A few years back, we visited The Needles district of Canyonlands National Park for the first time.
Unfortunately, with just one day there, we were forced to make a choice: hike all the shorter trails or hike one 11+ mile (17.7 km) trail. We opted for the former as it would allow us to see the greatest variety of what The Needles has to offer. Thus, Druid Arch remained on our to-do list.
When we decided to return to Moab this past Thanksgiving, it was the perfect opportunity to finally complete this hike!
Canyonlands is not known for its arches, but there are quite a few of them scattered throughout the park. And while standing at the base of Druid Arch is definitely the highlight of this hike, getting there is an adventure of its own.
Step 1: make it to the trailhead.
This hike departs from Elephant Hill Trailhead, at the end of a 3 mile (4.8 km) narrow winding dirt road, complete with hills and multiple blind curves. Be sure to check road conditions before heading out; heavy rainfall, snow, and ice may make the road temporarily impassable. In good weather, though, any car should be able to make the journey.
Step 2: grab your hiking gear – including sturdy footwear with good traction – and get ready to navigate an endless expanse of slickrock, canyons, and sand.
The hike begins with a short but steep climb, which certainly got our heart rates going on this chilly morning.
From here, the trail became more of an undulating path as we wove across the landscape, sneaking through some narrow passageways en route to the first of four junctions.
Which brings me to step 3: properly navigate the rock cairns marking the path, as well as each junction, to ensure you’re still headed toward Druid Arch. Luckily, cairns are placed fairly frequently (though if you stop looking for too long, it’s very easy to stray off route… and yes, I am speaking from experience) and all junctions have clear signage.
At the first junction, we turned right onto the Chesler Park Trail. This short section led us up and over into Elephant Canyon and junction #2.
On our previous hike in The Needles, we continued straight here toward Chesler Park. This time, we turned left onto the Druid Arch Trail. The trail follows Elephant Canyon for the next 3 miles (4.8 km), all the way to the arch. While much of the route remains on the floor of the canyon, it does from time to time veer off to the one side, navigating up and around certain obstacles. Cairns mark the route.
The upside to hiking this trail in the winter is that the sand was mostly frozen and therefore a fairly solid hiking surface. In warmer weather, you’d be walking through soft sand for much of the hike, which would be exhausting.
The downside to hiking in the winter is that very little sun reaches the depths of the canyon. It was cold down there!
Once you’re in the canyon, there are two more trail junctions to navigate. After 0.8 miles, we kept right. After another 0.5 miles (0.8 km), we turned left. From here, it was just under 2 miles (3.2 km) to Druid Arch.
The elevation gain of this hike is slow and gradual until the very end. Druid Arch sits at the head of the canyon, meaning we now had to leave the canyon floor and climb part way up the rock walls to reach the base of the arch.
Climbing out of the canyon involved some relatively easy scrambling, one section of very slippery scrambling, a metal ladder and a bar drilled into the rock, and a final ascent that wouldn’t have been bad if not for the snow and ice.
But we did it, cresting the rock walls to find ourselves completely alone and staring at the massive Druid Arch. Even having seen photos of the arch in advance, I was still in awe of its size.
A few other hikers arrived about 10 minutes later, but there’s plenty of space to spread out so everyone was able to find their own space to take photos and enjoy the arch. We marveled at its size, as well as its unique shape and method of formation. It looks – to me, at least – as though it was formed by rocks breaking out of the middle, rather than by the smooth erosion of sandstone seen in many of Arches’ arches.
After nearly half an hour at the arch, it was time to begin our descent. We carefully made our way back down the snowy rocks and into Elephant Canyon, navigating the junctions in the opposite direction, following signs for Elephant Hill.
Right: for lack of a better place to put it, please enjoy this photo of ice shards floating in a shallow puddle.
Aside from the scrambling, it wasn’t a difficult hike back to the car. It was just long. By the time we were back to Chesler Park we were very ready to be done… but we still had 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to go. A solo hiker caught up to us towards the end, and when the parking lot finally came into view, I think he said it best:
“We had some good views on the trail, but this is a good view too.”
Hard to argue with that.
That being said, would I recommend this hike? Absolutely!
The Important Stuff:
- Getting there: The Needles district of Canyonlands is located roughly 90 minutes southwest of Moab or 60 minutes northwest of Monticello in eastern Utah; there is only one road in or out (UT Highway 211). Elephant Hill Trailhead is at the end of the 2WD portion of Elephant Hill Road. Follow signs in the park for navigation, everything is well-marked.
- Fees and passes: Entry to Canyonlands is $30 per car for a 7-day pass; America the Beautiful passes are accepted. No permits or passes are needed for a day hike, but if you plan to backpack into The Needles, you must obtain a permit.
- Hiking: Park information lists this hike at 10.8 miles (17.4 km), but my hiking tracker clocked it at 11.3 miles (18.2 km) with about 2300 feet (700 m) of elevation gain, which aligns with most other accounts of this hike. Here is a map of the area.
- Where to stay: There is a small primitive campground at The Needles that looked like it had some pretty neat sites. There are also some camping options on surrounding BLM land or in Moab. Also, hotels, cabins, etc. are plentiful in Moab, and Monticello has a few lodging options as well. We stayed in Moab.
- Other: Because most of this hike is in the bottom of a canyon, it should never be attempted when there is a risk of storms due to the risk of flash floods. If there’s a chance of rain anywhere in the vicinity, you should not enter Elephant Canyon. This is less of a concern in the winter, but it’s still important to always check the weather forecast before you set out.
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