Arches, Canyonlands & Monument Valley (Utah Road Trip – Part 3 of 3)

The last part of our road trip through Utah consisted of visiting Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and Monument Valley (which is actually in Arizona). I will start with Arches!

Arches National Park

In my last post, I mentioned that our next Airbnb, after leaving Bryce Canyon, was in Monticello. Monticello is a small town about an hour outside of Moab (Arches is right in Moab), and we decided to stay here because it was the most cost effective. We discovered once we arrived in the area that the reason accommodation was so expensive in Moab during our visit was due to the annual week-long Moab Jeep Festival that was taking place – there were definitely a lot of Jeeps around!

While staying in Monticello provided some cost savings, the additional driving time definitely made for some long days. But that is enough about our accommodation.

One feature that is different about Arches compared to the other parks is a timed entry ticket. At 6pm the day before you intend to visit Arches, you are required to reserve your entry time into the park. I believe that Arches also releases tickets at the start of the calendar year, but we had not planned our trip that far in advance and had to get our timed entry ticket the night before.

Anyway, as Iwona was selecting our preferred start time (which was 10am to 11am), she learned that she had to be signed into her account in order to reserve a time. However, Iwona did not have an account and had to create one on the spot, and by the time she finished, the 10am to 11am entry was gone – the Arches visitors mean business! So, if you are reading this and heading to Arches in the future, make sure to have your account created and ready to go (you are welcome)!

Fortunately, we managed to reserve the 9am to 10am entry time, and arrived at Arches the next day with little time to spare – 9:55am to be exact.

Our first stop within the park was to see the Delicate Arch. This was an incredibly busy trail, as the Delicate Arch is stated to be the most famous natural arch worldwide – it is even on the Utah license plate! The trail is approximately 5km long, and includes a couple other viewing points. You will initially pass the Wolfe Ranch, an old wooden cabin from the late 1800s, and also petroglyphs of what appear to be horses and/or big-horned sheep.

While the hike towards the Delicate Arch was not the most scenic (relatively speaking, compared to other hikes during our trip), the Arch itself was magnificent. Most of the other arches we saw within the park are supported by rock formations on either side of it, but the Delicate Arch is “free standing” (sophisticated geological description ツ). It is not surprising that this is the top-rated view in the Park!

The second hike we did within Arches National Park was the Devil’s Garden Trail. There are multiple different ways you can complete this trail (“choose your own adventure,” they call it), and the arches you will be able to see will depend on the route you take. We decided to go out-and-back to the Double O Arch, which allowed us to also see the Landscape Arch on our way.

The walk to Landscape Arch only took about 15 minutes, but it took at least another 40-minutes to reach the Double O Arch. Once you pass the Landscape Arch, you have to climb up a rock scramble in order to continue along the trail, and there is also one stretch where the pathway is just a long narrow rock. These elements made for an exciting hike – it was a lot different from the others on our trip. But, the trail itself has absolutely no shade – you definitely do not want to be out here in the middle of a hot day.

I know it might not sound like a lot, but between these two trails (Delicate Arch and Devil’s Garden), we had walked almost 12kms, and we were ready for a break! We finished our visit in Arches by driving by another one of its iconic landmarks, Balanced Rock (unfortunately, I did not get any good photos), then went to 98 Center Moab (a plant-based Vietnamese restaurant) for a very late lunch – the banh mi sandwiches we ordered were delicious.

While I am on the topic of food, my favourite food establishment for the entire trip was Proper Brewing in Moab. I ordered the Da Vinci Vegan Burger (it was incredibly messy but very flavourful) and Watermelon-Strawberry Kolsch beer. But, the real star at Proper Brewing was their oat-based soft serve ice cream and shakes – I would go back to Moab just for another one of these! We tried vanilla and Oreo, and the goal was to make it last as long as possible because it was so creamy and delicious!

I also need to give a shoutout to Singha Thai Cuisine – I really liked their Tofu Pad Thai dish, and the service was quick, which was really helpful when we were in a rush.

Lastly, the town of Moab itself is very cute – there are several small shops you can visit, many of which sell locally made art, jewelry, stickers, fudge and other items. They are definitely worth a visit, even just to browse.

Well – I think that covers everything I wanted to say about Arches and Moab – moving onto Canyonlands now!

Canyonlands National Park

I will start by stating that Canyonlands Park is huge – it is the biggest of the five national parks in Utah. There are two entrances to Canyonlands (North and South), and the park itself is split into four sections: Island in the Sky, The Needles, The Maze and The Rivers. We split-up our visit over two days, starting with a drive through Island in the Sky (from the North entrance) on the first day.

It takes about one hour to drive into the Park, after turning off the main highway in Moab. It was getting quite late in the day at this point, as we had spent the majority of our day at Arches, and we were looking for a spot to watch the sunset. We started by heading to the Grand View Point Overlook, which provided spectacular views into the canyons we were surrounded by – apparently the Colorado River runs through Canyonlands, but cannot be seen from the Viewpoint. As per the information board: “The river is cut so deeply into the landscape that it is not visible from here.”

After taking in the views, we made our way over to the Mesa Arch. The Arch is located a very short walk from the parking lot, and overlooks another canyon (I guess this is why they call it Canyonlands ツ). While this probably would have been a better spot for a sun rise, we were still happy to experience the golden light setting on the canyon.

For our second visit to Canyonlands, we entered through the South to head towards The Needles. Similar to the North entrance, it takes about an hour to reach the Visitor Centre. We started our visit with a quick stop at Newspaper Rock to see the petroglyphs. It was interesting to learn that archaeologists do not actually know what the petroglyphs mean – they could be telling a story, or possibly even graffiti. What do you think they mean?

We then proceeded to do a hike for sunset at Slickrock. As the name suggests, this trail consisted of walking along a smooth rock surface for almost 5kms. In order to complete the trail, you need to follow all the inukshuks – otherwise, it is very easy to get lost!

Views of the surrounding canyons and landscapes can be observed from four main viewpoints along the trail, and as we hoped, we were able to experience a beautiful sunset with golden light reflecting off the rock formations. While I was a little bit worried about what kind of wildlife we might run into (it was a very quiet trail), it ended up being my favourite hike during our trip!

Monument Valley, Arizona

While a visit to Monument Valley was not in our original itinerary, we saw several “signs” prior and during our trip that indicated we had to make time to visit this iconic Park. The first sign was a picture of Monument Valley on a Microsoft screensaver that came up on my work computer prior to our trip, and the other was a picture of the Park on a motorhome that we encountered while we were in Capitol Reef. These were clearly signs, right?

Anyway, while staying in Monticello proved to be somewhat inconvenient for visiting Arches and Canyonlands, it actually provided us with easier access to Monument Valley, as it was only 1.5-hours away, whereas if we stayed in Moab, we would have been 2.5-hours away.

As you approach Monument Valley, you drive down a stretch of highway (163) that is apparently a famous scene from the movie Forrest Gump. I am embarrassed to say that I have not seen this classic; however, I know there is a point in the movie where Forrest (Tom Hanks) has been running for over three years and decides he is tired and ready to go home, and the landscape behind Forrest at this point is Monument Valley.

Monument Valley itself is experienced by driving in a loop that is surrounded by several rock formations that are all in different stages of erosion. The entire drive takes about 1.5-hours and I would definitely recommend doing it in your own vehicle with the windows rolled-up if that is an option, rather than as part of a jeep tour, as the road is incredibly dusty! But either way, it is a specular drive and it is hard for me to fully understand how these massive sculptures exist amongst the rest of the desert landscape!

Trip Recap

Well, I think that covers everything about our trip through Utah in April 2023. I thought I would finish off this three-part blog series with a recap of a couple of our favourite experiences from the trip ツ:

Topic	Craig	Iwona	Justin	Michelle
Favourite hike	Scout’s Lookout (Zion)	Scout’s Lookout (Zion)	Devil’s Garden (Arches)	Devil’s Garden (Arches)
Best views	Delicate Arch (Arches)	Emerald Pools (Zion)	Emerald Pools (Zion)	Slick Rock (Canyonlands)
Favourite overall moment	Top of Scout’s Lookout (Zion)	Walking through the hoodoos (Bryce Canyon)	Vegas Knights hockey game	Walking through the hoodoos (Bryce Canyon)
Best road trip snack	Haribo watermelon gummies	Trader Joe’s oat-based ice cream sandwiches	Haribo gummy bears	Trader Joe’s corn chips (I was devastated when I accidentally spilled the entire bag onto the car floor)
Best road trip song	Iris – Goo Goo Dolls	Country Roads – John Denver	Nothing Else Matters – Metallica	Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac

Always grateful,

Michelle