Devil's Garden: Our favorite hike in Arches National Park
Our family loves hiking but for many years that hiking was limited to Montana and Wyoming. Recently, however, we've made an effort to branch out and explore some other areas! In the last year, 3 of the 4 of us have discovered what has become our favorite hike in Arches National Park. Devil's Garden!
Devil's Garden is located at the end of the main road through Arches and the drive alone is amazing! You get to go past the Courthouse Towers, Balanced Rock, Panorama Point, Fiery Furnace, and Skyline Arch to name a few.
Once at Devil's Garden you begin the hike by walking through giant, narrow walls of red rock. Given the name of the hike, if that entrance isn't called The Gates of Hell, it should be! Though to be fair, that would not make it seem nearly as inviting as it actually is! The first mile is a very nice, wide trail that even the most beginner level hikers would enjoy. Along this section there are off-chutes to Tunnel and Pine Tree Arches - well worth the extra steps! And of course, the views are incredible and unique.
Toward the end of this first section of the hike, Landscape Arch, the main one in this section of the park, comes into view. At this point most visitors get closer to Landscape Arch and call it good from there. Making their total trip a breezy 2 miles. However, we recommend the primitive option! At the end of the first mile there's an option to turn right and follow the primitive trail around to Double O Arches for 2.1 miles. Once at Double O it's another 1.1 mile to Landscape Arch from the back side, making a big loop of just over 3 miles.
As Gwynns, the word 'primitive' doesn't really register the way it might for others because we've spent many years hiking trails that are much rougher than average. Anyone who's joined us on what is referred to as a 'Dan Gwynn Hike' knows that special pain and frustration of bushwhacking and scaling large boulders without really knowing what's at the end. But even with our experience, we would consider these back sections of Devil's Garden primitive indeed!
At first it is quite simple with a well-marked, albeit very sandy trail. But the further down the trail you go the more primitive it becomes. After about a mile you'll start climbing over rocks and before you know it you can't see any trail anymore. There are occasional arrows put in place strategically but to be honest, they were never where we wanted or needed them to be. Luckily, previous hikers felt the same and put cairns into place that proved to be much more helpful.
At various points in this part of the hike the trail is so nonexistent that you might even rely on the faint discoloring of a huge boulder as a hint that other travelers have used that "path." You'll find yourself crawling up large rocks only to slide down the other side and do it all over again on the next, even bigger rock.
There are a few minutes during which you'll wonder if you should keep going or turn around. But let us assure you, keep going!
Though it is difficult at times it is also peaceful. And when you get to Double O you'll able to walk along the top of some of the higher boulders and rock walls giving you some of the best views in the park.
In addition to the scenery and the challenge perhaps this is our favorite because the primitive section is not nearly as traveled as the rest of the park. There were moments on each of our hikes in this area when we were completely alone which is almost unheard of in a national park, let alone arches. It was great to get to enjoy the scenery in peace. (Pro tip: go in February!)
