Directions:
Trail Notes:  Devil’s garden is probably the best hike in Arches.  The Devils Garden passes by 8 names arches: Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, Landscape Arch, Wall Arch, Partition Arch, Navajo Arch, Double O Arch, Private Arch and Dark Angel (not an Arch).   No doubt in my mind this trail is the one to do if you are in the mood for a little more exertion than Balanced Arch can deliver.

The trail itself starts off near the Arches campground, which as of this writing was still pretty full even though it was Thanksgiving.  In the high season I could only wonder what the crowds must be like.  During this time of year one doesn’t need to be very concerned about carrying much water.  In the heat of summer however, I would be thinking about 3-4 liters.  On this day Alex and I started out from the Arches campground around a little before 8AM and though it was sunny, the air was still pretty nippy – combined with the wind I was a might bit chilly all day.

The trail starts off very level and is maintained.  After about 20 minutes you come to an intersection and must chose if you would like to take a side trail to Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch.  Alex and I elected to catch these two on the way back.  We continued along the trail which remains very nice for another 20 minutes or so to Landscape arch which is currently the largest free standing arch on earth – or so the story goes.  Apparently there is some contention about whether Zion has an in wall arch larger in span.  Another notable factoid about Landscape arch is that in 1991 after a big rain storm a big chuck of Landscape Arch fell nearly killing some people below.  Also Landscape Arch enjoys dubious notoriety as the Arch where some young guy in 1951 or so fell to his death, leading to the Parks rule prohibiting the climbing of named arches in the park.

My suspicion is that within our lifetimes Delicate arch will cease to exist.  Whoever gets the last pictures…well that won’t be Alex J  While sitting below Landscape Arch it is natural to ponder how we humans experience time.  It is amazing that all these arches are carved out of fins and erode as they do exposing these arches.  To this day I am amazed how many arches there are in Arches National Park.

Beyond Landscape arch the trail becomes more rough and begins to go over slick rock which despite the name is actually not very slippery.  Still as the sign at the trailhead advised high healed shoes probably aren’t the best footwear for the balance of the trail.

The next arch only about 10 minutes from Landscape Arch is Wall Arch which is a thicker arch paralleling the trail.  Nice to see, but isn’t the most photogenic of the arches.

Continuing on about anther 10 minutes or so you come to another spur trail where you can opt to see Partition Arch and Navajo Arch respectively.  Alex and I opted to check these two out.  Partition Arch is really a smaller thicker Arch which does offer a nice keyhole view type of view, but I preferred Navajo Arch which is a bit deeper and more cavernous.

From here, Alex and I continued on towards Double O Arch which is a fair ways off.  I would say it is about an hour or so.  The trail here takes an interesting route and at one point along the way you actually are walking on a fin up over just about everything.  That in and of itself makes this section worth the effort.

Double O Arch is actually two arches in one having formed both an upper and lower Arch.  The angles to capture the beauty of the Arch are difficult but the site is none the less unbelievable.

At this point we were again confronted with a choice as whether to either take the primitive trail in a loop back to the trailhead or continue on toward Dark Angel – which can be seen from Double O Arch.  We chose to make a go for Dark Angel which isn’t an arch but is the last remnant of a fin and has formed what appears to be a huge obelisk.  This side trip only adds about another 20-30 minutes each way to the hike and offers some nice places to have lunch which we did overlooking the valley to the south.

On our return we opted not to take the primitive trail in favor of a more direct route back to the trailhead since we still had other fish to fry on this day so to speak.  We did however catch Tunnel and Pine Tree Arch on the return.  Both of these arches are probably best done in the morning, but retrospectively would still have followed the itinerary we did.  Pine Tree arch as the name suggest has some smaller scrub pines under it, while Tunnel Arch sits high on hill side and is quite deep though not accessible.

On balance I have to say Devil’s Garden is a super hike in terms of delivering so many named arches in such a short period of time.  Going to have to give this hike an official ‘Wasatch front representing yo’ shout for coolness.  Check this one out if you can!