Southeastern Utah Tour, March 20 2026

On Friday morning, I drove down Ten Mile Point Road, which splits off  Ruby Ranch Road a mile or so south of where I camped. At the intersection, there was a crew that was out working on a gas pipeline substation in the utility right-of-way. About 3 miles further along, I stopped for a view and looked back. The crew was allowing gas to escape and had set fire to it, creating a luminous flame that shot 20 feet into the air. I set up to photograph the event, but the moment had passed.

At one point, there was a deep wash. I stopped the truck and set the brake while inspecting the road for the best way through. Proceeding, I forgot to release the brake, but the truck made it out to the highway with no trouble. Turning onto U.S. 191, I found that the truck was acting sluggish, and it was vibrating a lot. I turned of into the Utahraptor State Park to investigate. The tire pressure seemed OK, and the mudguards behind the brakes were not rubbing. But the rear brake drums were hot and the smelled hot. Then it occurred to me that I had left the parking brake on. Problem solved.

I went on into Moab to buy gas. Then, I turned around and headed for the Arches National Park. There was a line at the entrance, and it took at least 20 minutes to reach the gate. They don't need timed entry at the park because they have only two entrance booths. So on average, they'll admit about 60 cars per hour.

View southeast through the North Window

The North Window

Once in the park, I decided to do the tourist thing: visiting each viewpoint and attraction as I came to them on the parkway. My first stop was Balanced Rock and The Windows. It was a short hike to the North Window, which made it very popular. There was a slightly longer hike to the South Window, and a good view of the Turret Arch in between.

The South Window

Selfie with Turret Arch

A closer view of Turret Arch

Double Arch

At the same stop, I hiked down to view the Double Arch. I had gotten a parking spot that was quite close to the trailhead, so I decided I should make the most of it before moving on. Many people were hiking up inside the arches. But my knee was hurting a bit, so I was content to admire them from a distance.

People climbing toward Delicate Arch

Across from the Windows wayside, there was a dirt road that led to a picnic area. I stopped there before continuing my tour northward. I noted that the road beyond there seemed quite passable -- an observation that became important later.

Delicate Arch

with La Sal Mountains in the distance 

My next stop was the trailhead for the Delicate Arch. From the trailhead, I could see many people scaling the large sandstone formation that led to the Delicate Arch. The scene of so many people toiling up the slope reminded me of the famous photo of people scaling Chilkoot Pass at the start of the Yukon Gold Rush.

At the arch, there was a line of people taking turns by groups to go and be photographed in the center of the arch. It is, of course, the iconic arch, since it appears on the Utah license plate and is displayed prominently on the cover of the park's brochure and map. But I had no interest in waiting in line, nor did I have anyone to snap my photo once there. So I admired the arch for a bit and then headed back down. By then, it was already starting to get hot, so sticking around needed a purpose.

At the bottom, near the Wolfe Ranch, there was a rock panel with well-preserved petroglyphs on it.

Delicate Arch from the south

I drove around to the Delicate Arch viewpoint trailhead, and hiked in to the lower viewpoint area. There, I snapped a picture of the Delicate Arch from below.

The Fiery Furnace

I stopped to admire the Fiery Furnace. But one must obtain a hiking permit to enter that area. The area is a maze of spires and deep fissures, so the park staff may want to know who is there in case they go missing. There was a ranger at the top of the trailhead, enforcing the permit rule, but it wasn't clear that there was a procedure for hikers check back out at the end of their adventure.

Skyline Arch

Approaching the Devil's Garden, I took the short hike to view the Skyline Arch. I had mistaken the name to be that of the long, slender arch that I consider to be the most impressive specimin in the park. On returning to the truck, I checked the brochure and found that the latter arch is called the Landscape Arch.

So I drove on and found a nice parking spot near the start of the Devil's Garden Trail. This is another iconic location in the park. The hike begins by passing through a deep fissure that varies from 6 to 12 feet wide. There are some side canyons that join the main one, and many people were taking pictures with other members of their party standing in the narrow clefts.

Landscape Arch

It was a hike of about a mile in to view the Landscape Arch.  But I was rewarded with yet another iconic view. Once there, I decided to press on and see the Double O Arch. It was quite a hike, scaling one side of a great sandstone ridge and descending on the other side. The trail was well-marked (a good thing), but in some places it was necessary to climb up or down and pick footholds carefully.

Double O Arch

 

On reaching the Double O Arch, I climbed through it and then scaled the rock uphill on its far side. I thought this gave a much better view of the upper arch.

Private Arch

Having hiked out almost to the furthest point along that trail, I decided to follow the primitive trail and go around the loop rather than just retracing my steps. There is a spur that goes up behind the Private Arch. But that arch is easily visible from the main trail, so I declined to go up the spur. It was a pretty hot day, and even though I had plenty of water I did not need the extra half mile.

 

From the Arches east toward the Colorado River

I passed a large group of students that were visiting from Chicago. They helped me find a good way down a rather steep slope on solid rock. (I met them again close to the trailhead, so I was able to ask where they were from.)

After touring all of the Devil's Garden, I looked at the map and determined that there was some BLM land just outside the park to the west. I thought it might offer a place to camp nearby, so I could continue my adventure the next day.

The road west out of the park branched of the parkway where I had stopped at the picnic area. The road at that point was in good shape, so it appeared quite possible to just drive out to the BLM land and park. The map showed that the park boundary was 4.6 miles from the turnoff, so I noted the odometer reading and headed off on the Willow Flats Road. When I had gone far enough, I found a turnout and pulled the truck off onto it. I used my coordinates from Google Maps and compared with the detailed map I had in my gazetteer, and determined that I was right on the line.

I hiked down the road a ways to see if there was a better camping spot further on. What I found was a rather deep wash with rock shelves on both sides. I thought I might be able to camp on the uphill side of the wash, but doubted I could get the truck all the way through it. As I returned to the truck to move it, a Mercedez van came up the road from the west. The driver said, "You're not planning to camp here are you?" I said no. He explained that there was a sign saying "Welcome to Arches National Park" and I had to go beyond that to be on BLM land.

So I drove down to the wash to see if I could cross it. I was about to just turn around and head back, but I finally picked a plausible path through and managed to get the truck across by scraping the bike hitch through the sand for a foot or so. The road on the other side was pretty rough, but I made it all the way to the gate. Just on the far side of the gate, there was another wash (or perhaps something more like a bar ditch). It was about 3 feet deep and about as wide as a jeep. I could see right away that there was no way I was going to get the truck through. So I just had to turn around and head back.

My next plan was to go northeast along the Colorado River and look for a campsite in one of the many BLM campgrounds on the south side of the river. I went back to Moab to get some more fuel, and then headed out on Highway 128. It looked like there might have been some spots open in the very first campground (Goose Island), but I had already passed the turnoff. The road had narrowed to one lane for construction, and there was no place to turn around. My only option was to continue through the construction zone. And by then, it seemed pointless to go back. I checked the next several campgrounds, and they were all full. I continued on to Onion Creek, and that one was also full. A few miles further on, there was a wide pullout, so I just backed the camper up to the hills and camped there.

Some time later, another camper pulled up and did the same thing. And finally around midnight, someone pulled up in a passenger car and parked. The occasional semi went by, but it was otherwise quiet.