Druid Arch (Canyonlands NP - Needles District) - 9/27/21

Druid Arch

Down Canyon from Druid Arch

Sunrise on Chesler Park Trail

Elephant Hill Trailhead

The big crescendo moment happened on the fifth day of the road trip. Pushing the hike up a day because of weather, we drove out to Elephant Hill TH for a 7am start. As we climbed Chesler Park Trail through the rock formations, the sun rose through clouds giving us a beautiful photo op. About half way between the trailhead and the wash junction, we had seen only one or two other hikers. Through the slot and down the scramble to the Elephant Canyon Wash, we skipped. We turned to the left at the wash and immediately stepped up to a side trail on the right side. There were a lot of side trails that we eventually realized were, for the most part, unnecessary to take. The trails would go up on the right or left then return to the wash.

Sunrise on Chesler Park Trail

Sunrise on Chesler Park Trail

Chesler Park Trail / Druid Arch Trail Junction

Wash Side Trail

The surroundings were beautiful and the floor of the wash was a constant attention getter. Sometimes we would go for a couple hundred feet zigzagging from bedrock to bedrock trying to avoid the deep sandy sections. The game made the time pass quickly. At first, there were very few scrambles of any sort. And, slowly the scrambles started sneaking in as the wash quietly narrowed. At around 2.5 miles after entering the wash, we unceremoniously came to a steep third class climb up to the shelf above the wash bottom on the left side. "Well, I guess we go up," we each said under our breaths. On the shelf, the trail resumed and, at times, left us a little exposed to the cliff. We returned to the wash for a short segment then climbed up again.

Wash Trail to Druid Arch

Water Obstacle

Another Side Trail

Stick Climb

The scrambling got a little tougher as the hike neared the arch but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. We saw the side of the large arch as we approached but could not see any of the window portion of the tall rock. We climbed a steep waterslide of around 50 feet and came around a big boulder. There it was! The famous ladder! Small but sturdy looking, we each tackled the short climb. That was the easy part. At the top of the ladder, the park service had bolted in a horizontal bar on the boulder above. This was the hard part. Not really sure how this bar was supposed to be used. Each of us had our own method and style here. The important thing is that no one fell! And, the ladder and bar combo was very necessary at this point of the scramble.

Druid Arch Trail

Step Up

Steep Waterslide

Ladder

After the ladder & bar, a steep scramble up a rock fall ensued. Then we circled around to hike over to the arch facing it. Honestly, the huge size of the arch blew us all away! That was the point at which most hikers would say, "Worth the trip!" We walked over to a nice viewing area and watched the sun come up on the face of the arch. There were four other hikers milling around on the large space. It was kind of an accident that we were there for the sunrise but two of the other hikers had a tripod and were obviously expecting a show. One of the other hikers came over and offered to take our photo. Next, we sat and took a prolonged break.

To our right side, we could see the canyon that we had hiked up (Elephant Canyon). The top view of the canyon was a surprise. When you are in the wash, you have no idea that the upper shelves of the canyon appear this way. See the second photo of this entry.

Alas, we were finally ready to start our return. This was an out and back hike so we planned to retrace our steps all the way back to the trailhead.

Climbing the Ladder and Bar Above

First View of the Arch

A Friendly Bystander took this one.

Leaving the Arch

And, we did ... for the most part. There was one place where Rita and I attempted a little detour to escape a certain down climb. All we did was live up to our nickname "Double Trouble!" Tim and David stayed on the straight and narrow and helped us down when we got in a little bit of a mess. Maybe there is only one way to skin this cat! Excellent, excellent hike!

Stats: 11 miles; 1300' gain; 6.75 hours

Climbing back up to the rimrock Go Around

Last scramble Down

Back into the Wash