Scenic Drive - New Mexico/Utah Trip - January 12, 2026

We had about 440 miles to drive from Socorro, New Mexico to our next destination, Moab, Utah, assuming we took the direct route.  So we started fairly early with breakfast in the hotel before checking out and getting on the road.  As we loaded up the car, I took one last look at the beautiful view just across the street as the sun was starting to rise.

As we headed north through New Mexico, Ship Rock came up in discussions about what we might see and so I found us a more scenic route to get a bit closer.  North of Gallup at Yah-Ta-Hey, we took Highway 264 west to Window Rock, just across the border into Arizona.

Curious on how Window Rock got its name, I discovered the town had a beautiful arch (named Window Rock) that was very accessible.

We then headed north on IR-12.  This highway meandered back and forth across the Arizona/New Mexico border a few times before going deeper back into Arizona.  At Lukachukai, we turned onto Highway 13.  This is the point where the scenery went from beautiful to jaw dropping as we made our way through hilly areas with dark red rock formations where the road switched back and forth.  

At some point, a ways down Highway 13, there was a sign for rough road ahead.  In this case, rough road appeared to mean unplowed with snow that was fairly fresh.  There were a lot of tracks to indicate it was fairly well traveled (and we ultimately did run into some plows so it eventually got better) so we continued on.  

Eventually, we wound our way back down to flatter ground as we started to get glimpses of Ship Rock in the distance.  In hindsight, we could have avoided the a bit treacherous road and still gotten close to Ship Rock by just back tracking on Highway 13 from 491 but we would have missed some amazing scenery.  

We continued on towards Moab and not too far south of Moab drove by this beautiful rock formation with the La Sal Mountains in the background.

We checked into our hotel which is the Homewood Suites in Moab and then walked over to have dinner at El Tapatio which I really enjoyed.  I had an excellent margarita and their enchiladas with mole.  On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in a shop with items made by local artists where I found a few little souvenirs to bring home.  And then I was ready to crash for the night. 

The downtown is surrounded by hills and rock formations.

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.