[Arches National Park, Apr 29, 2023]

Our agenda for today were the most iconic trails in the park – one everyone’s heard of – Delicate Arch – and one that most people have never heard of – Fiery Furnace.

Delicate Arch is widely recognized symbol of the state of Utah (it’s on the license plate!) and one of the most famous geologic features in the world. The arch sits precipitously on the edge of a cliff, which is probably why it’s so famous.

The trail to Delicate Arch is only 1.6 miles one way with just under 500 ft of elevation gain, making this a pretty easy trail for most people. At the same time, the trail has no shade and it can get hot very easily, which catches some people off-guard. We saw people hiking in all types of gear (or lack thereof), which is pretty normal for the most popular sights in a national park. Still, I did not envy those who were wearing jeans, casual footwear or carried no water. We started the trail a little after 9 am and it already felt pretty hot.

We got to the arch around 10 am and it was a little busy but not as bad as I expected. The best viewpoint was right as you round the corner above to see it.

The slab of stone surrounding the arch was quite slanted, which I found a little scary. I would not want to be on that slab if it were wet.

There was a small line to take a photo under the arch. It’s hard to take a good photo from this angle because the arch is so huge and it’s hard to tell there’s even a person in this photo.

On the way back down the trail, we scrambled up a pretty steep rock to this outcropping, which provided a bird’s eye view of the arch. It was an unexpected treat and we managed to sneak in during a time when nobody else was up there.

After taking a gazillion photos, we headed back down. It was time for our next adventure – the Fiery Furnace.

This maze of sandstone canyons is no joke. The National Park Service warns that “you will walk and climb on irregular and broken sandstone, along narrow ledges above drop-offs, and in loose sand. There are gaps you must jump across and narrow places that you must squeeze into and pull yourself up and through. In some places, you must hold yourself off the ground by pushing against the sandstone walls with your hands and feet.” Because there is no marked trail, the possibility of getting lost is real. All of this and more was impressed upon us when we picked up our permit for this hike on our way into the park that day.

We also had to watch an orientation video, which was actually quite informative. We learned that there used to be commercial tours through the Fiery Furnace. The tour companies had put arrows on some of the rocks, but they were hard to find because they were brown and white, just like the rocks they were on! But at least we could try to find the arrows and not get lost. I was honestly quite nervous about this hike, while May and Olivia thought it was no big deal. Was I being overly cautious, or were they are little too callous?

Despite the warnings that GPS was unreliable, I still tracked the trail with my phone on Alltrails and I have to say that it helped. It was nice to know the names of some of the arches and formations we encountered along the way.

Since the arrows were navigating a counter-clockwise route, we went right as we entered the area. The hiking trail soon disappeared as we descended into the bottom of the maze. Do you see the arrow in the last photo?

We encountered our first dead end, which was actually marked as such. We still went down it, as part of the appeal of the Fiery Furnace is the spirit of exploration and adventure rather than following a pre-determined path. Another group of hikers caught up to us and took our photos. As a matter of fact, we kept encountering other groups throughout the hike, which was reassuring because it meant we were probably not lost.

At Skull Arch, we took a break for lunch. It was a nice shady spot and we didn’t encounter other people here.

At one point, we thought we might have to squeeze through a really tight tunnel. When the smallest of us, May, declared it too tight, we had to look for an alternate route.

In the end, we were able to follow the arrows and did not get lost. There were some pretty sketchy sections along the way but we managed to get through them without injuries or falls or other such things. Can you spot the formation aptly named Kissing Turtles in one of the photos below?

We knew we were getting close to the end when we found the aptly named Surprise Arch. It was a short detour from the main route, and we would have missed it if it weren’t for Alltrails.

It took us just about 2 hours to complete the 2-mile route. A pace of 1 mile per hour speaks volumes about how challenging the terrain is.

After a much needed real meal at Trailhead Public House & Eatery, we went back to our hotel and relaxed for the rest of the evening. The outdoor hot tub was well used that night. And we still had a full day in Canyonlands on deck!