USA Double Arch, Arches National Park, Moab

Arches National Park is home to more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches. In addition to arches, the monoliths, fins, hoodoos, and petrified dunes are subjects of endless photo compositions. One of the opening scenes from the movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” was filmed at Double Arch.

Double Arch is one of the most photographed arches in the park. Due to its very high visitation, it would be best to visit mid-week if possible and early in the day or late afternoon to avoid the throngs of people. The large parking lot which is only a hundred yards or so from the also large “Windows” parking lot, fills up quickly. Visitors often circle both lots in their vehicles waiting for a parking spot to open. When it’s busy like this, it might be a good idea to park wherever you can and walk from one area to the other. A wide-angle lens works best here to capture the immense arch. I climbed as high as I could in the back of the arch for this shot. I’ve also climbed up to one of the windows to get a different perspective but wouldn’t advise it. There’s a lot of scrambling that can be done in the cavernous arch where a miss-step could cause injury. A miss-step at the window would likely be fatal if one happened to fall through it.

From the Arches National Park entrance, drive 12 miles to the Double Arch parking lot. It’s a less than 10-minute walk on a paved trail to get to the base of the arch.