Arches - part 2
Arches is a pretty incredible park, and an excellent place for our family to start this adventure due to the large number of family friendly hikes. Of the 15 primary hikes throughout the park, 12 of them are under 3-miles round trip. Additionally, these easy hikes are generally grouped together, which makes choosing the hike a fun adventure for the kids.
The hike to Sand Dune Arch and Broken Arch were definitely our family favorites. Combine, they were a total of 1.6-miles round trip, which was perfect for our kiddos on a warm(ish) afternoon before the sun set. As you might have guessed, Sand Dune Arch is surrounded by quite a bit of sand, and is nestled between 2 large sandstone fins. The fins were honestly the most enjoyable part for the kids as it felt like a small slot canyon. The kids enjoyed being able to play in the sand (which is quite different than the grassland surrounding the fins) and loved the idea of being able to slip thru the fins like ninjas (as my 4 yr old proclaimed!).
Broken Arch is less than a mile up the trail from Sand Dune Arch, and provides a great opportunity to engage the kids with the natural flora of the area - sagebrush, blackbrush, Mormon tea and junipers. Our kiddos recently received binoculars, a spy glass, and a compass as part of an “adventure kit” and loved getting a closer look at the plants throughout the open grassland that surrounds Broken Arch. While this is not the largest or most scenic arch in the park, the beautiful views of the surrounding landscape upon arrival at the arch are sure in keep accompanying parents happy too!
The hike to North Window, South Window and Turret Arch was another hike our family enjoyed. At 1-mile roundtrip, this hike offers a big bang for your buck. The Windows section of the park contains a considerable collection of arches, and is thought to be the “beating heart” of this national park – it was certainly one of the most scenic areas our family visited. The North and South Window arches were formed from the same massive fin, and it’s easy to see why they are often referred to as “the spectacles” - the holes of the arch make up the eyeglass lenses and the rock between them form the bridge of the spectacles.
The Windows Section of Arches including the Parade of Elephants
Petrified Sand Dunes and La Sal Mountain Range
Double Arch trail is located in the same parking lot as the trail to the Windows, and is equally impressive due to its size. Again at 1-mile roundtrip, this was a great hike for the kids to explore. This arch is different than many of the other arches in the park due to the way it was formed - downward water erosion from atop the sandstone, rather than from side-to-side water erosion. To put this arch’s size into perspective, the larger of the two arches is a colossal 112-foot tall, 144-foot wide, which makes this the tallest arch in the park and the third widest. This arch is also flanked by the Cove of Caves, which is exactly what is sounds like. If your kids are anything like mine, the idea of climbing up/into/around several caves is pretty much heaven - we spent over an hour just letting the kids explore the area! While many parts of Arches NP were used within the opening credits of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Double Arch was prominent in the first few scenes, which has my inner child totally geeking out (Dr. Jones was a BIG part of my childhood).
My husband and I have been to these hikes before, years ago and without the children, and have never seen these arches free of people – they are popular for a reason! And yet, in the dead of winter, we find these sites to be completely isolated; a little sanctuary for our family in this vast dessert. Is it cold? Yes. However, the cold allows us to see these incredible sites without the mass of people national parks typically experience. I expect this will be different as we head into warmer weather, but for now, it feels like the universe is giving us a little special treatment as we embark on this journey.
