by Thomas Chandy

Created on: December 16, 2011   Last Updated: December 18, 2011

The Arches National Park is situated near Moab town in Utah. It is open to visitors throughout the year without any time restrictions. The Devils Garden is about eighteen miles away from the main entrance. Hikers are provided facilities like picnic tables, grills, clean water, pit toilets and flush toilets. Wood or charcoal has to be brought by people though. It is always better to make online enquiries and book sites because the sites are regularly filled every day.

The Devils Garden is a very popular campground. The ground is developed and the trail is wide enough. Campers can hike to Landscape Arch and proceed on the primitive loop to go see sandstone fins, scenery and other arches. Devils garden is neat other arches: Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, Landscape Arch, Wall Arch, Partition Arch, Navajo Arch, Double O Arch, Private Arch and Dark Angel. "Hiker" advises people to start early on the trail, to avoid the heat and also to complete the trail within a day. The hiker can cover a lot of arches in Devils Garden and enjoy the view. It is better to see Pine Tree and Tunnel Arch in the morning itself.

The Arches have an interesting history.  They can be traced back 10.000 years. It was first occupied by hunter gatherers and later by nomadic hunters. They found that they could make stone tools for hunting game from Chert and Chalcedony. The debris can still be found in certain places. The early occupants were known as the Puebloan and Fremont peoples. They were basically agriculturalists. They left about 700 years ago. The area was then occupied by Paiute and Ute people. They were the ones who met the European explorers in 1776. Denis Julien, a trapper, inscribed the date (June 9, 1844) of his visit to the Arches. 

Farmers, prospectors and ranchers settled down in the town of Moab between 1880 and 1890. John Wesley Wolfe built a ranch near the Delicate Arch trail in 1898 and a cabin remains. Loren Taylor and John Williams were the first to spread word about the beauty of the arches.  Alexander Ringhoffer sought the help of railroads to attract visitors. Government sent teams to research and in 1929; the President signed a legislation to protect the spires, balanced rocks, arches and sandstone formations and declared the Arches as a National Monument. The Arches was made a National Park in 1971.

The Devils Garden and surrounding arches are located at a high altitude ranging from 4,085 to 5,653 feet above sea level. The area has little rainfall and extreme climate. It is advisable to carry water. The campers will be provided maps which are useful for locating trails and Arches. Devils Garden is a hiker’s paradise and a photographer's delight.

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