Park Avenue Trail

Park Avenue Trail is a 1.8-mile out-and-back from the Park Avenue viewpoint to Courthouse Towers, then back along the same trail. Allow about an hour. It is a moderate walk with 322 feet of elevation change. Do the full route to walk among the sandstone walls; the paved overlook is a worthwhile shorter stop if you want the canyon view without the stairs.

From the south trailhead, a paved sidewalk leads to the viewpoint. The hiking trail drops from there on a long flight of rock-cut stairs, then follows the mostly smooth canyon floor north to Courthouse Towers. There are sandy and uneven patches among the rock. The stair flight concentrates the climbing on the return. Walk back on the trail, not along the road. With a pickup or a second car at Courthouse Towers, you can make the canyon walk one way; otherwise retrace your steps.

The walls and freestanding towers are the whole point: you leave the overlook and find yourself down among them, with the narrow canyon opening and closing between big blocks of red sandstone. Previous visitors gave some formations names, including Queen Nefertiti, Queen Victoria, and Sausage Rock, also called the Corndog. At the south end, Park Avenue Arch sits high on the wall to the right of the parking lot; from the trail you can see light through its opening. From the overlook, frame the corridor down its length; on the canyon floor, include the tread to show the scale of the walls.

Begin at Park Avenue Viewpoint and Trailhead on Arches Scenic Drive, about 3.6 miles beyond the Visitor Center. The paved path to the viewpoint is wheelchair accessible, but the long stairs and canyon trail are not. Dogs are not allowed. The north end at Courthouse Towers has separate road access, but the standard hike returns to the south trailhead on foot.