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| Landscape Arch spans 290 feet in Arches National Park. |
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| Landscape Arch Trail topo map |
The Landscape Arch Trail runs 2.5 miles round trip at the far end of Arches National Park. It includes two other smaller, “taster” arches.
To reach the trailhead, drive Arches Scenic Drive (sometimes referred to as "Arches Entrance Road" or "Park Avenue") to its end, where the Devils Garden Trailhead is located. Park there and follow the paved Devils Garden Trail northwest.
The hike begins by cutting between huge red sandstone fins that tower over the trail. Fins can be found all across this section of the park. They form as water fills fractures in the sandstone; when the water freezes in winter, the fractures expand until parts of a single sandstone formation break off, ultimately separating into long, high walls.
While much of the desert sand near the fins is red, you'll notice that clusters of black crust cover great swaths of it. This crust actually is a collection of lifeforms – green algae, lichen, microfungi, mosses, bacteria, but mostly cyanobacteria. This helps slow desert erosion, otherwise much of Arches would be covered in sand dunes. Because of this, always stay on the trail at Arches; if you step on the black crust, the pressure can cause it to break into pieces that rain and wind then scatter, exposing the desert floor.
Nearly a third of a mile in, as the trail swerves north, Tunnel Arch appears atop one of the sandstone fins. You can get a better view of it by taking the spur going to the right once past the sandstone fin. When the spur trail forks, head right to see Tunnel Arch. It is 101 feet long and 45 feet high with a significant amount of sandstone on the bridge; it's growing larger with each year. Continuing straight on the spur takes you to Pine Tree Arch. At 45 x 44 feet wide, it's also fairly stable, so the trail allows hikers to walk right up to it.
Landscape Arch
Returning to the main trail, go left/northwest. The trail passes between more sandstone walls before opening up the desert plain. At that point, you should see glimpses of Landscape Arch, which grows in size as the trail curls toward it.
Landscape Arch is a jaw-dropping sight, a stone ribbon spanning 290 feet, almost a football field in length. A mere 6 feet thick at its skinniest, chunks the size of automobiles have broken off and it still stands.
The trail used to run below the arch, but it was closed after a 60-foot long by 5-foot high slab – weighing 180 tons – fell from the underside of the arch's thinnest section in 1991. A wooden fence marks the trail’s end.
Landscape Arch started as a fin like those passed earlier on the trail. When a recess formed in the fin wall, the power of freezing water and blowing wind slowly carved a hole through the rock and continued to expand it.
World's fifth largest
The arch is the world’s fifth largest. For decades, it was thought to be the longest, but since 2009, four larger ones have been discovered in China.
Though Landscape Arch looks as if it's about to collapse, no one has a good idea when that might occur. Predictions range from at any moment to a few hundred years from now.
You can continue the walk by taking the significantly longer Devils Garden Loop Trail around Landscape Arch to other rock formations on that trail. Among them are Private Arch, Partition Arch, Navajo Arch, Wall Arch, Double O Arch, and the Dark Angel pinnacle. That adds 5 miles to the hike, though. A trail guide is available at the trailhead.
Be forewarned: This trail usually is very busy. Also, during summer, the trail will be very hot with average highs in the 90s; carry plenty of water anytime on this trail but especially in those hot months.
Learn more about national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks series.
