Visiting Moab, Canyonlands + Arches National Park

I didn’t really know what to anticipate in Moab, Canyonlands or Arches National Park. I had also never been to Utah before, so I was excited to see what photographers around the country rave about! Today I’m sharing some details and photos from visiting Moab, Canyonlands + Arches National Park. We also visited Dead Horse State Park, so there are a couple of photos from there mixed in, too 🙂

Visiting Moab, Canyonlands + Arches National Park

It’s safe to say the parks themselves are pretty nice and well kept by the rangers and National Park Service staff. We were never without a bathroom pretty close by (some were port-o-potty style, but any port in a storm!) and the visitor’s centers were very well done.

Visiting Moab, Canyonlands + Arches National Park

Moab, Canyonlands + Arches National Park In Utah

Arches National Park is far and away the most beautiful of the parks we visited and more interesting, to me, because there were different areas that all looked unique. Getting to the parks early and packing lots and lots of ice water is crucial. The heat of Utah is a dry heat and it does not mess around!

Would I go back to Moab, Canyonlands + Arches National Park? I may have an extremely unpopular opinion, but…probably not. The parks themselves are impressive, so I’m happy we went, but not sure I need or want to go back. That said, I feel like I should buffer my thoughts with a couple things here:

1. During our visit, I was suffering from extreme altitude sickness that had gone on for five days, so nonstop nausea and migraines will taint even the prettiest place. To note, altitude sickness even impacted my menstrual cycle so this surprise only added to my discomfort. 

2. The car ride to get to these parks is not for the faint of heart. As someone who doesn’t regularly sit in the car for more than an hour at a time and doesn’t do particularly well on long car rides, this wasn’t ideal and no medicine was touching it. I was having flashbacks of our trip through the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.

3. It was BLAZING hot and a heat like I’ve never experienced. This has everything to do with the time of year we visited and nothing to do with the actual location, but it definitely added to my individual experience. 

4. Every single park was very crowded, particularly Arches, which included a line to get in, despite arriving in the morning as suggested by every guide book we read. This meant navigating around other cars, jockeying for parking at various look-outs and just a ton of people around. 

So let’s chat — have you been to Utah? Have you visited Moab, Canyonlands or Arches? What did you think?