Arches National Park

We left Denver on the 22nd at 12:30 and arrived at Devil’s Garden Campground in Arches National Park, campsite #40, around 6:30 PM.

Talk about scenic! We’d never been past Glenwood Springs on 70 and was delighted to watch the mountains gradually open up and change from maroon to buff.

The entrance to the park is stunning… the Visitor Center is set at the base of a series of switchbacks that take you up to the plateau of the park, the building painted in the same colors and textures as the rock around it. The campground itself is tucked away 18 miles north of the Visitor Center, accessed through towering walls and spires of red and orange sandstone. Dream job: Architect for the NPS...

Our campsite was nice! It was tucked right up against a large rock formation and no one showed in the site across for the duration. We had to shorten this visit by a day to three nights due to dentist scheduling... I think we could have used one more day and would have loved to do the ranger-led Fiery Furnace hike but that was not happening due to the pandemic.

It was windy AF the entire time we were there, and overcast for two out of three days. It even snowed a bit! Mysteriously, there were no soap dispensers in the comfort station?? Otherwise, a fair amount of people -- parking lots filled up by late morning.

On the first day we stopped at Balanced Rock, the Park Avenue Trail, the Windows Section, the Delicate Arch Overlook, and Tapestry, Broken, & Sand Dunes Arches. Tapestry, Broken (not actually fully broken), and Sand Dunes were the coolest IMHO. Sand Dunes was a very small arch tucked away in between sandstone fins that were filled with sand.

Park Avenue Trail.

One of the Windows - it was snowing a little bit!

Double Arch.

On the second day we visited Landscape, Double O, Pine Tree, & Tunnel Arches. We wanted to visit Landscape at sunrise but we woke up at 6am and it was well below freezing... so we did these in the afternoon when it was warmer.

Walking along a fin between Landscape and Double O Arches.

The hike between Landscape and Double O Arches was pretty awesome -- walking along the top of a fin in a few spots gave great views.

Very disturbing rock formation near camp, adjacent to Tapestry Arch.

Devil's Garden Campground... find Numa!