In the very early stages of planning an April trip to Moab - we'll drive from our home in Colorado and are trying to work out an itinerary. Pretty clueless at the moment - how many full days would one need to get a nice taste of the area including a few long hikes/walks?

Take the extra 15-20 minutes to drive Utah 128 to get to Moab from I-70. The US 191 route is mostly boring country. There are several great hikes to take in Arches NP including the one out to Delicate Arch.
Take at least one day to go see the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands. Also see Dead Horse SP.

If you click on my user name you will find a few trip reports for Arches and Moab. Query this forum--tons of questions and reports on Arches/Moab. Go to the nps.gov web sites and search Canyonlands and Arches--these sites list all of the hikes you take, the distance, and how hard/easy they are. Google Moab tourism--you will find all sorts of activities listed. You really need to come back with a tentative itinerary. You have given us almost nothing to go on. What else do you like to do? who all is in your party? Ages? Hiking abilities?

tomfuller - we're trying to avoid 70 as much as possible, will probably come into Moab from the south. This is going to be a back roads trip, hopefully. I'll take a look at how to work in 128, thank you.

StantonHyde - thanks I'll look at your report. My OH has come up with this potential driving itinerary, we're just trying to figure out how many full days we need to give Moab and the surrounding parks a good explore. Possible itinerary: Home-Buena Vista-Ouray-Moab-Durango-Ojo Caliente, NM, Home.

We are two adults with failing knees, yet avid walkers and moderate hikers, no time constraints. We're not looking for anything hard core, but walks/hikes of up to four hours. No climbing. Not interested in organized activities, just do-it-yourself exploring.

I am working with my left hand, but will try to get some of my favorites. In Canyonlands Island in the sky, do not miss Grandview overlook mesa arch or upheaval dome, In arch, stop ay all the easy arches and do hike devil.s garden, at least to landscape arch and also hike up yo delicate arch.

in Moab there are roads along both sides of the river. try Kane creek road for some nice petroglyphs and to see the crazy jeeps climbing the cliff,

I hope some pictures will attach, buy click my name and scroll yo the tr for the 2015 and 2013 reports

ok, if you are coming from the south, drive into needles district of Canyonlands and see cowboy camp/cave spring, easy and you can go in/out on the flat trail, delicate arch might be too hard for you, but most of the others will be fine.

Re: 128. I love this drive! If you can do it earlier or later in the day, the light is even better. (Maybe go through Colorado National Monument first and stay in Fruita for an early departure?)

+1 on the route 128 drive. There is (was?) a nice B&B in there, though I don't remember the name. A number of classic Western were filmed along the route. See attached PDF file if that interests you.

We enjoyed hiking in The Needles District of Canyonlands. There are lots of options. Some, like Chesler Park or Druid Arch, may be more than you are looking for, but you can always start out in that direction and turn around at any point.
https://www.nps.gov/cany/planyourvisit/hiking.htm

In Arches the easy walk down Park Avenue makes for an excellent evening stroll. Have a great trip!

Red Cliffs Lodge

You can see much of Arches from the road or on a short, relatively easy walk. Delicate Arch, Devils Garden and Fiery Furnace are the 3 big hikes that require more effort. I've never done Fiery Furnace but I'd say Delicate Arch is at the top of the list if you can do one harder hike. I believe Fiery Furnace requires some commitment - you need to go on a ranger led hike, and once you begin you're committed so for that reason, I'd skip it in your situation. With Delicate Arch or Devils Garden, you can always turn around if it's too difficult.

I'd think you could cover Arches in a day with or without the longer hike. Probably allot another day for Dead Horse and Islands in the Sky, and half a day for Needles. 3 days in the area is good but 4 would be more relaxed.

One day for Arches, one day for Canyonlands' Island in the Sky, one long day because of the drive for Canyonlands' the Needles area. That's a minimum. The beginning of this albums covers that area and might give you some ideas:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsjpnUR1m

Excellent, thank you. I was leaning towards four nights in Moab. Does it make a good central base for day trips, or is it better to split things up?

Moab is a fine base for a day trip. we liked Cali Cochita b& b in town. if you do not have lodging, get it asap.

I've just booked four nights in Moab, will take a look at all the suggestions and come up with a rough plan on how to spend our three days there, thank you.

We'll be arriving from Ouray, so will have part of a day on our day of arrival as well.

You could also visit the Needles area as a detour on your drive from Moab to Durango.

That would make for a long day given the time to drive to the Needles and take one of the walks and drive out, all of which must be added to the 2.5 hours of the direct drive.

Good to know, thanks Michael.

Can you work in Hovenweep (if you haven't been)? There's a nice loop trail around the Square Tower Group.

I think Moab itself is a good spot to stay. You can drive out and back to Island in the Sky easily.

Good question, mlgb, never heard of it before now. I'm looking into it, thanks for that.

There are jet boat trips on the Colorado from Moab that are good if your knees need a break, plus there's a driving circuit for viewing rock art along Kane Creek. I picked up a pamphlet somewhere, maybe the town visitor center. Of course you can also see some inside Arches (my favorite is Courthouse Wash).

https://www.nps.gov/arch/learn/histo...house-wash.htm