We chose to hike the Devil's Garden trail at the very back of the park and just go as far as the boys would do without too much complaining. There are several arches along the trail and this was one of our favorite hikes when Brian and I were in the area nine years ago.
We were on the trail just after 8 am and we could always see people, but it wasn't overwhelming at all.
Landscape arch is about 1 mile from the trailhead. It is one of the longest stone spans in the world (over 300 feet!) and pretty impressive.
The trail was easy up to Landscape Arch but then it gets a little fun. You have to go straight up this narrow section that drops off on one side (and makes a mommy nervous at times!). The boys did an excellent job - they don't have much fear!
At the top, Brian took Carter and Rylan out on one of the fins to check out the view back towards where we'd come from.
I promise Gray and I were there too!
At this point we decided to take a little break in the shade and have some snacks.
Next we took a couple of side trails to two more arches. You can sort of Partition Arch in the center of this photo which I took from our snack spot.
We let Gray hike to Partition Arch.
Carter is our big helper with Gray!
We made it to Partition Arch (you hike behind it and then look through it back towards our snack spot). Rylan is the kiddo under the arch in the picture!
I switched places with Rylan and took a picture of everyone under the arch.
Look who popped up in the small arch next to Partition Arch!
Cutie!!!
Next we retraced our path and took a second side trail to Navajo Arch.
Brian took my picture in the exact same spot nine years ago :)
Navajo Arch just suddenly appears!
After spending a little time at this arch as well, we decided to hike back to the trailhead. We could have continued on to Double O Arch but that would have added another mile to our hike (we already had hiked 2 miles and had an additional 1.25 miles to get back to the trailhead). It was getting much hotter and there is very little shade on the trail so we weren't sure the boys would have that much more in them. Plus Carter had the stomach bug the day before - we didn't want to push him too hard.
Hiking back down the fin towards Landscape Arch ...
The hike from Landscape Arch back to the trailhead was ridiculously crowded and we were so glad we had gotten out early. Rylan was also fading so we were glad we'd made the decision to head back. When we got to the car, we opened up the trunk and ate lunch in the shade while Gray napped in the backpack. Then we moved the car just down the road to the Sand Dune Arch trailhead.
There is a small arch hidden in these fins ...
We let Gray hike to this arch since it's only about 0.15 miles one way.
After that short hike we decided the boys had one more short hike in them for the day. We drove over to Double Arch and found a parking space (it was crowded but not quite as bad as I had anticipated for the holiday). This hike was only 0.5 miles round trip and easy for the boys to do.
I have a picture of this arch hanging in our bonus room from our previous trip and Rylan loves to point out that he's been there now!
After we got back to the car, we headed to the entrance of the park and went to the visitor's center. We looked through the exhibits and grabbed Junior Ranger books for the boys to work on back at the condo. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening there relaxing so we'd have enough energy for the next day! We made dinner and then went to the pool for a little bit before heading off to bed.
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