DELICATE ARCH, UTAH
January 8, 2006
By Tim Briese
Delicate Arch is perhaps the most famous landmark in Utah. Its image graces the state license plate, and it is internationally known from countless photos, calendars, and posters. It lies within Arches National Park near Moab, and is one of the most popular sites visited in the park. It cannot be accessed directly by vehicle but can be reached by a modest three mile roundtrip hike entailing about 500 feet of elevation gain. Photos of the arch can be truly impressive, but the full majesty of this incredible natural wonder can only be appreciated by actually visiting it.
My wife Teresa and I were on a winter hiking trip in the canyon country and visited Arches National Park on the last day of our trip. It had been many years since we had been to this scenic place. After driving past the Courthouse Towers and visiting the Windows Section of the park we arrived at the Delicate Arch Trailhead shortly after noon. The paved parking lot was very large, able to accommodate scores of vehicles, a testament to the great popularity of this hike. On this January day, however, there were fewer than ten vehicles here. It was partly sunny and pleasant today, with a temperature of about 50 degrees. Such fine hiking weather is not uncommon in the wintertime in the canyon country.
We struck off up the trail in an easterly direction, very shortly walking across a footbridge that spanned Salt Wash. The trail dropped across another drainage before climbing up onto a vast, gently-inclined slope of beige and orange slickrock. The route was well-marked with cairns, and countless feet had worn a distinguishable path across the naked sandstone. After climbing across the slickrock the trail went through a scenic area of rock, sand, and juniper.
Near the end of the route the trail followed a ledge cut into the side of a steep slickrock slope. A little caution was prudent here when meeting other hikers, and it could be a rather hazardous place at times when snow or ice were present.
At the end of the ledge we rounded a corner and Delicate Arch burst unexpectedly into view, directly before us about a hundred yards away, on the other side of a deeply sloping slickrock bowl. Beyond the arch in the distance stood the majestic snow-capped La Sal Mountains. A more dramatic setting for the arch could hardly be envisioned!
After soaking up this magnificent sight for a few minutes, we carefully worked our way to the left around the top of the circular bowl to get closer to the arch. The curving slickrock that dropped away into the bowl was increasingly steep the lower it went, so that if a hiker got down too low on it he might not be able to crawl back up, but be sucked into it as if by a vortex, and slide 50 feet or more to its bottom. We stayed up high where the footing was good and hiked around to the base of the arch itself, then walked directly beneath it. On the south side of the arch, directly opposite the bowl, was a dramatic dropoff of a few hundred feet to a valley below. The sense of exposure we felt contributed to the wild magnificence of the arch=s setting.
There were only three other people at the arch during our visit, including an Australian man who was here with a friend from Colorado to see it. On a summer day there might be dozens of people here.
After a half hour or so we cast one last glance at the arch and reluctantly headed back down the trail. When we neared the trailhead we took a short side trail about 200 yards to the north to see a fine panel of pictographs. We left about 2:30 p.m. and drove back home to Colorado that evening.
