Overview
About Pine Tree Arch
Why stop
- A close-up look at one of the park’s low sandstone arches
Heads up
- Adds walking and a return climb to a long drive to Devils Garden
Map
Where it is
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Arches Tour Guide
Your drive to Pine Tree Arch, 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 tourRecorded for this place
Devils Garden and Landscape Arch“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 Pine Tree Arch in the Parkwolf Arches Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Devils Garden Campground and Tapestry Arch
- Skyline Arch
- Ears That Shed Heat
- Sand Dune Arch and Broken Arch
- 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.”
Guide
More about Pine Tree Arch
A good addition, not the main eventPine Tree Arch is a low, broad sandstone opening in Devils Garden, with a pine growing close to…
Pine Tree Arch is a low, broad sandstone opening in Devils Garden, with a pine growing close to its mouth. It's a satisfying close-up stop on the hike toward Landscape Arch. If you are choosing only one arch on this outing, Landscape is the headline, but this spur makes the walk more varied.
The side trailFollow the Devils Garden trail toward Landscape Arch and turn onto the Pine Tree Arch spur.
Follow the Devils Garden trail toward Landscape Arch and turn onto the Pine Tree Arch spur. The initial route is hard-packed and nearly level; visitors describe dropping down to the arch and climbing back to the main trail. The published 0.5-mile round-trip addition covers Pine Tree and Tunnel arches together, so there is no official separate mileage for this spur.
Look through the openingFrom beneath the rim, the arch frames sandstone and distant ridges, with shrubs and trees in…
From beneath the rim, the arch frames sandstone and distant ridges, with shrubs and trees in the sandy ground beyond. Back up from the opening if the trail lets you; nearby rock can crowd a wide-angle shot, so stepping farther away helps show the full curve.
How the landscape took shapeWater gradually enlarges cracks in sandstone, while freezing water can pry the rock apart.
Water gradually enlarges cracks in sandstone, while freezing water can pry the rock apart. At Arches, buried salt also warped and fractured the layers above it; over time, erosion turns sandstone fins into openings and arches. Pine Tree Arch is a small-scale look at that wider story.
Plan the north-end visitDevils Garden is at the north end of the park road, 18 miles from the entrance and about 45…
Devils Garden is at the north end of the park road, 18 miles from the entrance and about 45 minutes from the visitor center. Its 160-space lot can fill for hours, especially on weekends and holidays, so an early start helps. Trailhead toilets are open year-round; drinking water is available spring through fall, so carry your own when the taps are off. Summer hikes are more comfortable outside midday heat. Dogs are not allowed on the Landscape Arch Trail, which is the route to Pine Tree Arch, and park rules prohibit walking or climbing on arches.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Arches
14 sightingsBighorn SheepMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
10 sightingsPronghornMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
608 sightingsRavenMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
187 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
51 sightingsPrairie DogMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
15 sightingsCoyoteMost seen around 6 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Arches. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
