Travel-Curious

Travel Curious

For independent travelers who want to dig deeper

Entering Arches National Park through Willow Springs Road

 

Willow Springs Road up until 1958 was the original visitor’s entrance into Arches National Park, then Arches National Monument.  Today it is a backdoor road into the park that avoids the toll gate and reservation system assuming you walk, mountain bike or drive a four-wheel drive vehicle.

 

 

 

Willow Springs road through Arches National Park in Utah
 
The road is 8 miles long, with 4 miles inside the park and 4 miles outside the park.
Willow Springs road map through Arches National Park in Utah
 
The portion inside the park is a well-graded dirt road that can be driven by cars for a short potion, however, there are some washes with steep entries that a car would not be able to traverse, however, a stock SUV should have no problem.
 

Willow Springs road

From the Balanced Rock entrance within the National Park, the road is easy and sandy
 

Slick rock portion of the road

After a couple of miles, the road gets more difficult with some minor slickrock and some more challenging (for a car) washes to cross
 
The portion outside the park is less maintained, travels over slickrock for some portions and has a difficult 500-foot section just outside the park boundary, and can only be driven by stock or better high clearance 4×4 vehicles.
Exiting the National Park
Exiting the National Park
 

The roughest section after exiting the National Park

The most challenging section is the 500 feet just outside the park boundary
 
Dinosaur Tracks ( 38.700585, -109.641738 )
A few minutes outside the park boundary is a section of dinosaur tracks you can stop and see before you continue traversing the southern portion of the Klondike Bluffs, passing many popular mountain biking trailheads before you come to highway 191.
 
The Dinosaur track site is well marked with signage and rocks placed on the slickrock. Three-claw Theropod (raptor-like) and round-footed Sauropod (Brontosaurus-like) dinosaurs walked through a muddy section of ground 165 million years ago and left their footprints for us to see today.

Three-claw Theropod (raptor-like) dinosaur footprints

 
round-footed Sauropod (Brontosaurus-like) dinosaurs foot prints
 
 
Getting there
From Moab
Take US-191 11.5 miles north to the paved turnoff on your right for Willow Springs Road at ( 38.696712, -109.698675 )
 
From inside Arches National Park
Head to the Balanced Rock, there is a turn-off on the north side of Arches National Park Road directly across from the Balanced Rock parking area at ( 38.701686, -109.566868 ). 
 
Note
  • Once you enter the national park from Willow Springs Road you must obey all national park rules
  • Willow Springs Road is also the access to the Eye of the Whale Arch

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Secret Spire

A quick hike along a sandy road to a rock spire sitting on rolling slickrock hills near Moab

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An easy hike to a tunnel that takes you to an overlook into Spring Canyon near the Tombstone Rock formation

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Moab Maiden – Hike

The Moab Maiden is a single petroglyph pecked into a large single boulder on a ridge above Kane Springs Creek. There are other petroglyphs at the cliff face at the overlook, as well as the ruin of a granary and pithouse.

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Seven Mile Canyon ( Lower ) – Hike

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Hidden Valley – Hike

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Arches National Park...

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Sand Dune Arch

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Guide for the Devil’s Garden

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Tower Arch Hike

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aaaa 12

Willow Springs Road

Willow Springs Road is a backdoor road into Arches National Park that avoids the toll gate, and reservation system

Park Avenue Arches National Park

Park Avenue – hike

This is a fun and easy hike and is a great introduction to hiking in Arches National Park for beginners, the trail gets you quickly immersed among the high red rock features of what Utah and the park is all about.

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Windows Section of Arches National Park

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False Kiva – Hike

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Dinosaur Tracks...

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Klondike Bluffs Dinosaur Track – Hike

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Scenic Drives...

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Potash Road / Shafer Trail

The scenic drive – Utah Scenic Byway 279, takes the back roads and runs from Moab to Canyon Lands National Park along the Colorado River

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Everything Else...

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Faux Falls

Faux falls are man-made via an outflow from Ken’s Lake reservoir. Being so close to Moab, the pool at the bottom of the falls makes for a great shallow swimming hole for people and dogs in the summer. 

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