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| Hiking | 2.60 Miles |
1,210 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.60 Miles | 3 Hrs 33 Mns | | 0.82 mph |
| 1,210 ft AEG | 22 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Began the hike on a Saturday, a little before noon. The trailhead was busy, with NPS vehicles taking up three spaces for a crew doing trail work. While putting on our boots, several cars pulled up but with nowhere to park they had to continue on.
The trail started out gentle and easy. When the unmaintained section began, it climbed steeply up a sideways sloping rock incline. From there it zigzagged further upward through multiple steep segments with a few brief sections requiring both hands and feet to ascend. After a heart pounding ascent reminiscent of the last third or so of flatiron, we reached the flatter section up top. Beautifully constructed large cone shaped cairns led us in the direction of the arch.
Taking the split to the left brought us to a dramatic overlook, and the trail appeared to continue downhill but faded into obscurity. Continuing about 30 feet in this direction on a horizontal rock scramble, one can see a steep, loose social trail below leading to the arch. Alternately, hiking back to the former left turn and taking a right instead follows a different set of cairns to that same steep, loose social trail.
That trail loses another 200 ft in elevation before turning into a flat section along the base of the wall out of which the arch is carved.
The arch itself is staggering, as are the views from underneath. It is difficult to fit the whole arch in a single photograph due to its massive size, but you can come close if you scramble over to the far side from where the trail terminates.
The descent was a bit brutal on the knees, but quicker than the ascent. Overall a very worthwhile hike!  |
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