The sun brings a great number of moods to the redrock desert of Utah. No day has ever dawned brighter than a clear morning in the desert, everything seems to be in hyperfocus, the colors more alive. Desert sunsets are just as special, although I think my favorite sunset was over Lake Superior on Isle Royale National Park, a close second to watching the sun set over the rim of the Grand Canyon. In terms of sunrise, Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park has become an iconic feature, in fact, it’s said that Mesa Arch has become the number one most photographed feature in the park.
I can tell you without a doubt there are a hell of a lot of beautiful scenes to be found in Canyonland’s three different districts, so it’s saying a lot about the beauty to be found here that Mesa Arch would be the most photographed part of the park. It probably also says a good bit about the state of Instragram and social networks these days too. If my Mom were still alive, she would have said Instagram is all “monkee-see, monkee-do“.
“Whatever [a monkey] sees men do, he must affect to do the like himself.
I can understand what very likely would have been viewpoint. Mom would have said, “But isn’t the best picture the one that you find for yourself?” Mom sometimes had a strange way of challenging me, and she spent a lot of time doing exactly that, challenging me and making me think. To the best of my knowledge she told each of my first three wives in turn, that Monster needed to be challenged. I like a good challenge, don’t get me wrong, but Mom never let what I wanted get in the way of her advice to my wives.
The Hike to Mesa Arch is Easy
Mesa Arch is found within the Islands in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Here are the details straight from the mouth of the National Park Service to your ears.
Perched at the edge of the mesa top, this 27-foot-long (8.3 m) arch frames views of the canyon far below and the La Sal Mountains in the distance. The loop hike has slightly more elevation change at the beginning if you travel counter-clockwise. To reduce the number of stairs, walk clockwise to the arch, then retrace your steps.
- Roundtrip Distance: 0.6 mi (1 km)
- Time: 30 min
- Elevation Change: 56 ft (17 m)
- Difficulty: Easy
- Hike Description: A short hike leads to a cliff-edge arch. Mesa Arch is a classic sunrise spot, and has stunning views towards the La Sal Mountains any time of day.
- Accessibility: This trail can be rough, uneven, and requires walking up and down a rocky hill and stone steps. It is not accessible to wheelchairs. In winter, there may be snow or icy conditions; we recommend traction devices for hikers.
- Dogs are not allowed on this trail. Service animals are allowed in national parks. What is a service animal?
Mesa Arch is one of most photographed arches in southeast Utah. This location is especially popular at sunrise, when groups of photographers often lay in wait for the glow of sunrise on the bottom of the arch.
All of the standard precepts of National Parks apply: take only pictures, leave only footprints, (and precious few of those wherever possible.) Learn about cryptobiotic soil and stay off of the stuff, no exceptions. Do not, under any circumstance feed the wildlife – it may seem kind, but it habituates wildlife to humans which always ends poorly. Don’t feed stray hikers for the same reason. Perhaps you’ve decided you are the second coming of Edgar Allen Poe… It doesn’t matter, you cannot feed the raven(s) either! OK?
Finally, you do know what a touron is don’t you? A genetic cross between a tourist and a moron. We’ve all been tourons somewhere at sometime in our lives, it’s part of the human condition to arrive completely unprepared, ill-equipped, underplanned, underfunded, with lame-ass excuses for the lack of preparedness. I can’t speak for the Park Service employees, but I know the folks working for Grand Canyon National Park Lodges back in the day loved a good touron story. Well, as long as it didn’t happen on their shift. I can’t imagine it’s very different half-a-lifetime later.
Mesa Arch – the Price of Fame
Everybody shows you pictures of a pristine sunrise from this vantage point, but the price of Instagram fame is the crowds that Mesa Arch now draws. Some places can withstand this kind of visitor pressure, but others cannot. In the end, as solid and permanent as this rock may seem, it is actually (geologically speaking) ephemeral, here and gone in the blink of a geologic aged eye. This too shall pass…
There have been places that were overloved, so to speak. As Instagram brought fame to the Chocolate Falls on the Little Colorado River, the Navajo Nation shut off access. It may be possible to go there with a Navajo Guide, I’m not even sure about that, but the last I heard all other public access has been closed down.
I once planned to hike (probably with Old Nancy Young) the Little Colorado River from somewhere near a corner in Winslow Arizona, then downriver along an edge of Wupatki National Monument. Then we stage through Cameron, AZ where we planned to gorge for days on Navajo Tacos. Our need for the most delicious tacos on the planet temporarily satiated, our bodies heavier, but our wallet’s lighter, we would continue down the Canyon of the Little Colorado to its confluence with the mainstem Colorado. From there we would have followed the river downstream and picked up the Grand Canyons’ Tonto Trail.
The trip never happened, I got Coccidiomycosis while travelling in the Phoenix area, then went hiking into Havasupai with conjunctivitis and the nascent Valley Fever. How do I describe hiking from Supai back to the trailhead with a germaphobe while I’m feeling like death warmed over, sick with Valley Fever, Pink Eye and who knows what else? In a word, it was brutal. Our car was waiting for us at the trailhead, where we discovered insufficient gas to get back to civilization.
It’s probably a good thing I never tried the Little Colorado with her…
