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Dark Angel in Arches National Park

Sight · Arches National Park

Dark Angel

A lone sandstone spire beyond Double O Arch

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Type
Sight
Nearest trail
2.2 mi
Audio stories
2 nearby
DirectionsMap

Hear the audio tour

Devils Garden and Landscape Arch

Overview

About Dark Angel

Why stop

  • A striking freestanding tower at the far end of Devils Garden.

Heads up

  • The spur adds walking after a difficult hike and can feel underwhelming.

Map

Where it is

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Full map
SightDark Angel38.80146, -109.62753
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Plan your stop

Before you go

Getting there

From the Devils Garden trailhead, follow the main route to Double O Arch. The Dark Angel spur leaves from the arch’s north side and is 0.8 mile out and back; the full main-trail trip from the trailhead is 4.9 miles round trip. Watch for the spur opening just north of Double O: some visitors say it’s easy to miss.

The hike to Double O includes steep sandstone fins, rocky footing, narrow ledges and hand-and-foot scrambling. The Primitive Trail makes a 6.6-mile loop, but adds difficult route-finding, exposed drops and scrambling; the NPS advises against it when rock is wet or icy, or if heights make you uneasy. The Devils Garden parking area can be busy in peak season and on holiday weekends. In summer, avoid the midday heat.

A park ranger sits on a dash-mounted phone, talking, as Parkwolf’s Tour Guide plays “Army Cutworm Moths: A Grizzly Bear Buffet” on Grand Loop Road below Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone
Parkwolf Tour GuideThe highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.

Arches Tour Guide

Your drive to Dark Angel, narrated.

Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Arches National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.

See the Arches audio tour

Recorded for this place

Devils Garden and Landscape Arch
0:00 / 0:27
“Devils Garden is coming up, with a walk through tall sandstone fins to Landscape Arch. It's my pick for a shorter outing: one point nine miles round trip, allowing an hour to an hour and a half with stops.”

Plays as you drive up to Dark Angel in the Parkwolf Arches Tour Guide.

More stories near here in the app

  • A Lizard on Two Legs
  • Bringing Bighorns Back
  • A Bat’s Flight Is Full of Sound
  • The Moth Inside the Yucca
  • 35 audio storiesacross Arches’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
  • Wildlife heatmapsfor Bighorn Sheep, Pronghorn, Raven, and 13 more
  • Works offlinemaps, 28 trails, 41 places, and audio download before you lose signal
  • CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
★★★★★
“I can’t believe how helpful this app is and how interesting the information is for each highlight along the Arches Scenic Drive! This is the first park I’ve used it in.”
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4.7 from 8,600+ ratings

Guide

More about Dark Angel

A good extra if you still have the legsDark Angel is a freestanding, dark sandstone tower about 150 feet tall, at the far end of…

Dark Angel is a freestanding, dark sandstone tower about 150 feet tall, at the far end of Devils Garden beyond Double O Arch. Add the spur if you still have energy and want to see a lone pillar among the arches and fins. If the hike has worn you out at Double O, turning back is an easy call. The tower comes into view before the spur ends, and visitors are split on whether the extra walk is worth it.

See it with the landscapeFor a photo, frame the tower with nearby fins and open desert instead of cropping tight; that…

For a photo, frame the tower with nearby fins and open desert instead of cropping tight; that shows its isolation and puts its height in context. It’s visible from the approach, so you can decide whether to make the final detour before reaching it.

A garden of fins and archesDevils Garden’s sandstone was split into long, parallel fractures as buried salt layers pushed…

Devils Garden’s sandstone was split into long, parallel fractures as buried salt layers pushed upward. Rainwater deepened those cracks into fins; some fins eroded further into arches. Dark Angel is a freestanding spire in that same landscape, rather than another arch.

hikinglandmarksandstonegeologyspires

Wildlife

Wildlife in Arches

All Arches wildlife maps
Bighorn Sheep14 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapPronghorn10 sightingsPronghornMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapRaven610 sightingsRavenMost seen around 9 AMSighting mapMule Deer188 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapPrairie Dog51 sightingsPrairie DogMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapCoyote15 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 6 AMSighting map

Sighting maps show where each species has been reported across Arches. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.

Keep exploring

Near Dark Angel

See it all on the map

Trails nearby

ModerateNavajo and Partition Arches Trail3.4 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.2 mi awayA shaded tunnel and a mountain-framed window beyond Landscape Arch.ChallengingDouble O Arch Trail4.1 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.2 mi awayA rocky climb past Landscape Arch to two stacked openings.ChallengingPrivate Arch Trail5.5 mi · 3.5 hr · 2.2 mi awayScramble a rough Primitive Trail route to a tucked-away arch.ChallengingDevils Garden Trail7.9 mi · 5 hr · 2.2 mi awaySeven arches, a dark spire, and a rough Primitive Trail return.ChallengingDark Angel Trail4.9 mi · 3 hr · 2.2 mi awayA long, scrambly walk to a solitary sandstone spire.EasyLandscape Arch Trail1.9 mi · 1.3 hr · 2.2 mi awayA short walk to a sandstone span that looks impossibly thin.EasyPine Tree and Tunnel Arches Trail1 mi · 45 min · 2.2 mi awayTwo easy arch detours through sandstone fins.ChallengingTower Arch Trail2.6 mi · 2.5 hr · 2.6 mi awayEarn a 92-foot arch through fins and soft sandstone

More stops nearby

Sight · 0.4 mi awayDouble O ArchTwo stacked windows reward the harder miles beyond Landscape Arch.Sight · 0.6 mi awayPrivate ArchA quieter arch off the Primitive Trail.Sight · 0.7 mi awayBlack Arch OverlookA short spur gives you a view of a hard-to-spot dark arch.Sight · 1.2 mi awayNavajo ArchA low, shady arch worth the tougher Devils Garden detour.Sight · 1.2 mi awayPartition ArchA two-window arch opens onto the La Sals and red-rock country.Sight · 1.3 mi awayLandscape ArchThe easy walk leads to a 306-foot span only six feet thick.Sight · 1.8 mi awayPine Tree ArchA pine and low sandstone opening reward the short Devils Garden detour.Sight · 2 mi awayTunnel ArchA quick Devils Garden detour for a window in the sandstone.

Parkwolf’s Arches ranking

Top sights in Arches

All 41 places
  1. 1Delicate ArchSight
  2. 2Landscape ArchSight
  3. 3Double ArchSight
  4. 4Balanced RockSight
  5. 5North WindowSight
  6. 6South WindowSight

Take Parkwolf to Arches.

The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.

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