The Best Hikes in Moab, Utah

Having 5 national parks in the state, Utah is somewhere that had been on our bucket list for a long time! The landscape in southern Utah is really like something from another planet.

Moab is the perfect roadtrip destination, especially since it is only a five hour drive from Denver. For our trip we rented a camper van which gave us the freedom to easily move between Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. There’s no shortage of campsites in the area, all having the best views!

We only spent 3 nights in Moab which gave us the perfect amount of time for all the hikes we wanted to do. If you can only do a few different hikes on your trip, these are the ones for you.

Mesa Arch – Canyonlands

Canyonlands is Utah’s least visited national park. It is about a 30 minute drive from Moab, so if you’re wanting to get to Mesa Arch for sunrise its best to camp inside Canyonlands or at a campsite close to the entrance. We camped at Cowboy Campground which was only about a 15 minute drive to the trail.

Mesa Arch is a popular sunrise hike. When the sun rises over the canyon, the bottom of the arch glows like its on fire. The hike is more of a 10 minute walk to the parking lot. The only downside to it is that if you don’t get there super early, the arch will be lined with photographers blocking the view.

Our recommendation is to wait about 30 minutes after sunrise if you’re wanting to take pictures. By this time, most of the sunrise crowd has cleared out and you’re able to get up-close pictures of the arch while it still has the glow.

Tip: If you get here for sunrise, you won’t have to pay an entrance fee for the park! Payments start at 8 AM

Double Arch – Arches National Park

Another short hike to do in Moab is the Double Arch. It’s about half a mile round trip. It’s even visible from the parking lot! The double arch is located near the Windows Section so you could easily explore both areas together if you have the time.

We couldn’t believe how big double arch actually is in person. It was difficult to get the whole thing in photos. This spot can get pretty busy but we went around 1 PM and there weren’t too many people around!

Dead Horse Point Overlook

Possibly the best place to catch a sunset in Moab. This overlook is located in Dead Horse Point State Park which is right outside of Canyonlands. We recommend exploring these two parks in the same day if you can.

The entry fee to Dead Horse is $20 per car but definitely worth it for the views here! For sunset you can just park and walk up to the overlook or hike down a ways like we did to have a spot to yourself!

This was a close tie for our favorite part of the trip. The only reason it came in second is because not much hiking was involved to get here.

Delicate Arch – Arches National Park

This is the hike we were most excited for and it ended up being our favorite part of the trip. Probably the most well known hike in Moab.

The hike is around 3 miles round trip with a 480 ft elevation gain. This trail gets VERY crowded. We were so surprised by the amount of people here. We stayed at the arch for several hours taking pictures and by 11 am most of the crowd had cleared out. We’d recommend trying to get here around this time if you want to miss the crowds.

Be prepared to walk up steep areas of rock, around narrow ledges, no shaded areas, and an amazing view at the end! We also had to wait in line to get pictures under the arch. We found if you walk down a little ways, you can get pictures with the arch in the background and no one else trying to get pictures in that area.