Delicate Arch Trail Damage
Heavy rains in early October at Arches National Park saturated the ground and caused flash flooding, significant mud deposits and several rescues and closures. The weather-related damage to a section of the trail to Delicate Arch is expected to take months to repair. Record rains during the month totaled 4.67 inches - over half the park’s annual average. (That may not sound like a lot of rain to some folks but remember that this is a desert environment.) On October 6th twenty adults and four children were stranded on the far side of a 15 to 20 foot wide river that dissected the Delicate Arch trail near the trailhead. The stranded hikers were eventually ferried across the water by a large diesel truck, with assistance from a track-hoe.
This massive flooding along with subsequent rains caused the Delicate Arch area to be closed for days. Work crews cleared the road several times, only to have water resurge, depositing more sand on the road. At one point, nearly two feet of sand blocked the road at one of the low water crossings.
The trail beyond Wolfe Ranch is now completely gone and will take at least several months of work to repair. Salt Wash, a major drainage from the Book Cliffs and Yellow Cat area, created a new channel, washing away at least 50 horizontal feet of trail surface. The footbridge is still intact but inaccessible. I took the following photo a few weeks ago, on October 29th…
Click on this photo for a closer look at the damage. It looks like a war zone!
The trail has been rerouted temporarily to avoid the most severely damaged area near Salt Wash and the footbridge. Visitors can access Wolfe Ranch from the parking lot, but must return from there to the detour. To access the arch itself, hikers should use the temporary trail down the Viewpoint road for about 400 feet, and then link back with the main trail.
Detour sign at the beginning of the trail.
It’s kind of a bummer starting the hike along a road, but within minutes you are back on the regular trail.
Once you are past the detour, the remaining 98% of the trail is in great shape. These photos were all taken the day that I also took many of the Delicate Arch photos mentioned in my previous blog entry.
I included the following photo, which I took about half way up the trail to Delicate Arch - looking to the south toward some sandstone fins. It’s a pretty cool photo because if you look closely just to the lower right of center you can see a person standing on one of the fins, which adds a real sense of scale to the scene. I am still amazed at the enormity of the landscape around here!
Finally, I’ve included the following photo as a public service. It shows the very last section of the trail to Delicate Arch. I know that some people have concerns about this section of the trail because it is often described as very narrow along a steep ledge. While that description is more-or-less correct, I think that you can see that the trail is actually rather wide - wider than most city sidewalks. (It’s in the shade but if you look closely you can make out the trail.) Over the years I have hiked this trail with numerous people who are uncomfortable with heights, and they had no problem at all.
Robert & Rhonda have been exploring Southern Utah for over 20 years.