Trails I’ve Hiked: Delicate Arch Trail

There are must-do hikes in many national parks. These iconic trails are almost a requirement before stating you’ve visited a park: Hidden Lake Overlook and Grinnell Glacier trails in Glacier National Park in Montana, Canyon Overlook and Angels Landing (well, at least up to Scouts Lookout) trails in Zion National Park in Utah, Bumpass Hell and Lassen Peak trails in Lassen Volcanic National Park in California, and the list goes on and on. Arches National Park in Utah has its own share of bucket list hikes, and Delicate Arch Trail is one of them. This 3-mile (4.8 km) roundtrip hike up and over slickrock to a sandstone arch so famous it’s on the Utah state license plate is extremely popular and with good reason. It’s a trail I’ve hiked and you can, too.

Before starting your hike, you should know there’s a difference between the Delicate Arch Viewpoint Trail (.5-mile roundtrip) and the actual Delicate Arch Trail, each located in different portions of the park. You can hit both trails on the same day, but if you are determined to only do a single hike, check the park map before heading out.

The parking lot is sizeable, but this trail is so popular it’s a good idea to arrive early in the morning or much later in the evening to snag a spot. Parking might even still be problematic in the evening due to stargazers and night photographers hiking up to this arch. These early / later arrival hours are helpful temperature-wise too, since it truly feels like a furnace during the height of the day in summer.

Sturdy footwear is important. They don’t call it slickrock for nothing, and slickrock becomes slicker with ice, so traction devices for your boots are a good idea on chilly days (trust me on this one). Don’t forget to pack along plenty of water, and I don’t mean carrying a couple of store-bought bottled waters. The park website advises packing at least two quarts of water to keep you hydrated. That much water is also handy for washing down those salty snacks replacing the salt lost through sweating along the exposed, treeless trail. Speaking of exposed, you might want to wear a hat and/or sunscreen.

The trailhead will lead you to and past historic Wolfe Ranch (aka Turnbow Cabin), a primitive one-room cabin used by John Wolfe.

You’ll also walk near a petroglyph panel and cross a bridge over brackish Salt Valley Wash.

The trail begins in earnest as you ascend slickrock landscape marked by small cairns pointing the way toward the arch. A walking stick is helpful going up and returning down, because, well, slickrock. Do watch your step and keep to the trail, although it’s easy to move in the wrong direction if you aren’t paying attention. Btw, don’t mess with the existing trail-marking cairns or build one yourself.

The last 200 feet of trail narrows along a ledge, so be especially mindful of foot placement. Cautious hiking is even more important on a very cold day, when patches of ice may cover a portion of that tapering trail.

Rounding that last corner, you’ll see Delicate Arch to your right. All you need to do is heft yourself over a short rock ledge and carefully wend your way down the slickrock “bowl” slanting toward the arch. It’s steeper than it looks in most photos of this iconic location. FYI, according to the blog site rockdoctravel.com, you’re basically walking upon eroded sand dunes as you descend to that famous stand-alone arch.

Prepare for people once you are there – a couple or 20 (or 30 or 40). If you are lucky, though, depending upon the time of your arrival, you might have the place all to yourself for a bit.

There are over 2,000 documented arches in Arches National Park, and Delicate Arch is probably the most famous of them all, making it a hike worth taking to see this emblem of the Southwest.