Arches National Park - New Mexico/Utah Trip - January 13, 2026

After an early breakfast, we drove the winding road into Arches National Park while the sky was still dark.  We pulled into the La Sal Mountains Viewpoint just as colors started showing up in the sky and set up our tripods for what turned out to be a spectacular sunrise with all the colors reflecting off and enriching the redness of the rock around us.

It was cold so any puddles had frozen over and as you can see in one of my earlier sunrise photos created a beautiful reflection of the colors in the sky.

We continued on to Balanced Rock.  The snow on the ground was such a nice contrast to the red rock and green bushes and although it was a cloudy day, there is something dramatic about them that I think turned out well in some of these photos.

La Sal Mountains

On our way towards the Windows and Double Arch, we stopped at a number of overlooks.

Our next stop was the trail that would take us to the North and South Windows and Turret Arch.

North Window

Turret Arch

View from the North Window looking towards Double Arch

View through the North Window

North Window

North Window

Turret Arch

North and South Windows

North and South Windows

Turret Arch

South Window

The next stop was Double Arch.

Woodhouse's Scrub Jay

Woodhouse's Scrub Jay

The scale of these arches is so impressive!

The view looking back at the path when standing under Double Arch

We continued on through the park, stopping at pullouts along the way.

Balanced Rock

We stopped at the Sand Dune Arch Trailhead and took the short path to see Sand Dune Arch.  It's a cool trail where you walk amongst these huge towering formations to get to the arch which is quite protected.

Then my Dad and I took the trail across this field to go find Broken Arch.

Continuing on further into the park, we stopped at Skyline Arch which you can see from the road or take a very short trail to get closer.  We didn't go very far down the trail on that day but a few days later I would decide to come back and go all the way up to the Arch so check out my post from January 15.

My Dad was fascinated at the unique trees of the area.

We briefly stopped at Devil's Garden but decided not to take the trails from that trailhead on this day.  We would come back a couple days later.

Our next stop was the viewpoint for Delicate Arch.  There is a fairly moderate/strenuous trail that gets you all the way under the arch but it wasn't something any of us were up for this trip.  But they do have an alternate viewpoint from another parking lot where you can climb a short trail to get a good view from the distance.

Our last stop in the park that day was the Park Avenue Trailhead.  We saved the actually hike down Park Avenue for another day but did take the time to take in the views from the viewpoint near the parking lot.

I think we ate dinner at Zax Restaurant this evening and remember it being fairly good.