Moab

MOABSTARTER

Corona and Bowtie, Off the Potash Road

≈ 200 steps0.1 mi · about 2 hoursStarter · 2 stops · 500 credStart where you live.

A free hike on public land ten miles from town: a mile and a half each way across slickrock, with one short ladder and a cable handhold, to two arches that sit almost side by side. Two hours round trip. No shade, so go early or late.

MOABSTARTER

The Windows Before the Heat

≈ 1,800 steps0.9 mi · about 2 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.

Three of the park's largest arches in one short loop at the Windows Section, best in the first hours after sunrise. About a mile and a half of walking on sand and stone steps, two hours with the drive in from the entrance. Arches entrance fee required.

MOABSTANDARD

Devils Garden to the Dark Angel

≈ 6,000 steps2.8 mi · about 5 hoursStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.

Five miles out and back from the end of the park road: two small arches on a side spur, the longest span in the park, then the rough route over sandstone fins to Double O Arch and a lone black tower. Beyond Landscape Arch it is a scramble; stay off wet rock. Arches entrance fee required.

MOABSTANDARD

Footprints and Rock Art

≈ 2,500 steps + 28 mi by car1.2 mi on foot · about 4 hoursStandard · 4 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.

Four free stops on public land, west along the river and north up the highway: carved figures on a cliff, 190-million-year-old tracks beside the road, a boardwalk over 200 footprints and the first sauropod trackway found in Utah. About four hours with the drives; the last site is on a gravel road.

MOABSTANDARD

Up to Delicate Arch at Day's End

≈ 3,000 steps + 11 mi by car1.5 mi on foot · about 5 hours · + the walk in to 2 stopsStandard · 5 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.

A half-day on the main park road: Park Avenue and Balanced Rock on the drive in, then the three-mile round-trip climb past Wolfe Ranch to Delicate Arch for the evening light, and the upper viewpoint across the gulch. Carry water and a torch for the walk down. Arches entrance fee required.

MOABADVANCED

Rim Day on the Island in the Sky

43 mi by cara full day · + the walk in to 2 stopsAdvanced · 7 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.

A full day on the high mesa between the Colorado and the Green: Dead Horse Point's gooseneck, then seven miles of overlooks in Canyonlands from Shafer Canyon to Grand View Point, with Mesa Arch at sunrise if you can. About 90 miles of driving from town. Two fees: $20 for the state park and $30 for Canyonlands. No water on the mesa beyond the visitor centers.

MOABADVANCED

South to the Needles

≈ 3,500 steps + 103 mi by car1.7 mi on foot · 2 days or moreAdvanced II · 8 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.

Two days south of town: a roadside arch, the free Needles Overlook at the end of the Canyon Rims road, Newspaper Rock on the way into Indian Creek, then the Needles District's short trails among the banded spires. Canyonlands charges $30 a car for the Needles; the Island in the Sky pass is valid here for seven days. Around 200 miles of driving in all, with little fuel or water.