Sand Dune Arch is a Great Place to Bring the Whole Family – Arches National Park

If you’re visiting Arches National Park, choosing what to do can be daunting. There are too many wonderful options to fit into one trip. Every time we go, we do some of our favorites and find a few new places to explore as well.

I can’t believe it took us until our fourth trip to discover this one! Sand Dune Arch was a favorite, especially of our kids. It’s a short, easy hike to a secluded arch among fins of rock. The opportunities for play around the arch are endless.

Want to read more about Arches National Park?

This post is a continuation of a series on Arches National Park. You can find the others by clicking on these links: 

• Park Avenue
• The Windows
• Delicate Arch
• Skyline Arch
• Devils Garden

Logistics:

• Distance: 0.3 mile (0.5 km)
• Elevation: 0
• Difficulty: Easy
• Facilities: Pit toilets
• Dogs Allowed: No
• Parking: At trailhead

Getting there:

First Head to Arches National Park

You will need to pay an entrance fee, which is good for 7 days, or have an America the Beautiful Pass.

There are also certain Fee Free days and did you know that 4th graders can get a free annual pass?

To get to Sand Dune Arch, you continue down the main road further into the park. The trailhead is 16 miles (25.7 km) past the Visitor Center.

At around 11.5 miles (18.5 km), the road will fork. Turning right takes you to Delicate Arch, but for this hike, continue toward the left.

From here, in approximately 1.8 miles (2.9 km), you will pass the Salt Valley Overlook and the Fiery Furnace Viewpoint. These are worth the stop and I’ll circle back to them in a future post. For now, keep on driving – only 2 more miles (3.2 km) to our destination!

The Trail

I didn’t record this one on gps but the trail is easy to follow. After a short walk on a gravel path, turn right when you see the signs for Sand Dune Arch.

If you go left, you can also reach Broken Arch, Tapestry Arch, and the Devil’s Garden campground in a loop of about 2 miles (3.2 km).

For now, we’re going to focus on Sand Dune Arch. Even though it’s a short, easy hike, there are many places to explore, climb, and play in the wash. You can spend a lot of time here.

Just after you follow the sign and turn right for Sand Dune Arch, you will enter a small slot. You can see the path to walk on the right, and of course, our kids chose the more difficult way on the left.

On the way in, there are a lot of places to climb and play.

You may want to bring lunch. We didn’t, thinking this was such a short hike we wouldn’t need food. However, we spent hours here having fun on the rocks and in the crevices.

This would be an especially nice place to hang out in the summer, with shade from the sun.

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A little way down on your right, you’ll reach the Sand Dune Arch. How would you would ever know it was back here? You can see why it’s called Sand Dune, what with all the deep sand around.

You can walk through behind the arch and climb up to either side. It’s a bit of a scramble, although the kids managed it.

Please don’t walk out onto the actual arch. Not only is it dangerous, but all the foot traffic over time can damage the arches. We want to keep them around as long as possible.

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While climbing up behind the arch, you can peek over the rocks to see back toward the main road. Here’s a view:

Continue beyond the arch

If you continue down the rock fins past the arch, there are plenty more places to climb and play. You can go farther back than you might expect.

In the photo on the right below, can you see the little legs in the hole?

If you shimmy through, there’s a lot of exploring to be done. I didn’t get enough pictures beyond this point because, while the kids fit through easily, I had to focus on slithering through the hole without getting stuck.

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This part is not for the claustrophobic. I’m not and it was TIGHT!

@staceybweldon

♬ Vacation – Dirty Heads

Or you can just hang out on the rocks and find a cozy place to rest among the fins and contemplate life.

Time to head back

After you’ve had your fill of Sand Dune Arch, head back out the way you came in.

If you’d like to check out Broken Arch and Tapestry Arch while you’re here, head to the right on the trail instead of left for back to your car.

You can always make your own natural slide on the way back to the car.

As always, I recommend checking out the Arches National Park Service website before you go for operating hours, alerts, information about road conditions, and other pertinent information. You don’t want to drive all the way to your destination only to find out that something is closed.

Next up in the Arches National Park tour is Skyline Arch.