Video of Arches N.P.’s The Windows

Day hikers can walk across the remnants of dinosaur-era desert on The Windows Trail at Arches National Park near Moab, Utah.

About 180-140 million years ago during the Jurassic, shifting dunes of fine-grained sand covered what is now Utah and parts of Colorado and Arizona. Over time, as sediment filled over dunes, they hardened into salmon-colored rock known as Entrada Sandstone.

Fast forward to the modern day. Rain, wind and freezing has eroded away much of the rock covering the Jurassic-era sandstone and shaped it into interesting geological features. One common sight in the national park is an arch, such as The Windows:

More than 2,000 cataloged arches have been found in the park’s nearly 120 square miles. The Windows are among the easiest to reach by day hiking the 1-mile round-trip Windows Trail.

Also see:
• Children will love day hike on Windows Trails in Arches National Park
• Best trails for seeing Arches National Park’s numerous wonders

Learn about other great national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks guidebook.

Arches National Park's Balanced Rock video

Day hikers can take a short walk to an astounding 55-foot tall block on the Balanced Rock Trail at Arches National Park in eastern Utah.

To reach the national park, from Interstate 70 take U.S. Hwy. 191 south. The park’s entrance is on the road’s left/east side. From the visitor center, drive up the cliff along Park Avenue. At 9.2 miles, you’ll come to the parking lot for Balanced Rock and the Windows arches.

The trail leads to a dinosaur-era rock that looks like a ball atop a pedestal. The sandstone spire technically is known as a hoodoo.

Here’s a video of Balanced Rock taken along the trail:

After taking in the geological wonder on the quarter-mile loop, visitors can continue via The Windows Trail to see The Windows arches. Here's an article more fully describing the trail.

Learn about other great national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks guidebook.

Best trails for seeing Arches' many wonders

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park

Among the best ways to see Arches National Park’s best sights is via a day hike. Just four short trails will allow you to enjoy each of the park’s highlights – sandstone arches, spires and towers, petroglyphs, and smooth, slippery slickrock.

Sandstone arches
With more than 2000 arches in the national park, the one must-see is Delicate Arch. At 80 feet high, it’s virtually synonymous with the park if not Utah. Formed out of red sediment deposited by streams and wind some 140 million years ago, the geological wonder can be seen via the 3-mile round trip Delicate Arch Trail. The trail also crosses slickrock and passes the remains of the John Wesley Wolfe Ranch. A spur trail allows hikers to see Ute petroglyphs depicting a bighorn sheep hunt and horses.

Sandstone spires
The Balanced Rock Trail leads to an astounding 55-foot tall block of dinosaur-era rock that looks like a ball atop a pedestal. After taking in the geological wonder on the quarter-mile loop, visitors can continue via The Windows Trail to see The Windows arches.

Sandstone towers
The 1.5-miles round trip Park Avenue Trail heads down a gulch named for massive, skyscraper-sized formations. The towers, , most notably The Organ, are built from buff-colored Navajo sandstone deposits set down when the region was a desert during the Jurassic some 210 million years ago.

Devils Garden
The Devils Garden Trail rambles through a series of otherworldly rock fins and spires. You’ll pass several arches along the way as well. The trail is long, though, at little more than 7 miles one-way.

Learn about other great national park day hiking trails in my Best Sights to See at America’s National Parks guidebook.