Devils Garden: Landscape Arch and Primitive Trail

Its best-known feature, Landscape Arch, spans 306 feet, making it the longest arch in North America, yet it narrows to just 6 feet across. Sandstone fins are also common here. These narrow rock walls take shape as rainwater wears away parallel cracks, which were opened when salt deposits below the surface pushed the rock upward. Over time, many fins erode into arches.

The trail to Landscape Arch is an easy 1.9-mile roundtrip. It stays mostly level over firm, hard-packed ground, with no major climbing, just moderate ups and downs. The route winds through tall fins on the way. Two optional easy spurs branch off between the trailhead and the arch, one to Pine Tree Arch and one to Tunnel Arch.

Beyond Landscape Arch, the route becomes far more demanding. The steep climb toward Double O Arch runs up and over sandstone fins, with rocky footing, narrow ledges and steep drop-offs, so hikers need both hands and feet to scramble. The out-and-back hike covers 4.1 miles roundtrip. For a different option, the Devils Garden Primitive Trail covers 2.1 miles one way to or from Double O Arch and also involves scrambling. Anyone wanting an easier outing can simply head back at Landscape Arch.

Navajo Arch and Partition Arch each have a short spur, found roughly a third of the way from Landscape Arch to Double O Arch. From Double O, a 0.8-mile roundtrip spur heads north to Dark Angel, a tall, dark spire that is visible in the distance from the arch.

This landscape keeps changing. Large sections of Landscape Arch broke away in the 1990s, and other arches in the park have fallen too. The arch still stands, but only barely, a reminder that the rock here can change quickly.