A day after my grueling 19 mile hike down to the Colorado River and back in Canyonlands, I through I'd stick with something a little more tame - a trip to Utah's most famous land mark. I had been to the view point 10 years previous to this trip, but never to the arch it's self so I was excited.
The hike to Delicate Arch is a little over 3 miles and has an elevation gain of 480 feet. It is accessed by the Wolfe Ranch parking area - not the Delicate Arch viewpoint trailheads.
The whole family came along, Liz, my wife, and her 4 girls ranging in age from 9 to 18. The trail starts at the Delicate Arch trailhead and is easy to get to and find as it's one of the most hiked trails in the park. The trail is a gravel foot path at first and leads you past an old cabin and dugout that an early settler built and lived in in the 1800's. We took a quick look at the historical homestead and contnued on our way.
After the cabin, the trail crosses a bridge and is relatively flat overall for the next half mile or so despite a few ups and downs here and there. At about the half way point, the dirt trail leads to slickrock and from here the trail is marked by cairns - although with the many people on the trail we never struggled to find where to go.
From here, the trail is on an incline for much of the rest of the way. One particularly scenic portion is when the trail curves along a rock wall on one side and had a drop off on the other - the trail only being about 4 feet wide. Once past this part, it's just a short way to the arch.
Delicate Arch is located in a natural amphitheater of sorts. When we arrived, there were a few people walking over to have their picture taken by the arch, while many others were just viewing the arch from a perfect sitting area a short distance away from the arch.
We took what seemed to be hundreds of pictures and then started on our way back knowing we had just seen one of the beauties of Utah!
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