We visited 7 National Parks in 7 Days! Arches National Park in Utah was our first park of the trip after leaving Denver. Be sure to check out all 7 parks!

Arches National Park Highlights on Wednesday, August 30, 2017

• Balanced Rock
• Sand Dune Arch
• View from La Sal Mountain
• Landscape Arch in Garden of the Gods
• Note: The Windows Section of the park was closed during our trip and the park was only open from 7 am – 7 pm.

We arrived to the Denver, Colorado airport on Tuesday evening, picked up our full sized rental car and drove to the Wal-mart in Avon, Colorado. Do your due diligence and read the tiny print when booking a Denver rental car. Not all car companies offer out of state driving or unlimited miles. We came across a few companies (the ones with the cheapest rental prices) that had these limitations. We picked this particular Wal-mart as our driving destination for the evening because it’s a 24-hour store, which was perfect for picking up snacks, using the bathroom and finding a quiet corner of the parking lot to sleep.

We woke up super early to drive the remaining 3.5 hours to Arches National Park. There is an Exxon station before you get to the park when approaching from the highway, that’s a bit pricey, but worth it for the peace of mind of having a full tank of gas. Alternatively, you can drive past Arches and into Moab to fill up with gas. Immediately after making the turn into Arches National Park, there’s a place to pull off and pose with the Arches National Park sign. If you arrive before the park opens, there’s no one at the gate, however, if you plan on seeing multiple National Parks, it’s worth spending the $80 to get the Annual National Park Pass as most of the parks average $25 for admittance.

It’s worth printing the map (https://www.nps.gov/arch/planyourvisit/upload/archmap.pdf) from the National Park Services (NPS) site before you start your trip and then getting a fancy one at the Visitor Center later in the day. We stopped at the Courthouse Towers Viewpoint first to take in the beautiful red rocks. From here we continued north on the main path to Balanced Rock. One benefit of starting early is you’re likely to beat the tour busses that are bound to come and stop at these points of interest. Balanced Rock is perfect for taking a short stroll and stretching your legs from the car ride.

As I mentioned at the top, the famous Windows Section of the park was closed. We headed east when the road split to see the Delicate Arch. Unfortunately, since Mike was still healing from a broken foot, we didn’t have the opportunity to take the walk up to the arch, where I believe it would have appeared to be much larger than it did from the viewpoint. Everything I read said this is a really nice hike that we will definitely plan to do the next time. From here, we headed back to the fork in the road along the other path to the Sand Dune Arch. This was a highlight for us. It was a fun walk through the sand to see the arch.

There are other places between Sand Dune Arch and the Devils Garden to stop and take pictures.

We stopped a few times before parking by the Devils Garden. It was a decent walk to the Landscape Arch. Make sure to bring tons of water as it can get very hot and there is limited shade for a reprieve. Many people start or end their day at the Devils Garden as the heat can be treacherous. If you plan on doing lots of hiking, I highly recommend my Columbia hiking boots* which aren’t too heavy and are waterproof. We drove back along the main drag and made our last major stop at the La Sal Mountain viewpoint. This is an incredible view with lots of points of interest to take in such as the Three Gossips, the Tower of Babel and the Organ.

We wrapped up our Arches National Park visit at the Visitor Center where we were able to get a map and newspaper, use the facilities and fill up our water bottles. From here we drove about 5 miles to Moab and made it to Wicked Brew Espresso Drive Thru before it closed. This little trailer coffee shop offered delicious iced lattes with unique flavor combinations.

The two and a half hour drive to Capitol Reef National Park had a variety of terrains and seemed as though we were driving through national parks the entire time. It’s essentially a one lane road in each direction the whole way. Check out my next article to learn more about our adventures here and the subsequent ones to read all about our 7 parks in 7 days trip!