Arches tour from Salt Lake City

Itinerary

Day 1 - Salt Lake City to Arches - About 5 hours, 30 minutes

Like all of our tours this is a small group trip. Our guides are very knowledgeable about the areas you travel through, as well as the geology, history, traditions and customs of the local people. Feel free to ask any and all questions! And as with all our tours, there are stops to take photos, admire the views and use the restroom. It is your tour - make yourself at home!

You will be picked up at your downtown Salt Lake City hotel (also Park City in the ski season) for the trip along Interstate 15 to south eastern Utah. To the south of Provo we head east over Spanish Fork Canyon - a towering mountain pass - before dropping down the other side to an area where the outlaw Jesse James and his gang used to operate.

After passing through Helper and Price, we'll drive along the Book Cliffs. As we get closer to Arches National Park, southern Utah's spectacular rock formations start coming into view.

Day 1 - Arches National Park - About four hours

Map

Arches is a park that has the wow factor! Because it is not close to any major city, or freeway between two cities, it is not as well known as other national parks. It is, however, just a couple of miles outside Moab. You will be amazed at the assortment of arches, fins and spires inside the park. In fact, most of the world's natural arches are to be found here.

If you would like to, you can spend a lot of time outside the vehicle, walking on trails and getting up close and personal with some of the arches and other rock formations. If you prefer not to do that you can also get a good view of just about everything by standing next to the vehicle.

The first stroll we like to do is down Park Avenue, with towering fins and slabs of rock everywhere you look. This is an easy, predominantly downhill walk, that should take 30 to 45 minutes.

We will stop at Balanced Rock for photographs, and also drive up to Windows Arches, where you can take a comfortable walk all the way up to both of the windows. You can expect to see many other arches and rock formations while in the park, and we will stop often to take photographs and admire the views.

Delicate Arch is Utah's state symbol, and the most famous arch of them all. There may not be enough time to hike up there but if you have the energy for a steep climb, we can take you to an overlook.

We will continue our drive through the park, stopping to take pictures of arches and rock formations along the way, until we get to Devil's Garden. We'll take a walk through Devil's Garden, and make our way to at least one of the major arches to be found here.

After checking out many arches and rock formations, it is now time to leave the park and make our way back to Salt Lake.

Day 1 - Arches to Salt Lake City - About 4 hours

Map

The route heads north, traveling through the Utah desert, towards the small towns of Price and Helper, where we climb up over Spanish Fork Canyon. There is a long drop down the mountain on the other side, where we pick up the freeway to Salt Lake.

Drop offs take place at downtown Salt Lake hotels. During the ski season we can also drop off at many Park City hotels.

Please note the following...