Arches National Park in a day
 

I will be in the area just long enough to spend one day in Arches National Park - 9a-630p sometime in the beginning of March. I know weather will obviously be a factor and I also know that people can easily spend a week there so I was wondering what activities would be the most rewarding?

Any help is help nonetheless! Thanks!

Our family was there this summer. I would suggest signing up NOW for the Fiery Furnace hike with a Ranger, if it is available. It is a lot of fun and one of our highlights. You get to see a lot of different aspects of the park in a short period of time. It looks like you are going to Zion also - that may be our favorite park. I think because cars were not allowed and it is beautiful! Have a great time!

It's doable in a day.
I would start off with Delicate Arch as soon as you can get to the park. Don't miss the short walks to Double Arch, Balanced Rock. You could include The Windows and Turret Arch as they are short walks right near Double Arch(not to be confused with Double O Arch). Landscape Arch is great along with the entire Devils Garden Hike. If you don't do the Fiery Furnace then do Devils Garden. Either way don't miss Landscape Arch. Its' the longest arch in the world.

I would go along with most of what spiro wrote except I would plan for Delicate Arch late in the day as it's one of my sunset favorites.

As he wrote Double Arch is in the same parking area as the Windows and Turret Arch so you can see them together and add Balanced Rock to that area.

Sunset is right @ 6:30 for mid-March and I don't know if the website I looked at took into consideration Daylight Savings Time Change or not. So, not sure if you have time for it at sunset or not.

A lot of people like Delicate @ Sunset. I wouldn't think it would be that crowded there in March though. I like Sunrise, because you can actually catch the sun in your photo with the Arch. In the evening, the photos are more about the long shadwos looking cool. In the morning there is noone there. I like it in the morning, because it isn't as hot. The hike up is more demanding than the return and there is zero shade. Although, in March that wouldn't be a factor.

Bottom line is that this is one of the premier sights in the park and is a must do.

Whatever order you do it in, if you can get there earlier than 9:00, that would just give you that much more time to see the park. I've been there twice. Th first time I was there for 5 days. The second time, I did about like you are doing. Just spent the day there.

It might be possible to do the whole park sans Fiery Furnace in the amount of time you have. And I would be tempted to tell you to just visit it straight forward...stopping at the places you come to as you come to them.
So first would be Park Avenue,
Then the Courthouse area.
Then to Balanced Rock and the Windows Area, hike to all the arches you can, the hikes aren't long
Then on to Delicate Arch. This is the iconic hike and should definitely be done sometime during the day, since you plan to be gone about sunset I wouldn't worry about best lighting, just go.

Then you can drive to Devil's Garden and hike to at least Landscape Arch. You'll know by then if you have time to do more.

I did an abbreviated version of that last May and we didn't get there till mid morning, but we had a little bit later sunset.

I love the Fiery Furnace tour, but I think it is a waste of time for someone with a short schedule, you'll miss out on too much else.

I actually have almost the exact opposite itinerary as InSandy.

I would start with Delicate Arch, then go up to Devil's Garden and at least hike to Landscape Arch. Hard to gauge how fast you can hike so if you can do the entire Devil's Garden loop, then do that.

Devil's Garden is at the far end of the park from the entrance. So, after you leave you can stop at anything/everything you have time for. You'll be able to keep an eye on the time and skip past things in favor of something else if you're running low on time. Most everything other than Delicate Arch and Landscape/Devil's Garden is very close to the road so you can see alot in a short amount of time.

I just think I'd rather get the 2 biggies out of the way right off the bat and then see whatever else I have time for after that. I think it would suck to have to bail on the full Devil's Garden loop because you spent too much time stopping at the easy arches and viewpoints early on before you had an appreciation for what else was ahead of you.

I'm going to agree with WhereAreWe on this one too. Get Delicate Arch and Devils Garden done and then hit the other spots on your way out of the park. We were at Delicate Arch near sunset in October and because the sun was so far north, the sun really didn't hit the arch like it does in the summer time. I think March will be about the same.

Utahtea

Too funny. Remind me never to travel with you WhereAreWe, lol

Re the Devil's Garden Loop, I hiked it out as far as Double-O Arch (going past Landscape Arch and the then-still-standing Wall Arch along the way) while also taking a number of the spurs off the main trail to things like Partition Arch and Navajo Arch, then returned the way I came. Note that you can see Dark Angel in the distance from near Double-O Arch. The people I was with said the part I hiked was the best part of the trail, so if you limit yourself to this much, you've seen a lot that this particular trail offers. Not sure if other posters will agree, but that's what I understood.

bachslunch is right about it being the best part. If you continue on you end up in a lot of sand the last couple of miles. And I don't think there is a lot to see the last couple of miles either. It is interesting, but nothing like the first part of the loop. Of course, you can hike in either direction though.

Bookmarking

You don't have to be at Delicate Arch for the actual sunset.

As the sun begins its descent the arch begins to take on that warm look.

I agree with Myer. The actual sunset is not the highlight (especially for photography) get there an hour beforehand and maybe sit and watch for half an hour.

I loved Delicate Arch and around sunset is a special time to be there.

Arches is one of the parks that you can see a lot on the short trails right off the main road so you will be to see most of the highlights in a day. Enjoy!

2 year old post folks

bookmarking

Delicate Arch!