Arches backpacking: Devil's Garden Loop

Location: Arches National Park, Moab Utah

Trailhead: Devil's Garden Trailhead

April 2023

Itinerary
This overnight backpacking trip of the Devil's Garden Trail is very short as compared to most other backpacking trips: only about 8 miles. I started in the afternoon and I did the loop counter clock-wise. The only allowed camp site is less than 3 miles from the trailhead. I completed the remaining 5 miles of the loop in the morning of the second day, which included all optional trails to see the Arches.

Trip total: 7.9 mi 1085 ft elevation gain.

All Trails Map: https://www.alltrails.com/explore/tra...


Hike Notes
During my trip to Canyonlands and Moab I tried to get a camping permit for the only wild camping permitted in Arches National Park which is an established camp site on the Devil's Garden Loop. To my surprise, I was able to get it on the only open date I had for the trip. Clearly the Devil's Garden Trail can be easily hiked as a day hike, as the vast majority of visitors do (and there are hordes of them), but the idea of spending a night in the Devil's Garden was appealing.
Admittedly, this was not the most memorable wild camping experience. Arches NP is as busy as any other major US national park and the park in general does not feature long trails and itineraries suitable for multi day hikes. Despite the trail being very busy for most of the day I enjoyed the arches and rock features of the Devil's Garden.


Music:
Little Light by Wanderer's Trove
Licensed by Epidemic Sound.