Arch Canyon, to Angel Arch

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Cedar Mesa, Utah
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Arch Canyon, to Angel Arch

Page Type:	Canyon
Lat/Lon:	37.54600°N / 109.671°W
Activities:	Hiking
Season:	Spring, Fall
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Overview

Arch Canyon sits in southeastern Utah’s Cedar Mesa to the north of Rout 95. It is so called because of a number of arches at the upper end of the canyon. An 8.5 mile long 4WD road takes you from the mouth of the canyon in Comb Wash to where Texas Canyon branches off of Arch Canyon crossing the stream countless times. Cathedral Arch will be visible from the end of the road. A half mile hike on a trail will take you to where Angel Arch comes to view.

This is a description of an 18.2 mile roundtrip hike from Comb Wash to Angel Arch and back. On the day that I did this hike, I was lucky enough to not see any vehicles or even hikers but beware that loud annoying ATVs and motorcycles may be present on the road. Like many other nearby canyons, Arch Canyon contains a number of Native American ruins. I went to a fenced area of ruins near the beginning of the canyon but did not see anything that I wanted to take pictures of. This page describes the natural features of the canyon and not the ruins. The external link at the bottom of the page provides some information about the ruins.

Getting There

From the junctions of Route 191 and 95 four miles south of Blanding, UT, turn west onto Route 95 and travel 14 miles to Comb Wash between mile markers 107 and 108. Turn right (north) onto County Road 229 (maybe marked as 205) which is a well graded dirt road. Drive for 2.1 miles and turn right at a T. A short distance after that, just before crossing the creek, I found a parking area on the left. My GPS measurements are from this spot. A road goes to the left (west) into Arch Canyon. You could potentially drive the road a slightly more until the start of 4WD.

Route

All distances are per my GPS

Place	Elevation	Distance
Mouth of the canyon	4950 ft	zero miles
Jct. Hotel Rock Canyon	5180 ft	2.90 miles
Dream Speaker Spire	5350 ft	2.40 miles
Jct. North trending branch	5480 ft	1.60 miles
End of Road	5600 ft	1.70 miles
Angel Arch View	5640 ft	0.50 miles
Total One Way	-	9.10 miles

From the parking area, head west up the road. You will soon find yourself inside the canyon. After crossing the stream for the first time, you will find a very short spur trail on the right that goes to a wall where ruins can be seen behind a protective fence. I did not take any pictures of the ruins.