Family Hiking at Arches National Park

We didn’t intend on hiking Arches National Park this year (2021) with our family. But then again, we didn’t plan on another cross-country road trip–with kids–in the span of 18 months. The first one was from Virginia Beach to Seattle; the second now would be from Boise, ID, to Greenville, SC, where we were relocating to. We carefully planned out our route to hit a few highlights, especially those related to the national park system. Our younger son was in 4th grade, and we for sure were taking advantage of the Every Kid Outdoors pass (a free and worthwhile program if you have a 4th grader or a 10-year-old homeschooled student).

Welcome to Utah

Our route started in Boise, ID, with our first overnight stop in Salt Lake City. That put us within striking distance the next day to hit Arches down near Moab at a reasonable time.

First off, know that Utah is a fabulous Western state to visit (and visit again… and again!). I don’t think it gets enough attention from East Coasters. Early April is also a glorious time to go before the heat (and the crowds) set in.

Before We Hit Arches, a Brief Trip Down Memory Lane

Utah is home to the “Big 5” (national parks, that is): Zion, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef, in addition to Arches. While we would LOVE to one day hit all 5, Arches is our second Utah park. The first was Zion 12 years ago now, and we couldn’t do much family hiking there with a 2-year-old. If you’ve never been to Zion, here’s the type of views that will greet you there:

Heading to Arches from Salt Lake

Now was finally our time to hit our second Utah park, Arches. The town of Moab is the launch point for both Canyonlands and Arches. You’re not going to lose with either. However, we had read that family hiking at Arches is more accessible and easier with kids, especially on a short time frame, so Arches won over for us.

And we were happy it did! However, the trip from Salt Lake seemed to take pretty much forever; perhaps this had something to do with it?

Having stopped at In-N-Out (totally worth every minute we “lost” doing that), we pulled into Arches much later than we would’ve liked (about 4:30 p.m.). It also happened to be Good Friday, so probably a more crowded day than usual. This meant a long wait, probably about 30 minutes, to even get into the park. Looking back, we should’ve tried harder to get to the gate sooner.

Arrival at Arches National Park

Arches: The “Deets”

Price: $30/vehicle. Some days, however, like the day we were there, admission is free closer to the park’s closing. Once you finally enter, the park is mainly a driving loop with parking areas and trails by the most popular arches. Here is a map to get yourself oriented:

Trails: Arches lists 10 “easy” trails on its national park website. Most of these are VERY accessible for a family, even with young children. We enjoyed several of them during the 3-4 hours we spent at the park.

Time: We did quite a lot of the park in under 4 hours. I would’ve loved hours more, however, to conquer some of the more moderate hikes and just enjoy the day at a more leisurely pace.

Allergies: You might think (as I thought) that there would be pretty much nothing whatsoever to be allergic to in a desert biome such as is Arches. However, in my case–well, that was not the case. ACHOO! Ironically, I don’t suffer a tremendous amount from seasonal allergies, at least not in any obvious way. I even sail through the spring pollen season unscathed. But from the minute I first exited the car for our first hike at Arches, I began sneezing every which way and blowing my nose continuously. Not only did I not adjust during the hours we were there, but my condition steadily worsened, and I continued feeling crummy for about 24 hours afterward.

So what was the culprit? Well, truthfully, I have no idea, but I suspect it was the green moss-like plants we saw everywhere–something probably very specific blooming during our early-April visit. No one else in the family was affected a bit, go figure. To this day, we can’t exactly pinpoint what my body didn’t like.

The Hikes

An advantageous thing about Arches is its versatility. If you want hard, you can tackle hard. If you want moderate, you can plan for that. But if you just want a nice, easy, super enjoyable day hiking with your family among unsurpassed scenery, Arches is also for you. Short on time? No problem. You can get a good taste of what the park has to offer in just one solid hour. Have a whole day? The scenery doesn’t get old that quickly.

Here’s what we did in one late afternoon/early evening:

Balanced Rock

We didn’t go wrong by starting off with a .3 mile easy loop around the aptly named Balanced Rock. This trail and rock formation was the perfect opener to the park. It’s also the first major one your family will encounter after entering the park.

Delicate Arch

We didn’t try the long hike to Delicate Arch, one of the iconic symbols of the entire park. However, we did drive to the scenic lookout where we saw many hikers off in the distance who did tackle that hike. With more time available to us, we would’ve loved to have tried that one. I wouldn’t want to do it in the heat of summer, though. Much better in the spring or the fall.

Sand Dune Arch / Broken Arch

Call this one a “twofer”! We parked at Sand Dune Arch and explored that one first (which turned out to be our favorite of the day for its uniqueness). But from the same parking lot you’ll see a second (longer) trail leading off across a meadow to Broken Arch. That one is also very much a winner (although I’m not thinking there are really any losers at Arches). We probably spent about an hour between the two trails and arch exploration. Worth every minute in spades.

Ending Our Fantastic Day

From there, we rounded out our day by doubling back to the Windows section to see Double Arch. For some reason–I guess we were all getting tired by this point–we didn’t snap any pictures. Guess that means we’ll have to return and hit that area first when we are fresher. And we’ll also be sure to come prepared for the hike to Delicate Arch.

Hopefully returning to Utah one day soon will be in our future, both to Arches and the other “Big 5.” We definitely didn’t do everything right on half-day at Arches, but we did do the most important thing right: going to Arches in the first place with our kids.

Have you been to Arches? If so, what was your experience? How about one of the other “Big 5” parks in Utah? I’d love to hear what your favorite was. Please comment below, share this post, and save the pin for later!