Arch Canyon Trail is two adventures in one. The first adventure is a classic Utah 4x4 trail into a rouged canyon followed by a breathtaking canyon hike among towering Cedar Mesa Sandstone cliffs to get to Angle Arch and Keystone Arch at the end of the jeep trail.
To access the ATV trail / Jeep road into Arch Canyon, we started from Comb Wash Campground at the bottom of the Comb Wash cliff along UT 95. From the campground, it is an easy mile or two along a standard dirt road that almost any car can access. However, once you reach the mouth of Arch Canyon, you will need a 4x4 to continue as the trail uses the creek as the trail for a few hundred yards. It is odd to have a creek channel as the trail. The first time I visited Arch Canyon, I didn't realize the creek was the trail and spent a lot of time searching for the entrance into the canyon.
Once you get into the canyon, you will notice numerous ruins along the north wall. Arch Canyon is famous for its vast collection of Cedar Mesa Ruins. If you are on a road trip with a standard car, you could walk to the first few ruins, but to get to the best ones, you will need a UTV or Jeep. I don't know how many ruins are in the canyon, but the ruins can be seen all around. Many of the ruins are well hidden and easy to miss. We found one ruin while taking a lunch break. The ruin was tucked in behind some rocks not too far from the trail but at an odd angle to the trail. The ruin was very well preserved, and I don't think many people have seen it.
One ruin actually looked like a prison with bars and goes by the name Prison Ruin. The ruin was high up on the canyon wall, and I have no idea how the original inhabitants accessed the ruin or built it. The deeper the canyon got, the higher up the ruins were. There is another trail along the rim of the canyon that leads to one of the best ruins in all of Utah. This impressive ruin is known as Lewis Lodge and is well worth the day it takes to find the ruin and explore the area. We spent two days in the area. Day one was Arch Canyon, followed by Lewis Lodge the next morning.
The Jeep Road into Arch Canyon is simply stunning. The huge cliffs of Cedar Mesa Sandstone are amazing and awe-inspiring as they tower hundreds of feet above the trail. Just as chance would have it, we made our trip in the afternoon, and the sun angles were awesome. The trail really looked like something out of a movie or a CGI creation, think Star Wars or Lord of the Rings. The deeper into Arch Canyon we traveled, the more jaw dropping the canyon became.
The 4x4 trail through Arch Canyon will eventually end at this bucket list campsite. If we had known this campsite was here, we would have brought our camping supplies along with us instead of camping near the road. We only spent the one night camping, the rest of the week we stayed at Moab Adventure Condo's 11A4 Condo back in Moab. The huge canyon walls with the beautiful old-growth ponderosa trees really set this area apart from the typical canyon hike you would find in Moab. My wife usually prefers to visit our Kanab Vacation Rental because she says she likes that that area has more trees than Moab. However, she loved this trail with all of the large trees.
The campsite marks the end of the Side by Side trail. But don't worry, the hike to Angle Arch is easy. You don't even have to get out of your Side by Side to view Angle Arch if you don't want to. If you look closely, you can see the arch in the center of the rock wall. Trust me, this arch is huge and is much larger than it appears here in the photo. Though Arches National Park is famous for its arches, this Utah Arch is larger than just about all in the national park.
For scale, note the size of the ponderosa tree growing at the arch's opening. The only thing that holds this arch back from being epic is the fact that there is no clear sky behind the opening. If this were the case, this canyon would likely be a national park. Well, I guess it kind of is in Bear's Ear National Monument, but no one really knows where that is as it seems each new president changes the boundaries of the monument.
The name of this arch can be a little confusing. There is another arch in the nearby Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, also named Angle Arch. The arch in Canyonlands actually looks like an angle. To be honest, I believe this arch needs a new name to set it apart from its more well-known cousin. Can you think of a good name? The first thing that comes to mind for me is Tower Arch, but there is already one of those in Arches National Park. I think Elk Ridge Arch could be a good name for this huge span, as the area behind the arch is known as Elk Ridge. Another possible name could be Cedar Mesa Arch, as the arch is located in Cedar Mesa Sandstone. Regardless of the name, this is one very impressive arch and is well worth the drive from Moab, Utah, to visit.
The hiking trail eventually leads to one of the most lovely arches I have ever seen, Cathedral Arch. It is surprising to see just how similar this arch is to Angle Arch, but to be honest, I think this one is better in its own way. Cathedral Arch is a little farther away from the back of the canyon wall, thus allowing more light behind the span and giving the allusion it is out by itself, kind of like Corona Arch near Moab. The hike to get to this point is at least a mile, maybe more, but it is well worth it. I think it is a shame when people are so concerned with UTV trail riding or Jeep trail riding that they can't take the hour or two to see these sites that very few ever experience. Trust me this hike is so beautiful and interesting you will be to the arch before you remotely realize how far you have walked. There is a third arch in the canyon known as Keystone Arch but I did not have time to get to the arch, considering our late start. Guess I will have to go back, dang!
As always if you are planning a trip to Moab consider staying in our condos, Moab Adventure Condo. The condos are nice with lots of room and are a great value as compared with a hotel room. We also have locations in Kanab, Utah, and Zion National Park's backdoor.
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