Arches Area Hiking
| Arches Area Hiking - West Rim |
Distance:
6.2 miles (plus 6.7 miles by car or bicycle)
Walking
time: 3 1/2 hours
Elevations:
120 ft. loss
Courthouse Wash Trailhead
(start): 4,120 ft.
Highway 191: 4,000 ft.
Trail:
No trail, but very easy walking along bottom of a
sandy wash. Some wading is necessary, so wear wettable
shoes.
Season:
Spring, summer, fall, winter. There is occasionally
snow in the canyon during winter. For more information
call the Visitor Center, Arches National Park, at
(801) 259-8161.
Vicinity:
Arches National Park, near Moab
Courthouse
Wash is a short, but very pretty canyon near the entrance
to Arches National Park. You won’t see any arches
in Courthouse but it is, nevertheless, a pleasant
half-day walk. The canyon almost always has at least
some water in it; consequently it is filled with cottonwoods
and willows. The easiest place to walk is usually
in the stream bed, so you should wear sneakers or
other shoes suitable for wading. There are deer and
raccoon tracks in the canyon, but the animal you are
sure to see a lot of is frogs.
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Before
dropping into lower Courthouse Wash to begin your hike,
pause for a while to study the red sandstone towers that
rise from the surrounding valley. These photogenic formations
are all part of the Entrada Sandstone geologic formation
that dominates most of Arches National Park. The Courthouse
Towers, after which Courthouse Wash was named, are located
about a mile south of the trailhead.
Underneath the Entrada Sandstone
Formation lies the Navajo Sandstone, a thick layer of
light-colored rock that is very prominent in the canyons
of southern Utah. Navajo Sandstone is generally much whiter
than the reddish Entrada Sandstone, and it tends to erode
into deep narrow canyons and smooth-walled cliffs with
little fracturing. Entrada Sandstone, on the other hand,
has an interesting tendency to erode into unlikely looking
pillars and arches of the kind that have made Arches National
Park famous. This hike begins very close to the boundary
that separates the Entrada Sandstone from the older Navajo
Sandstone. At first the canyon is very shallow, but as
you proceed downstream the gorge cuts deeper into the
Navajo Sandstone and the canyon walls soon become much
higher.
You will be following the
bottom of Courthouse Wash all the way to the point where
Highway 191 crosses it, 0.2 mile before it reaches the
Colorado River. The canyon starts out in a general easterly
direction, then gradually swings around to the south.
Four smaller side canyons join the wash before it reaches
the Colorado, all coming in from the northeast, but in
each case it is obvious which canyon is the main one.
The smaller canyons all lead to an area in the park known
as the Petrified Sand Dunes.
Sand, of course, is a by-product
of the erosion that carved Courthouse Wash, and the floor
of the canyon is filled with a thick layer of it. Walking
on the dry, loose sand is tiring, but there is usually
a lot of water in the streambed and it is easier to walk
in or along the edge of water. Many people take their
shoes off and walk barefoot most of the way. |
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Upper
Courthouse Wash
If you want a longer walk
you can begin your hike farther north on Highway 191
at the top of upper Courthouse Wash. The upper part
of the wash begins on the east side of Highway 191,
5.7 miles north of the park entrance or about 0.2 mile
south of the road leading to Dead Horse Point. This
route first passes through a narrow canyon in the Entrada
Sandstone, and then, after about 2.5 miles, emerges
into a wide valley at the bottom of the Entrada Sandstone
Formation. There is usually water in the streambed after
the first 2.3 miles. Finally, after 7.8 miles, the wash
reaches the national park road, where the hike through
lower Courthouse Wash begins.
Content
from the book
Utah's Favorite
Hiking Trails
by David Day |
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Utah's
Favorite Hiking Trails
access
info for 113 trailheads
75
detailed trail maps
250
photographs
loads
of hiking tips
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more information?
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