched solitude in the Maze’s wilds, an experienced guide is highly recommended.

Capitol Reef National Park

You haven’t landed on Mars, but don’t be shocked if your first glimpse of Capitol Reef National Park (CRNP), with its otherworldly canyons and miles upon miles of rusty desert hues, feels like a mission to the Red Planet.

“What makes the park unique is the Waterpocket Fold and the topography that resulted from that,” says Rick Stinchfield, a volunteer park ranger. Created by a buckle in the Earth’s surface, the park’s defining geologic feature stretches nearly 100 miles, running north-south from Thousand Lake Mountain to Lake Powell. The fold, rising from the desert like a massive ocean break destined for the coast, is one of the largest and best exposed monoclines in North America. When the uplift fired some 65 million years ago, it left behind a dramatic landscape of jagged cliffs and giant monoliths. 

The best way to see CRNP? Driving along Scenic Drive (directly off state Route 24), an 8-mile route that begins near the visitor center and runs through the heart of the park. Besides the fold, you’ll see Cassidy Arch, named after Butch Cassidy, who is said to have hidden here following his first bank robbery; the slot canyon at Capitol Gorge, with its rain-filled water pockets known as the “Tanks”; and the resplendent 7,041-foot Golden Throne dome.

For million-dollar views of one the park’s largest sandstone monoliths, the challenging 4-mile Golden Throne Trail is a stunning hike. If you’re lucky, you’ll spot one of the park’s 20-something desert bighorn sheep.

Other must-see sites: Capitol Dome, a majestic white sandstone formation towering 800 feet above the road; thousand-year-old petroglyphs; Chimney Rock, an eroded sandstone pillar with a 6,420-foot summit; the 133-foot-long natural sandstone Hickman Bridge; and the Goosenecks Overlook, a striking viewpoint more than 800 feet above a serpentine canyon.