Arches National Park Is Beautiful

Utah is a great place for camping. One of the reasons it attracted Mormon settlers was because it was full of stunning natural beauty, like nothing anyone had ever seen before.

The good news for all you campers and hikers is that all that scenery has been preserved by the park service for us to enjoy today. If you look at a map of Utah, you’ll see that almost the entire south-central portion is national park. You could easily spend several weeks in Utah and always find new things to see.

Arches National Park

Arches National Park is named after its most striking feature – the arches. These arches are made of all natural sandstone. Over time, the wind has carved them out of this delicate rock. For geologists, it’s a goldmine of ancient fossils. For hikers and other outdoors types, it’s full of spectacular scenery.

In addition to the arches that make it famous, the park is full of barren desert beauty. Giant boulders stand balanced on top of each other, like they might be ready to fall at any moment. Unearthly rocky shapes stand out in a landscape of sand, shrub and brightly colored wildflowers. Arches is a photographer’s paradise, with its rock structures that subtly change shape over the course of the day as the sun hits them at different angles.

There’s only one campground at Arches, the ominously named Devils Garden Campground. If you plan to go, especially during summer, you should call to make a reservation. You can also make a reservation online. There are both tent camping spots as well as those that can accommodate larger vehicles, trailers and RVs, complete with hook-ups.

You can plan a whole camping vacation around Utah alone. Besides these popular national parks, there are more out-of-the way places to camp in Utah, where you can really get away from it all.