Many of the more famous features of Arches National Park in Utah can be seen right from the road. Although the park’s fantastic spires and shapes are best experienced from hiking trails, visitors who stroll short distances from paved parking areas will be rewarded. In spite of the name, it is not all about the arches. Rainbows of rock form pinnacles, towers, balanced rocks and enormous cliffs. Grassy valleys transition from one canyon area to another, with views of the often snowcapped La Sal Mountains in the distance.

Arches is a landscape created from years of upheaval and erosion. Layers of sandstone hundreds of feet thick were cracked by underground salt deposits into upright slabs, and gradually carved into all sorts of unlikely shapes.

Although scattered arches are seen in almost every Utah national park, they are very rare outside of the desert southwest. And the concentration of natural stone openings found in Arches National Park is like nowhere else on earth. Over 2000 arches have been catalogued here. There are holes the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, and arches that span hundreds of feet. There are openings shaped like small bowls, and windows high enough for a four story building to fit beneath. The largest span is a 300 foot monster called Landscape Arch.

The park is very compact. Courthouse Towers, the Fiery Furnace, the Windows area and Devil’s Garden are all grouped along a park road that ends less than 20 miles from the visitor center.

One of the first areas you’ll see after leaving the Visitor Center is Park Avenue and Courthouse Towers. The towering slickrock cliffs may look familiar. Several movies have been shot here, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the famous scene from Thelma and Louise when the women lock a police officer in his patrol car trunk.

In the Windows section, Double Arch, Turret Arch, North Window and South Window can all be photographed from the road. Relatively easy trails lead to closer views. There are places where trails lead beneath the arch, and you can look straight up to see the curve of sandstone.

The Fiery Furnace Viewpoint offers just a sampling of the redrock fins and narrow passageways that make up this slickrock maze. Although the view is beautiful, particularly in mid to late afternoon, going inside the furnace is one of the best hikes in Utah. Take one of the ranger-guided treks that are offered twice a day from March through October. These hikes often fill up in advance, so make reservations.

In the Devils Garden section, only Skyline Arch is visible from the road. But the road passes through a natural rock garden of fins and spires, and there are beautiful panoramas of the distant La Sal Mountains.

The August 2008 collapse of Wall Arch along the Devils Garden trail is a great example of how nature's continual changes make Arches National Park different from day to day and year to year.