Moab, Utah: Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park

The most incredible views, everywhere you look.

Moab, Utah

Moab was bigger than we expected, with a larger, more commercial downtown than Springdale (the town connected with Zion NP). There are lots of hotels- and several more were being built while we were there- as well as multiple grocery stores. There were food trucks, restaurants, and plenty of stores. Moab is beloved as an adventure-seeker’s town as well as a convenient home base for exploring Arches and Caynonlands. We also happened to be in Moab during their annual Jeep Week celebration, and it was entertaining to see Jeeps- and their adoring owners- all over the area throughout the weekend.

Quesadilla Mobilla was delicious and also a great place to relax outside.

A few Moab Favorites

We loved the quesadilla truck Quesadilla Mobilla and we’d consider it a don’t-miss while in Moab. It closes early, at 6, so it's more of a lunch or early dinner spot, but it’s delicious and perfectly located along Moab’s main street, with all the people-watching possibilities that come with that.
Moab Garage was a great spot- coffee drinks, nitro ice cream, breakfast and lunch.
We enjoyed the Neapolitan pizzas at Antica Forma, which stays open late and has a nice patio with heaters.
Back of Beyond Book Store- great local bookstore. We did some damage here, then sat outside at Quesadilla Mobilla to read.
Ekletica Cafe was cute and had a pretty outdoor area for breakfast, but long lines, and while the food was good, it wouldn’t warrant a return visit on its own
The Spoke had an ice cream window (and it was fun window-shopping along the main street as we enjoyed our cones), and on a different day we had (huge) salads on their patio for lunch after a morning of hiking

Our site at the Lower Onion Creek Campground

Where We Stayed

We camped in two campgrounds along Highway 128, which follows the Colorado River and offering some of the best scenery of our whole trip. The lush green of the river Valley was a striking contrast to the blue sky and now-familiar distinctive red of the buttes. I loved reading that HBO’s opening sequence in Westworld was filmed in this area.

The only disadvantage to these beautiful sites is that they are first-come, first-served, and they were crowded. On our first day, we arrived in late afternoon, getting more and more discouraged as we slowly drove through the first five campgrounds without seeing any openings.

To reserve a site, you must first put cash or a check into the payment envelopes, then rip the reservation card off the top before putting it in the the self-pay box. The reservation card gets clipped to the numbered wooden pole at the front of the available campsite. The sites are run by Utah’s Bureau of Land Management. They are cheap-$20 a night.

On the first night, we ended up much further down Highway 128 at Lower Onion Creek Campground. The drive was beautiful and the site itself was large, with panoramic views and new bathrooms (though don’t be mislead- all the campgrounds along Hwy 128 are exclusively pit toilets).

The next morning, we woke up early to see if there were any campers checking out from one of the campgrounds closer to town, and we were lucky to arrive at Grandstaff just as a couple were packing up. We clipped out new reservation card to the pole and began our day.

Sometimes people try and sneak in and steal your campsite in Moab. Always make sure to fill out the form!

Arches National Park

One thing Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, and Canyonlands all have in common is that their most iconic visitas are of, well, canyons, which makes Arches somewhat of an outlier. Here, the arches as well as other striking rock formations are somewhat clustered into pockets within the parks, so their red hue and rocky terrain feel otherworldly, as opposed to the combination of lush valleys and rock walls of the other parks.

Arches and Zion were the busiest parks we visited in mid-April, and here, the line to get in the park was slow moving and intimidatingly long by mid-morning. We opted, instead, to visit two days in a row, both times after 4p, when there was no line to get in and we had more space to ourselves.

Double Arches - the scale of these rocks (and of course the “double” feature) made this formation particularly striking, and we spent the most time here. The lighting was awesome, and since we arrived later, we all got great photos without crowds in the frame.
Devil's Garden Area- We stopped here to poke around Sand Dune Arch (where there were many families with children playing in the sand as well as climbers practicing with bouldering mats), Skyline Arch, Tunnel Arch and Pine Tree Arch. Next time, we’ll do the Devil’s Garden Trail in its entirety so that we can see the Double O arch and Landscape Arch. Also, if you’re considering camping in the park, the sites in the Devil’s Garden Campground had stunning views! We were not surprised that the April sites were sold out when we looked in January.
Though we appreciated seeing Delicate Arch, Utah’s most famous arch (and the one featured on their cool license plate), from both the Lower and Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint, we will have to come back to the park to do the Delicate Arch hike and really see it up close!

Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands is Molly’s favorite Utah park, with a panorama of tiered buttes and blue valleys. Sometimes, looking out, the colorful tiers reminded me of a giant puzzle, with holes waiting for pieces that would fit just so. It was impressive, and we also appreciated that in visiting, we’d lost some of the crowds of Moab and Arches.

Make sure to fill up on gas in Moab before heading out here. We forgot, which somewhat prevented us from further exploring since we were low. And although all the guidebooks will remind you, make sure to stop at the visitor’s center to fill up on water before heading out on a hike.

We stuck to the most popular part of the park, Islands in the Sky. The highlight of our visit was the 6 miles (round trip) we did on the Lathrop Canyon Trail (I think the full trail is about 13 and descends all the way to the canyon floor). We started through a pretty, wide open prairie, walked across several flat boulders, and then had an amazing view of the canyon. We hung out at a look out point after about three miles to soak it all in. It was awesome, but note that there's no shade on this trail.

One reason visitors come to Canyonlands is to see one of its most photographed features, the Mesa Arch, which is just a short walk away from an easy turnout along the main road. Its size was impressive, though we were surprised people got so close to the edge in their group photographs; beyond the arch itself is a sheer drop off.

Next time, we’ll visit the Needles area, which Molly had enjoyed on a previous trip. We were also intrigued by the sparsely-visited area ominously called The Maze (this is the area where Aaron Rolstad was hiking when his arm was pinned to a boulder; he wrote about his experience in the book 127 Hours).

Latest, National Parks, SouthwestSarah DeVinneyJanuary 25, 2020utah, Moab, Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, camping, hiking, road tripComment