Arches: Windows Loop...Turrent Arch and Primitive Loop

Distance: 1.2 mile loop
Elevation: 5,160 ft - 5,275 ft
Elevation Gain: 170 ft cumulative elevation gain
Date Hiked: 27 April 2012
Bathroom at the Trailhead: Yes
Water at the Trailhead: No
Dogs: Not allowed

The North and South Windows, an extremely popular destination in the park.  From this distance they look almost diminutive.  Follow on pictures will give you a better sense of their immensity.

The Windows Loop in Arches National Park is a great way to get up close and personal with several arches.  By up close I mean you can walk right up into the arch and gaze upwards at the span.  The first part of the loop is more "landscaped" with easy steps and gravel paths.  You can visit Turret Arch via a short spur trail and then head back to the Windows, which is a term used to describe two arches (North or South Windows) that exist side by side. The Primitive Trail is a more moderate trail that travels around the back side of the formation. Even casual hikers can navigate this trail safely and it provides unique views of the formation plus expansive views of the surrounding desert. 

The trailhead with the easily navigated gravel path.  The sun was too low in the sky to photograph this area well. 

Stone steps up to Turret Arch

The crowd of children around the area are just out of frame.

Looking across to the North Window from the Turret Arch Trail.  Note how the people are standing beneath its span.

Be forewarned!  The Windows section of the park is very popular so it will be mobbed with people. Compared with some of the descriptions I have read elsewhere on the Internet, my visit, however was relatively peaceful.  There WAS an entire group of school children with a teacher screaming out instructions sitting all over the approach to Turret Arch but I was able to take a picture and quickly escape them.  For the rest of my journey,  I could walk about in peace.  I was there around 8 o'clock in the morning however. 

Gazing out into the desert from Turret Arch

The typical National Park-like trail that heads from Turret Arch over to the Windows

The segment leading up to the North Window

The South Window.  There is a fellow photographer in the lower left corner.  He is dwarfed by the rocks towering above him. 

The Windows themselves are very large and having a mob of people standing under them certainly allows you to get a sense of their scale. The North Window  is 90 ft x 48 ft while the South Window is 115 ft x 56 ft. You can walk right under the North Window but you would have to make a dangerous climb to get into the South Window.  This is not recommended unless your spouse recently took out a multimillion dollar insurance policy on you.

The backside of the formation viewed from the Primitive Trail

A typical segment on the Primitive Trail.  Note the cairn and wind washed rock. 

Some of the more interesting formation one can see on the Primitive Trail

Deep canyons and an impossibly all-embracing sky dominate the view to east of the Windows.  Don't wander off now!

A warren of short trails lead all over the area so you can wander about and gaze at the arches from multiple angles.  The Primitive Loop starts near the South Window and in marked by stone borders on either side.  You might guess correctly that for me this was the best part of the trail.  The Primitive Trail wanders through sand, across wind blown slickrock, and climbs up a short escarpment.  The views to the east are expansive and even though there is no water at this trailhead you can't help but feel like you are in an oasis amidst a profoundly silent and profoundly massive desert.  I would hate to be lost out there.

Looking back down the one small shelf you have to scale

After the shelf, the route travels between two rock formations

Coming around the north side of the formation.  Double Arch is behind the large formation straight ahead and the parking lot is off to the left down and around the bend.

Despite its reputation for crowds, the Windows Loop is a great introduction to the park and could easily serve as an hors d'oeurvre to the longer and more truly secluded Devil's Garden/Primitive Loop.  Taken at the right time of day, you may even have the place to yourself. Be sure to visit Double Arch, right across the parking area.

The final stretch is a sandy stroll to the parking lot.  See the large tour bus in the distance.  Time to head out!

Without seeing the underside of this lizard, it is impossible to tell if it is a Plateau Lizard (Sceloporus tristichus ) or a Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus gracious).  This will not be my last encounter with these sun loving creatures.

Arches: Double Arch

Distance: 0.5 mile round trip
Elevation: 5,103 ft - 5,169 ft
Elevation Gain:  66 ft
Date HIked: 27 April 2012
Bathroom at the Trailhead: Yes (located up the stairs and closer to the Windows)
Water at the Trailhead: No

The approach to Double Arch is accessible to almost everyone

Double Arch is one of the short hikes in Arches National Park that can easily be combined with the Window Loop located across the street.  The route is well-defined, traveling across loose sand and some flat rock surfaces.  Once you get to the arch, you can scramble upwards and climb right up into the arch area itself.  With my large camera in hand, I was not able to scramble up to look through the arch but a fellow hiker did and said it was a straight drop off on the other side.  From deep inside the arch, though you can gaze back out at the Windows Section of the park, which is a pleasant way to view that area.

The back side of this arch is a shear drop off

Looking straight up at the span

You will not be alone on this trail and it is suggested you get there early because the parking is limited.  Morning is the best time to photograph this arch, but I found that the shadows were still deep so "morning" is relative.  The downside of a morning photo shoot is that the Windows are better photographed in the afternoon, which is inconvenient if that is important to you.

Looking out at the Windows Section of the park from inside Double Arch

Double Arch is an example of downward water erosion from atop the sandstone, rather than from side-to-side water erosion like most of the arches in the park.  When taken together they form the third largest arch in the Park.  The actual measurement of the larger of the two arches is 144 ft x 112 ft while the smaller arch measures 67 ft x 86 ft.   Double Arch is called "Double" because its legs share the same stone foundation.

This Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) was singing from a shrub oak along the short trail.

If you only have a short time in the park, this trail should be on your list.

Arches: Devil's Garden ... Primitive Trail Loop

Distance: 7.6 mile loop
Elevation: 5,146 ft at trailhead
Elevation Gain: 1,247 ft cumulative by Dark Angel, 2,194 ft by return
Date Hiked: 26 April 2012
Bathroom at Trailhead: Yes
Water at Trailhead: Yes
Dogs: Not allowed, National Park

Double-O Arch

The Devil's Garden area of Arches National Park contains the landmark Landscape Arch, Double-O Arch, and Dark Angel.  You can do this trail as an out and back or make it a loop by taking the Primitive Trail either before (at Landscape Arch) or after (at Double-O Arch).  When I talked to the ranger at the visitor's center, he suggested taking the Primitive Trail first because it gets you away from people right away and you go UP the rock scrambles (e.g. slickrock fins) and not DOWN them.  I decided to take his advice, which had both pros and cons.  The pro was a serene journey through a secluded Sagebrush and red sand prairie early in the morning when the birds were so vocal it made my ears hurt.  There was so much evidence of other animal life that I felt like I was walking Bourbon Street the day after Mardi Gra.  You could not see the people (or critters in this case) but you sure knew they had been there.  The downside of this choice was that climbing slickrock faces with a heavy pack proved to be severely unnerving.  While not as psychologically damaging as Devil's Causeway in Colorado, it still made me wonder what I had gotten myself into.  Bottom line is that I am not sure I agree that going UP is easier.  Taking the Primitive Trail last (at Double-O Arch) is certainly the advertised way of doing it.

The first 0.8 miles  of the Devil's Garden Trail is manicured and accessible to casual hikers.  At 0.3 miles is the junction with the Pine Tree and Tunnel Arch trails.  These short spurs lead to two attractive arches.  I particularly liked Pine Tree Arch because of the large Utah Junipers that graced the middle of it adding both a sense of scale and floral contrast.  Take this side trip and you will return to the junction at 0.8 miles.

Trailhead

The first part of the trail squeezes through two fins

Heading out into the prairie

It is a short distance to Landscape Arch, one of the iconic arches in the park.  At 290.1 ft, it is one of the longest arches in the country and also one of the thinnest.  Arches have lifespans (in geologic time of course) since they are caused by weathering, which never ends.  Landscape Arch is considered a mature arch, which means it gave up beer binges a few thousand years ago and now is interested in conservative politics and medicare supplement plans.  It sure looks like it could collapse at any moment.  Before you get to the Landscape Arch viewing area, the Primitive Trail  (at 1.35 miles) leads off to the right.  I took this trail and immediately left the manicured trail for red desert sand.

Tunnel Arch

Pine Tree Arch

Approaching Landscape Arch

The ranger was right.  I left the people behind immediately and for the next hour at least did not see a soul.  The birds were rather chatty, flitting from shrub to shrub and calling to each other in raucous tones.  I had put ice cubes in my Nalgeen bottles and was annoyed that the racket that the ice made was drowning out the birds.  Fortunately, there were so many fascinating animal tracks in the sand that I frequently had to stop and admire them.  That let me capture a few birds on "film" as well as a Gopher Snake, which had me enraptured for several minutes.  The Sagebrush,  Mormon Tea, and Utah Junipers dominated the landscape and smelled fresh and alive in the early morning air.  I was in love with the solitude and in love with Arches at this point.  Around 2.2 miles in, however the trail left the prairie and descended down into a dry wash similar to but more narrow than the Park Ave Trail. The trail followed this wash up into a long formation of fins.  I was quite confounded when the trail deadened into a crenelation of this formation until I realized I need to climb UP and OVER the fin.

Looking back down the trail towards the La Sal Mountains

Just a small sample of the tracks that appeared on the trail

I came across this Gopher Snake (Pituophis catenifer deserticola) crossing the trail.  It may be a male since they are active in the spring looking for mates.  Fortunately, he was not interested in me.  

While not too dangerous, the fin (at 2.6 miles) was probably only 30 feet in height, it was slick being made out of slickrock after all.  There were no hand or foot holds and after trying to leap up the first five feet I realized a new strategy was required.  I took off my heavy pack, which was pulling me backwards, and shoved it upwards.  I then turned around and bootie scooted upwards using the souls of my shoes to provide the leverage.  This got me up the first pitch.  The rest of the route was a eerily sloping rock face with nothing to grab on to.  I kept my pack off and held it in one hand so I could lean into the rock face with the other.  It was of course on this perilous maneuver that I ran into my first human.

Fins along the trail

Interesting rocks

The Black-throated Sparrow (Amphispiza bilineata) was one of the many birds in the area. 

The nimble youngster (in geologic terms of course) that came bounding down the the cliff face at me was overly nice.  He mentioned this was the worst part of the trail, what a lovely day it was, and clearly thought that it was great that modern nursing homes were allowing their residents to go climbing fins all alone.  I growled in annoyance as he whisked past and was about to lurch forward in one last suicidal push when I ran into my second human.  What was the luck?  Here I was out in the middle of NOWHERE trying to pretend that I was a buff hiker and I had the local paparazzi watching me flail up the scariest part of the route.  This second human was less than patient with me even though it took me only two cardiac arrests to throw up self upwards past him.  He blundered past and I collapsed at the top under the thin pretext of taking a picture of a interesting plant.

Heading down into the wash

This is the nefarious fin.  The rock cairn is the only clue you need to climb over it.  It looks easier than it really is.  The rock is sloped and you have to take it at an angle. 

After the fin the trail heads back into the brush.

After this point the route traversed a few more fins with only one more slightly onerous pitch up another sloping but not precipitous chunk of rock.  Ok, so was it really my pack that was pulling me backwards on these auditions for Cirque du Soleil or was it my middle-aged buttocks, which lost all pretensions to "buns of steel" about twenty years ago.  To be fair, my pack was heavy, being loaded with lots of extra water (very heavy), a VW-bus sized first-aid kit with very sharp knife (a la "127-hours"), tons of layers, and one very large camera.

Private Arch

Desert Paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa)

After Private Arch, the trail heads back out into the Prairie.

After the fins, the trail returned to a series of intra-fin interludes that included a short side trip to Primitive Arch (junction at 3.2 miles, arch at 3.5 miles).  It was there that I ran into a couple from North Carolina that were taking the Primitive Trail in the same direction that I was.  Were you scared back there they asked me with eyes as big as pizzas.

Heading out towards Dark Angel

Dark Angel

Returning to Double-O Arch

After Primitive Arch, the trail begins to leave the fins and return to more Sagebrush Prairie.   I came upon the Double-O Arch rather unexpectedly (at 4.2 miles).  The trail to Dark Angel, a tall spire of rock, begins at the Arch, you will see it off to your right.  Head that way first and you will reach Dark Angel at 4.7 miles.  Then retrace your steps to Double-O Arch.

After Double-O Arch you have to climb over another fin and head upwards.  This was actually difficult to find.

A shot of the narrow fin between Double-O Arch and Landscape Arch.  There is a lot of exposure on this section with the fin becoming narrow and fatter in turn.  When I crossed, the wind was practically picking me off my feet, which made it less fun.

View from the fin

After the trip to Dark Angel, there were several of us trying to find the main trail around Double-O Arch.  It turns out you have to climb over another fin and follow it upwards to get to the trailhead.  It is really only a mile back to Landscape Arch, but it seems longer.  There is a long "stroll" across the top of a very exposed fin that reminded me too much of Devil's Causeway.  I happened to cross at the peak of a thunderstorm when the winds were practically lifting me off my feet.  I stopped a few times on the wider areas to crouch down until the gusts died down.  Others hikers coming towards me were less intimidated but they did not have packs on to catch the wind.

After the fin there is a sign pointing to the trailhead.

Landscape Arch is just below.  This section was not obvious despite the cairns. 

Coming down this fin it was not obvious how to get down.  Turns out there is a series of switchbacks that make it easy.

After this section the trail follows more slickrock until it descends sharply between two upright fins.  Had there not been people coming up from below I might have thought I had taken a wrong turn.  The descent is very steep and you can not see the bottom of the fin while on it.  I was concerned about getting cliffed out so I was approaching this pitch cautiously.  It turns out that in the pitch hidden from view there are a couple of switch backs in the rock that make the decent rather easy.  After this spot it is only a 100 yards or so to Landscape Arch (at 6.7 miles).  I returned to the trailhead for a 7.6 miles total distance.   Somehow I missed the turn off to Navajo and Partition Arches, which is why my calculated mileage is slightly less than others.

Returning to Landscape Arch

Returning to the trailhead provides a final view of the La Sal Mountains.

Arches is not known for long hikes, so if you really like to be out all day, the Devil's Garden/Primitive Loop will fill the bill.  Its early solitude and exposure to the plants and animals of the area will please the naturalist in all of us.