Arches National Park

Arches National Park, five miles north of Moab in eastern Utah, holds more than 2,000 natural stone arches. The best known is Delicate Arch, a free-standing span at the top of a steep slickrock hike. In 2025 the park received 1,511,740 recreation visits, and May was the busiest month.

Arches National Park dropped its timed-entry system for 2026, which makes planning simpler and queues longer. The figures here come from the park's own pages, Recreation.gov and NOAA's climate normals for the park headquarters station, checked on 26 October 2026.

Does Arches need a timed-entry ticket in 2026?

Arches needs no timed-entry ticket in 2026. The Park Service announced on 18 February that it would not run the reservation system in 2026, and visitors may enter at any time. The park stays open 24 hours a day, all year.

The trade-off is the queue. From March to October the wait at the entrance can pass an hour. When the car parks fill, rangers may close specific locations, and the park's alerts page says they may also hold the entrance gate. A driver who meets a closed gate is told to try again in a few hours.

The park's advice is to enter before 8 a.m. or after 3 p.m. from March to October. The Delicate Arch and Devils Garden car parks can stay full for hours at a time. As of 30 October 2026 the Park Service had not published a decision on timed entry for 2027.

How long is the Delicate Arch hike?

The Delicate Arch hike is a 3-mile round trip from Wolfe Ranch and takes two to three hours. Two Park Service pages give the climb as 480 and 538 feet. The trail rates as strenuous because of the ground, not the distance.

The route climbs a steep slickrock slope with no shade at all, then follows a narrow ledge for the last 200 yards. That ledge is often icy in winter. The trailhead has no drinking water, so carry two quarts, and avoid the middle of a summer day. At sunset hundreds of people may gather at the arch.

When the Wolfe Ranch car park is full, park at the Delicate Arch Viewpoint and walk a mile of road each way, which makes the hike 5 miles. The two viewpoints there show the arch without the climb. The lower one is a flat walk of a few minutes, with the arch a mile away. The upper one is a 0.5-mile round trip with 171 feet of climb. Neither reaches the arch itself.

Which short Arches walks fit into a morning?

Arches' short walks fit into a morning because most of them start beside the 18-mile road from the entrance to Devils Garden. Driving every paved road with ten minutes at each viewpoint takes about four and a half hours, the Park Service says.

The full Devils Garden loop with its primitive trail runs 7.9 miles and takes three to five hours. It crosses narrow ledges, steep exposures and rock scrambles with few markers, and the park says to avoid it when the rock is wet or icy. Many Arches trails follow cairns, small stacks of rocks, across bare stone.

Climbing on any named arch, or any arch with an opening over three feet, is banned, and so is climbing Balanced Rock.

How do you get into the Fiery Furnace?

The Fiery Furnace area of Arches can only be entered with a ranger-led tour or a self-guided permit. Both are booked ahead on Recreation.gov, with no walk-up places.

• Self-guided permit: $10 per person, booked online or by phone two to seven days ahead, not in person. The whole group collects it at the visitor centre and watches a short safety film. Groups are limited to six, children under five are not allowed, and the area closes when snow lies on the ground.
• Ranger-led tour: a difficult walk of about two and a half hours for ages five and up, booked up to seven days ahead. The 2026 season ended on 24 October, and no later slots appear on Recreation.gov.

No current price for the ranger-led tour appears on an official page; the last published figure, from 2021, was $16 per person.

When is Arches too hot to hike?

Arches is too hot to hike at midday from June to August, when the headquarters station averages highs near 99°F. The averages below are NOAA's 1991 to 2020 normals for that station, at the visitor centre at 4,093 feet.

The station averages 37 days a year at 100°F or above. By 4 August 2026 Arches had recorded 11 heat-related rescues, and the park asks hikers to avoid strenuous walks between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Late-summer monsoon storms bring flash floods.

The Park Service calls April to May and mid-September to October the most temperate and popular seasons. Visits peaked in May and June in 2025. September at headquarters averages 87°F, so late September is safer than early. Winter is quiet, but a little snow or ice can make trails and roads impassable.

What does Arches cost, and what is missing inside?

Arches charges $30 per private vehicle, $25 per motorcycle and $15 per person on foot or by bicycle, valid for seven days. Every sales point at the park takes cards only. Arches is not one of the eleven parks with the $100 non-resident surcharge, so two adults from abroad in one car pay $30.

The $250 non-resident America the Beautiful pass covers Arches and Canyonlands next door. The $55 annual pass for the four southeast Utah parks is sold to US residents only. Our guide to national park fees for international visitors shows when the bigger pass pays.

The park has no food, fuel or lodging. Its one visitor centre stands just inside the entrance on US 191, and Moab, with every service, is about ten minutes away. Water is available at the visitor centre and at Devils Garden from spring to autumn. The park asks for at least two litres per person for any walk.

Can you camp at Devils Garden?

Devils Garden is the only campground in Arches, 18 miles inside the park at about 5,200 feet. It has 51 reservable sites, $25 a night for an individual site, with drinking water and flush toilets but no hookups, showers or dump station.

From 1 March to 31 October every site is reserved ahead on Recreation.gov, up to six months out, and the park says it is usually full every night. From 1 November to 28 February every site is first come, first served, paid on the spot. Stays are limited to seven nights a month.

When Devils Garden is full, the Bureau of Land Management runs campgrounds along Highway 128 by the Colorado River, just outside Moab. Grandstaff, three miles from US 191, charges $20 a night in cash or by cheque. Our guide to Moab covers the town's other options.

How do you get to Arches without a long drive?

Arches lies 5 miles north of Moab on US 191, and the nearest airport, Canyonlands Regional, is 11 miles from the entrance. The Salt Lake Tribune reported in October 2026 that SkyWest flies there for Delta from Salt Lake City and for United from Denver. Grand Junction's airport in Colorado is 109 miles away, and Salt Lake City's 230 miles.

Amtrak's California Zephyr and Greyhound stop at Green River, 45 miles away, and at Grand Junction. From Interstate 70, Crescent Junction is 22 miles north of the park on US 191.

A free shuttle from downtown Moab to the Arches visitor centre, the Windows and the Delicate Arch trailhead ran as a pilot from 1 September to 31 October 2026, free with a park pass. Moab's tourism office lists its return as March to June 2027, without exact days.

Arches has been an International Dark Sky Park since 2019. It is the first park on the Moab half of a Utah road trip, next to Canyonlands National Park. The other national parks in Utah are Bryce Canyon National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Capitol Reef National Park and Zion National Park.