NOTFZJ80: Off-roading Arches National Park- 01.01.16
There’s an incredible 20+ miles of unpaved/4x4 trails in Arches National Park! And it’s especially spectacular on a sunny, snow covered winter day! Also incredibly - while there were tons of tourists packing ever view point on the main roads, we spent hours off-roading and taking in the stunning rock formations without seeing another car - or person! The funny thing is that we’d tried to go find some of the off roading trails around Moab, but many of them were heavily snowed in and pretty unpassable, so on the way home we figured we’d cruise through Arches quickly to get a peek at what to explore next time… but then we looked down at the map… noticed the 4x4 trails… and a few hours later we popped back out of the park! The trail put our NOTFZJ80 (and our driving skills) to the test - and it handled fantastically. Take a look at our adventure - and if you find yourself that way, we definitely recommend it. Lots of pictures and videos on the next page.
The Arches National Park map! As we explored it… we noticed more than 20 miles of unpaved and 4x4 trails to explore! Not sure what we were in for - we dived right in and did the orange path i’ve marked out on the map below.
CLICK MAP TO VIEW LARGER.
The craziest part? Going across from the unpaved to 4WD over to the Tower Arch.
Before diving into the pictures… VIDEOS!!!!
… ok back to the pictures!
Driving up to Tower Arch. With more time - we’ll definitely have to hike over to it in the future!
The trees! The snow! The rock faces! All so surreal.
The amazing thing about a sunny, snow covered desert is how much you realize you’re not alone. Endless little tracks throughout the snow… EVERYWHERE! We were so excited when we saw a ground squirrel scurry by, and even giddier when we found a rabbit headed into its hole surrounded by TONS of tracks!
About 20 miles off roading around… we ran into our first car at the Eye of the Whale Arch. Another we’re adding to the list of spots to go back to and hike out to with more time for sure.
Breathtaking isn’t it?
A fun and rather exciting tilted section (see the video above!)
Thank you Arches National Park! The 4x4 trail was a fantastic surprise, and a beautiful, surreal way to see the park from a whole new view… and surprisingly tourist free! If you make it out to Utah and happen to be in your 4x4, do the trail!
I love NOTCOT and I loved reading your Arches story, the videos were great as I think I would have taken the same ones. I felt like you must have felt - to be seeing what other explorers saw the first time they came there and thought how incredible. Thank you for sharing.
----- Nina 04.01.16 02:13