Willow Springs Trail and Leaping Arch

The Willow Springs 4WD road begins on the west side of the Arches National Park main road across from the parking area for Balanced Rock. 

The first 0.8 miles passes a small picnic area and is easily drivable. Beyond the picnic area there is a junction with the 4WD road that leads to Klondike Bluffs and both roads become much rougher.

I started my hike at the junction and continued hiking west toward the Willow Springs area. The wide views straight ahead are toward the spectacular Moab Rim.

The views back toward the jumbled Balanced Rock area are also eye popping. To the north, there is a view of the south side of the Eye of the Whale Arch. The desert terrain here is mostly treeless with Mormon Tea, Blackbrush, Rabbitbrush, and grasses. The walking is easy on the dirt road. In mid February, there are small patches of snow.

It took me 1:15 hours to reach the park boundary sign. The sign where I started hiking said it was 4 miles to the boundary but it felt more like 3 miles. There is a large drainage near the park boundary that runs back to the northeast. I didn’t notice any flowing water or willows along the road, or any sign that identified the Willow Springs.

I turned and followed the drainage northeast back toward the large sandstone outcrops that include Eye of the Whale Arch and Leaping Arch. The hiking in the drainage was mostly easy on a wide swath of sand. There are a few pour over points that are easy to walk around. At the northwest corner of the rock formations I found a side drainage to follow east along the north of the rocks. There is a series of fins along here with Leaping Arch appearing in one of the fins.

It took me another 1:25 hours to find Leaping Arch, about 2 miles from the park boundary following the wide sandy drainage. Approaching from the west, Leaping Arch isn’t visible until you are nearly alongside it. It is possible to climb up closer and get a blue sky view from below.
 

Leaping Arch is only 0:15 minutes of hiking west of the Eye of the Whale Arch Trail, but it is not mentioned on the park map and there aren’t any signs pointing it out. Once you know to look for it, both arches are visible at the same time along the Klondike Bluffs 4WD road.
 

From Leaping Arch, it is about 2 miles along the Klondike Bluffs Road back to the junction. Near Leaping Arch, there are very good views of the snowy LaSal Mountains with the sandstone of Arches National Park in the foreground. My total hike following the loop route took 4:00 hours for about 7 miles. It was 38 F degrees when I started at about 11:00 AM and about 50 F at 3:00 when I finished on a mild mid February day.

Cameo Cliffs and One Eye Window

The Cameo Cliffs is a special BLM management area 30 miles south of Moab and 18 miles north of Monticello in southeast Utah. The area has about 50 miles of trails usable by ATVs and others on 15 well marked routes. These trails are mostly old mining and ranching routes and pass through a very scenic area of sandstone cliffs, canyons, and rounded domes.

I started at the Hook and Ladder staging area, an east turn on Steen Road off of Highway 191. There is also a sign at the turnoff saying OHV Trailhead. There are good maps of the area available at the trailhead published by the San Juan Public Entry and Access Rights (SPEAR) organization. From the trailhead area, Trail 1 starts to the east and reaches a junction with Trail 2 after about 15 minutes of hiking.

I stayed on Trail 1 as it turned north toward the Cameo Cliffs. The trails I walked on are slightly sandy narrow roads. It took me 0:50 minutes of hiking to get to the Junction with Trail 3 that circles around the south and west side of the Cameo Cliffs.
 

The south side of the cliffs has a large cove that Trail 3 circles into and around. The habitat here is scattered Utah Juniper and Pinon Pines with grasses and sagebrush, Mormon Tea, Prickly Pear cactus and other desert shrubs.

On the west side of the Cameo Cliffs there is another cove area. Along the cliff face there are several alcoves that look like arches are forming. A short distance north of the cove area there is a large alcove where an arch has formed. I think this one is known as One Eye Window.

It took me 2:25 hours of hiking to arrive at the One Eye Window. There is another old road that is not part of the marked trail system visible to the west near the arch that would allow an alternate return route for a hiker. I decided to continue north to the next trail junction with Trail 9 and complete the loop around the Cameo Cliffs.
 

The Trail 9 segment is 2 miles east and west along an area called the Cameo Terrace. The views here are north across a very scenic valley of sandstone outcrops with the LaSal Mountains in the distance. I saw a very large monolith fin near the base of the cliffs in the distance. This spectacular area is also part of the trail system. The map shows routes going to the top of the distant cliffs and on to a view point of the roadside Wilson Arch.

Trail 9 makes a junction with Trail 1 that leads back to the Hook and Ladder Trailhead in 3 miles. My total hike took 4:50 hours for about 10 miles. I hiked on a very mild 54 F degree mid December day. On the day I hiked, I didn’t see any other visitors to the area.

Crystal Arch-Devils Garden Trail

Crystal Arch is an easy to miss formation along the Devil’s Garden Primitive Loop in the north end of Arches National Park in southeast Utah. Look for it about 5 minutes of hiking northeast of Landscape Arch.

I didn’t see a trail leading to this fairly large arch, and wish there was one. The environment is a sandy field of Prickly Pear Cactus, Mormon Tea and another desert shrub that I think is Blackbrush.

The off trail distance is about 0.25 miles. There are small drainages to follow to avoid the biological soil crusts. The combination of fins, desert vegetation and the distant LaSal Mountains is striking.

Arches Windows Trail

The Windows Trail is a short 1.1 mile loop but it provides close views to three large arches and several smaller ones. The Windows Section of Arches National Park in southeast Utah is one of the most popular attractions of this other worldly park.

The trail provides an access to walk directly under the North Window. Through the window there is a good view of the Salt Valley to the north, the area that includes Delicate Arch.

 The North Window sits up high and is visible from other high viewpoints around the area, even the Antilcline Overlook at the north end of the Canyon Rims Recreation Area many miles away.
 

Just to the north of the North Window are Biceps Arch and Seagull Arch. There is a short unmarked trail to walk over and look closer. Directly under Biceps Arch a sliver of blue sky can be spotted.

Continuing around to the south is the South Window. This is also the start of the longer Windows Primitive Trail. From the Windows Primitive Trail the North and South Windows can be viewed from the opposite side. From here the trail leads back toward Turret Arch.
 

Turning back from Turret Arch, there is a good view of both Windows, a view called the Spectacles.

Looking the other way, there are the large Double Arch and the Parade of Elephants. The 0.5 mile Double Arch Trail can be easily hiked to from the Windows Trail, but most visitors move their vehicles.

(There are separate posts on Double Arch, Christmas Tree Arch, Turret Arch and the Windows Primitive Loop. Use the labels to find more pictures.)

Steelbender Trail

The Steelbender Trail is a multi-user trail following rocky and sandy old roads in the Mill Creek Canyon area on the southeast side of Moab in southeast Utah. The north trailhead is east on Spanish Trail Road, near the golf course and a short distance past the Golf Course petroglyph panel.

 There is a small parking area about 100 yards before the east turn on the well marked rough road. The first ten minutes of walking descends into the Mill Creek Canyon and passes through some private property. Most of the north part of the 14 miles of trail here are along the edge of the Mill Creek Canyon Wilderness Study Area.

 In the first 30 minutes of hiking there are three crossings of Mill Creek. In mid October there is a small flow and the crossings are easy. The area along the creek is lush with Cottonwood trees and willows. The canyon walls in the creek area looked like good locations for petroglyphs but I only saw a few very small figures. The trail turns left and climbs out of the canyon passing over a ledgy area that is one of the obstacles for motorized travelers.

 It took me 1:05 hours and about 2.5 miles to reach the mesa top and the junction with the loop part of the trail. The view to the east includes a rock mass that might have an arch, but it appeared to be about a mile away without an obvious trail leading over to it. I stayed on the loop trail and turned north.

 The next segment to the north has good views in all directions and there is a point where the trail splits. I stayed to the right, I think bypassing a difficult jeep obstacle. There is a small canyon crossing with more rocky ledges. The terrain here has a lot of sandstone domes and fins and the desert includes scattered Pinon Pines and Utah Junipers with Mormon Tea and Cliff Rose shrubs.

 Approaching the northwest corner of the loop, there is another junction which appears to be a shortcut. I stayed to the left. A few minutes later the main trail turns east and south, but there is a hiker trail that continues a little further north. I followed the hiker trail for about five minutes to a view point and turned around there after 2:40 hours and about 5 miles.

My return hike took 2:25 hours for a total hike of 5:05 hours for about 10 miles. It was a perfect 65 F blue sky mid October day. I saw only 3 hikers and 1 mountain biker and no vehicles during my hike. I carried and drank 3 liters of water.