Arches National Park with Kids
Our first official adventure on the road, spring break of 2022, and we were headed to warmer weather in Moab, Utah! Arches National Park was one of our top bucket list items, and one of the closest options from Colorado. We went to Moab in March of 2022, and the weather was beautiful! There were a few frosty nights, and the wind chill was COLD at times, but all in all it was perfect.
We spent a whole week in the Moab area, but specifically when into Arches National Park for two days. Our goal was to tackle some simple hikes that we could do easily with our daughter in the hiking backpack and our son hiking by himself. We felt like it was sufficient for seeing the park end to end, and doing the most kid friendly hikes.
First, a note on boondocking in Moab
Before diving into what we did, I want to mention boondocking (dry camping). The area around Arches National Park is a GREAT place to boon dock! We follow so many traveling families that dry camp in BLM land for free. And we… tried.
I didn’t have any reservations for us our final days in Moab with the plan to boon dock. We scouted out places ahead of time, and while a LOT of what I found seemed to already be taken, the roads to the other places were ROUGH. Our home is so so valuable to us, and it didn’t feel feasible to take our 42 foot fifth wheel down any of the designated dirt roads.
So we did not dry camp the entire time we were in Moab. Do your research ahead of time, scout it out beforehand if you can, and give it a try! It just wasn’t a right fit for us on our first trek out.
I think this is a great resource for boondocking in Moab. It changes quite a bit from year to year, and there’s less that’s remaining free.
Moab RV Park
As always, we have to find a great RV park that accommodates our 42 foot fifth wheel (Montana High Country 377FL). This was a great option with plenty of big rigs around, but we did run into a slight snag (literally) when leaving the park!
Portal RV Resort
This was NOT our first choice. This was the backup plan to us boondocking, and the only campground we could book last minute for three nights (coming from the Dead Horse State Park area). But it turned out to be a pretty cool stay in the heart of Moab, convenient to downtown.
This is THE campground to go to if you have your fun Moab overland vehicles. Everyone would rumble out in the morning, and rumble back in around dinner.
Pros: Mostly big rig friendly, great laundry facility, pool, and activities. REALLY nice sites if you feel like paying a lot of money for them. Right down the street from Arches National Park entrance.
Cons: We were in the ghetto of the park. The “in field” if you will, camping out on dirt with gross picnic tables, super close to our neighbor. We were surrounded by other rows with ample room, concrete pads, and upgraded facilities—but all for a price.
We did hit a tree. We pulled forward out of our pull-thru site, only to find there was no way around a particular branch that hung too low. The groundskeeper saw us, and told us this was a routine problem site for big rigs, and we needed to back out. It was not actually a “pull thru.” Would have been nice to know before we hit it! We were also newbies, so now we know to look for the low branches when pulling out. We patched our roof, but it’ll obviously be a LOT of money to actually replace the roof. So now it’s a story we share with every RV neighbor that asks.
Arches National Park
Grab a map and enjoy driving the entire park. The arch areas are all fairly easy to explore, even if you don’t do the full trails.
Is it worth it?
I’ve heard that Arches National Park is just a glorified Garden of the Gods. Having grown up minutes from the Garden of the Gods park, I didn’t know if Arches would impress. Afterall, it was just more big red rocks.
I will say that Garden of the Gods Balanced Rock is a way more impressive balancing rock! But apart of that, Arches outdid Garden of the Gods in every other way. The rocks are MASSIVE, the hikes are spectacular, and there’s more areas to hang out at and really enjoy yourself, taking in the beauty.
Like a lot of National Parks these days, a timed entry reservation is required between April and October. Those are released 3 months prior the month you’d like to go, so make sure to book it early!
The park DOES get pretty crowded, and going off season in March, we could see the potential of what it’s like during peak season.
The park is easily seen in a day, 2-3 days if you’re wanting to do the most popular hikes (you can do multiple in a day).
There are a lot of off road trails, along with a few back entries not popular to the public. Do your research, bring a lunch and a lot of water plus all of your hiking gear,
Our top 3 Arches hikes for kids (5 and under):
1. Balanced Rock
One of the first bigger walking areas you’ll come across, this is a great place to start! Stroller friendly for a portion of the trail, then we just parked it and went exploring. It was good for rock scrambling, and the big boys climbed up a larger rock area.
Beautiful views and a fun start to our exploration of the park!
2. Double Arch
As the tallest arch in the park with a short, easy, and direct hike, this is a MUST! This was the most crowded hike (it started at a nice paved lot with large parking area), but still didn’t feel too bad on the actual trail. It was fun to explore up the base of the arch and see how far up we could make it. Then we slid right down!
This arch was SPECTACULAR and personally one of my favorites.
3. Sand Dune Arch
This arch is like going to the dunes at the beach (without the ocean nearby)!
Obviously the hiking is great, and if you have a backpack for your little ones, even better. Our five-year-old did well on most trails, and enjoyed the dynamics of hiking on rocks. We put him in thin-soled shoes so he could feel the trail and rocks beneath his feet, helping his stability. Obviously lots of cliff and canyon edges, so they definitely need to stick close.
To get to the main area, there’s a short hike (fork right on a small trail FIRST for a fun experience squeezing in between two very close rocks). You’ll take a narrow passage in between two rocks, and will come to an open area surrounded by large rocks with cool sands since they stay shaded most of the day. Then you’ll come to the Sand Dune Arch! This is where everyone likes to hang out, and play in the sand.
Note: It is ILLEGAL to climb on any of the arches! This arch specifically is easy to climb to the top of, and we watched several families do it. Not only is it dangerous, but if everyone climbed it, it’d erode over time or simply get dirty. Just don’t do it!
Also, be considerate of people wanting to take photos with the arch. When we went a second day (that’s how much we loved it!) there was a group of kids playing under the arch for nearly an hour. Thankfully we got our photos the day before, but everyone wants that beautiful photo with the arch, WITHOUT your kids in it. There’s plenty of sand and other places to play!
There’s a short hike towards the end of the canyon which is fun for exploring. It also leads to another arch, but we decided to skip it since it was more difficult to traverse with kids.
The park had a lot of convenient pull offs, a variety of arches to go see with varying levels of hikes, and was generally an easy day trip. We think that Arches National Park is a GREAT National Park to visit with kids!
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