Because there’s a lot of famous Arches in Utah, a lot of people plan trips specifically to go and check them out and while there are literally 1,000s of them to explore, I’m going to share with you the 17 best ones.
Here The List:
- Arches National Park arches (the most famous)
- Rainbow Bridge Arch
- Jacob Hamlin Arch
- Coyote Natural Bridge Arch
- Sunset Arch
- Great Chamber Arch
- Mesa Arch
- Hickman Natural Bridge Arch
- Druid Arch
- Corona Arch
- Jeep Arch
- Metate Arch
- Desert Arch Window Rock
- Cassidy Arch
- Inchworm Arch
These famous arches all all located within the southern regions of Utah, either throughout the national parks there and/or through the regions near those parks and the details of where to find them will also be provided.
Arches National Park (2,000+ arches):
- Location: Arches National Park (within Moab region).
I honestly didn’t even want to add
Arches National Park to this list because it’s just too easy to find them there. It literally has 1,000s of arches and if you don’t want to explore any others on this list, just know that you will have more than enough arches to explore here.
The most famous arches in this park are Delicate Arch, Double Arch, and the Windows Arches (I also have a detailed post with
Arches National Park photos you can see more of them at). Aside from this park, I want to focus on separate regions in Utah where you can find more isolated, yet famous arches.
Rainbow Bridge Arch:
- Location: Near Glen Canyon (south eastern Utah).
Rainbow Bridge National Monument is one of the hardest arches to find in Utah and that’s because you can only get to it either by taking a boat from one or more marinas located across Glen Canyon Recreation area, or taking a very long hike that actually starts in Arizona to it which is better for overnight trips. However, what makes this place so amazing is that it is the largest natural bridge (or arch) in Utah and the fact that the way to reach it is very unorthodox than any other arch on this list also makes that a very interesting hike to try.
Jacob Hamlin Arch:
This is one of my favorite arches in Utah and getting there also isn’t easy. You have to drive into Grand Staircase Escalante, then find one of 3 different trailheads and then hike anywhere from 1.5 to 6 miles to reach it. But it is an amazing arch to explore for many reasons. One of them is that it’s gigantic, and second is that its also in Coyote Gulch which has another famous arch coming up so if you do come here, there’s a lot more to see than just the Jacob Hamlin Arch.
Coyote Natural Bridge:
- Location: Also Coyote Gulch
The Coyote Natural Bridge is also an arch is located east of Jacob Hamlin Arch (about 1 mile from it) and while it isn’t as big, you can hike through it and get amazing pictures from that. Coyote Natural Bridge is also a great add on place to explore if you’re in Coyote Gulch and depending on which of the trails you take to get there, you will either visit this arch first, then Jacob Hamlin or vice versa. In any case, if you’re going to check out Jacob Hamlin Arch, make sure to also check this one out as well!
Sunset Arch:
- Location: Sunset Arch is near Coyote Gulch Water tank trailhead.
Sunset Arch isn’t very big, but it’s a great remote arch you can find very close by to one of the trailheads that goes into Coyote Gulch. In this case, it’s the Water tank trailhead which normally is where people go to start their hike into Coyote Gulch, but for Sunset Arch, you will park by the water tank area, and then head south (there is a GPS location to Sunset Arch) and it’s about 1,000 feet from it. You may literally be able to do a hike to see the Jacob Hamlin and Coyote Natural Bridges with Sunset Arch all in one day.
Great Chamber Arch:
For whatever reason, the Great Chamber is rarely mentioned as being a famous arch and natural bridge (it isn’t even identified as that) and just as well it’s also the type of place that is very famous among people who actually know that this arch even exists. Anyway, one of the reasons why I mention all of this because to get to it requires either a very long 8 mile hike (one way) to reach or a very long sandy road drive using an
Alltrails map to reach, then a 1/4 mile to get to it (which is what I used) and I do also have directions on
how to hike to the Great Chamber with details on all this. This arch is one of the tallest in Utah and is breathtaking.
Mesa Arch:
This is not just the most famous arch in
Canyonlands National Park, but possibly in all of Utah too. I have been there personally and while it is an easy hike to reach, there are 2 things to know before you do it:
- The best time to reach it is during sunrise as you can literally see the sun rising from within the arch and take the best pictures. If you go there anytime after, you’ll still get a nice photo of it, but it’s 100x better during sunrise.
- The trailhead to this hike is very packed and often crowded and especially during sunrise because of that timing.
Hickman Natural Bridge Arch:
Location: Hickman Natural Bridge trailhead
I happen to think that the Hickman Natural Bridge trail is one of the
best hikes in Utah that I have ever done because it’s short, absolutely beautiful and the actual arch/natural bridge is also breathtaking. It does also connect with Cassidy Arch (mentioned later on this list), but if you’re going to visit Capitol Reef National Park and you’re going arch hunting, this is definitely one to see! This arch is one of the reasons why I love Capitol Reef National Park so much.
Druid Arch:
One of the most remote and famous arches in Canyonlands is the Druid Arch. It’s about an 8 mile hike to reach and you have to start from the eastern end of the park to even get on the trailhead. But Druid Arch and the hike to get there is extremely beautiful and gives you a completely different hiking experience than Mesa Arch in Canyonlands as that one is at the top of the park. This isn’t to say that it’s better than Mesa arch, but the views and experiences are very different and both worth trying, and in this case if you like long hikes, then this is highly recommended!
Corona Arch:
This is both a very famous arch and at the same time famous hike you can do in Moab. You will park off the road (279) and start the trailhead there. From the road to reach Corona Arch is about a 1-2 mile hike. It’s not very difficult and the actual Corona Arch is huge. Depending on the time you do this hike, you may also have the parking lot get filled up quickly as it’s popularity does attract many people. When you start on this hike, you will also have the opportunity to explore
Pinto Arch on the way.
Jeep Arch:
This hike is next door to Corona Arch (across from Arches National Park) but it takes a bit longer to reach and that is about a 3 mile hike in and out. There is an official parking lot and trail to take you to Jeep Arch and like the one above, it can fill up quickly. But the look of this arch is very different than many of the others so far mentioned on this list, and you can get amazing views of the national from it as well as of Moab in the distance.
Metate Arch:
I’ll be honest, Metate Arch is not very famous, but is located in
Grand Staircase Escalante which is a famous spot in Utah and the hike to it is also very simple, remote which is great considering how many of the other famous arches on this list typically get large crowds around them. You can check out my Grand Staircase Escalante article above for directions to reach Metate Arch but it’s off the same road you take to reach Jacob Hamlin, Coyote Natural Bridge and Sunset Arches. There is also another famous “Grand Staircase Escalante Natural Bridge” to check out not far from there.
Desert Arch Window Rock:
This may be the easiest arch you find in Utah as it’s easily seen off the road and hiking to it is also very simple. It’s gigantic, and you can choose to omit hiking to it and just take pictures of it from your car. There is also another source I have seen which lists this as “Looking Glass Rock” but either way the arch is beautiful, the views from the parking lot or inside the arch are great too. This and Jeep Arch make for a great, simple combination hike (or view) you can check out.
Cassidy Arch:
Cassidy Arch is probably the most famous arch in Capitol Reef National Park, more so than Hickman Natural Bridge and it’s a 2 mile or so hike to reach. This arch is even larger than Hickman Bridge and you can also get amazing views of it from a distance as well as walk over it. Cassidy Arch can also be done in combination with Hickman Bridge trail if you follow the connecting trails there, making for a 5 mile or so hike in total.
Inchworm Arch:
Getting to Inchworm Arch is like getting to the Great Chamber mentioned earlier, meaning you can either do a long hike to reach it or take a 4 wheel drive, go over a lot of rugged and sandy roads to reach. But if you are ready for that, then this arch, one of the most famous in Kanab is worth seeing. It’s a large arch with a scenic and fun hike attached to it (if you do most of it by car to reach).
Natural Bridge (Bryce Canyon):
There aren’t many big arches in
Bryce Canyon National Park, but there are at least 2 major ones and one of them is called Natural Bridge which can be seen off the Bryce Canyon scenic drive (you have to take the road south of the Bryce entrance to get to it). As far as I know you can’t hike through or into it but you can get a great overview of it from the road. There is also one you can see from exploring the Queens Garden Loop trail in Bryce as well.
Kolob Canyon Arch (Zion):
There are a few arches you can throughout
Zion National Park and Kolob Canyon Arch is one of them. I have personally never been to that specific area but I have visited Zion many times and so this is the next arch on my list to spot when I go there next time.
I do also want to briefly mention another, more remote arch outside of Zion called Water Canyon Arch (it’s located in Hilldale Utah) which is very beautiful, but there is a long hike to reach it. It’s seen on Instagram here and there but I think it’s one of the most beautiful arches in Utah. It’s obviously not famous but I added it here because it’s close to Zion. I also recommend seeing a post I made that has many other beautiful
Zion National Park photos.
The number of natural arches in Utah has based on regions:
- Arches National Park: There’s several 1,000 (most arches in Utah and the world).
- Capitol Reef National Park: At least 2 famous ones.
- Bryce Canyon National Park: At least 2.
- Zion National Park: Has at least 2 arches (Kolob, Water Canyon Arch and Crawford Arch)..
- Canyonlands National Park: 2 famous ones (Mesa and Druid).
- Grand Staircase Escalante: At least 5 famous ones.
- Kanab: Not many, maybe around 5.
- Moab: If we’re talking anything outside Arches National Park, then maybe a few dozen (some have been mentioned above). The most famous are Corona Arch and Jeep Arch.
- South East Utah: Anything around the Monument Valley area and Glen Canyon recreation area. Not many, but the Rainbow Bridge is most famous there.
Related:
If there’s anymore famous arches that I find in Utah, I’ll add them to this post but if you’re someone who knows about the other options there, if you don’t mind sharing their locations, you can do that below!
Location: Hickman Natural Bridge trailhead
I happen to think that the Hickman Natural Bridge trail is one of the best hikes in Utah that I have ever done because it’s short, absolutely beautiful and the actual arch/natural bridge is also breathtaking. It does also connect with Cassidy Arch (mentioned later on this list), but if you’re going to visit Capitol Reef National Park and you’re going arch hunting, this is definitely one to see! This arch is one of the reasons why I love Capitol Reef National Park so much.
Wedding Ring arch in Canyonlands.
Nice! Added!
Would like to receive these in the mail to assist in planning a 3 month visit to Utah, Wyoming and Surrounding area