Friday, March 23rd, we got up, moved to a new campsite along the river (a few miles closer to Arches) and then went to Arches National Park and hiked the Devil's Garden area (after eating a picnic lunch and stopping at some of the scenic pullouts along the drive). This area has 7 different named arches and a couple that have no names. We hiked a total of 8 miles in this area (several of which were primitive trails). We made it to all 7 arches and did some pretty gnarly rock climbing (up and down), as well as some narrow, exposed rock walking on ledges. In between the climbing, there was a lot of deep sand on the trails, which really works your calf muscles!
After finishing this hike, we went to the picnic area and had dinner before heading to the signature hike in Arches.....Delicate Arch. (This is the one that is on the Utah license plates and is a completely free-standing arch on a cliff shelf.) This hike was another 3 miles round-trip and was pretty much straight up a slickrock trail and around on a ledge to the arch. We made it there for sundown, which is the prime time to view this arch, according to the park brochure. The sun did make it a pretty color, but there were also about 75 other people up there at the same time. We didn't want to be coming down that trail in the dark, so we took our photos and headed back down ahead of the crowd.
That was, by far, the neatest hike in Arches and I'm really glad that we got to do it! Tomorrow, we will tackle another hiking area...the Windows.
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