Devil's Garden: Great hike with lots of variety and several great arches.
Hiked Monday, October 8, 2012; reviewed October 21, 2012 See this review on Trip Advisor.
MsHick and I hiked the Devil’s Garden for the second time in October 2012. We had previously made this hike during our first visit to Arches back in May 2007. The latter hike was on the final day of a vacation with a group of friends where we had enjoyed hiking, rafting, and other outdoor adventures in the Moab area. Today, many of the group went south to explore some Anasazi ruins in the Cedar Mesa area, but others of us decided to stay closer to Moab and enjoy the National Parks. My wife and I opted to start in Arches National Park and ended up just spending the day.
After meandering through the park along the scenic drive, we found ourselves at the Devil’s Garden Trailhead, after being fortunate enough to find a parking spot. We arrived about 10:30 AM and the parking lot at the trailhead was full as was much of the space along the access road, but we squeezed the rental car in with no real issues.
The skies were still a bit overcast at the start of the hike, but it cleared up as the day progressed and ended up with my favorite palate: red rocks, a splash of green from the shrubs, bright blue sky and some high, white cirrus clouds. And it was a completely comfortable day for hiking, particularly through the fins where their shadows provided cool breaks and there always seemed to be a breeze.
The hike through the Devil’s Garden is about 7 miles, including the side trials to some of the arches. The trail also passes over a variety of terrain and different conditions. From the trailhead to Landscape Arch (and on the spurs to Pine Tree and Tunnel Arches) the trail is level and generally dirt and stone, with a spot or two of sand. From Landscape Arch to Double O Arch the trail is mostly along the backs of sandstone fins which provide great views off to each side of the trail. Once past Double O Arch the primitive trial begins and works along a wash and through and over the fins. Sort of three trails in one since each section has its own character and wonders to see.
The lighting was not great at Landscape Arch, but I got an interesting view of the remains of Wall Arch. As we were exploring the spur trail to Navajo Arch we met up with a powderglut and MsPG and we just completed the loop together, which just made the hike so much better.
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The highlights of the hike were Double O Arch and the fins along the primitive trail. We crawled through Double O and got some good shots from the back side (banner photo). This was a similar maneuver to the sunrise shot vantage point at the North Window, but this climb was shorter, but I think a little tougher due to the sand on the slick rock, making for a very slick route.
Overall this is just a fun hike through the fins with some very interesting views. Many of fins reminded me of ocean liners or rows of old streamlined locomotives parked in a train yard. Just like looking for images in the clouds it is fun to see what you think you see in the rocks. Even though this was our second hike through the Devil’s Garden, I would certainly make the trek again; there is something new each time.
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Total time was about 5 hours to cover the 7 miles that we hiked (we did not take the spur trail to Dark Angel or Natural Arch along the primitive trail). According to the National Parks Service website, this is the longest maintained trail in the park. I think the trail is well marked (some signage and cairns), but we did find a young couple who had gotten off the trail along the primitive trail and could not get their bearings in the fins, so do pay attention on the trail.
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