Arches National Park Backcountry 4X4 Tour
Description
Experience Arches National Park the way it was meant to be seen—Our exclusive permits allow us remote access off the beaten path. The adventure begins in Utah Raptor State Park to visit fossilized dinosaur tracks on our off-road route into the park. Sit back and take in the views from a climate-controlled 4x4 built specifically to handle this demanding terrain. Your guide will dig into the human history and geology of the region, traveling over the shifting salt valley beds that engineered the world's highest concentration of natural stone Arches. Discover hidden landmarks most visitors miss like the Eye of the Whale. Tucked away in Herdina Park, it is an incredibly quiet pocket of the park. As we transition out of the backcountry, the route showcases the park’s heavy hitters. We take in expansive views of Balanced Rock, the Windows Section, and gain a glimpse of the famous Delicate Arch giving you a flawless overview of the park on your way back to Moab.
Tour Options
Itinerary
This tour explores the backcountry of Arches National Park in approximately 4 hours. You will ride along in one of our 4x4 backcountry vehicles with heat and a/c for optimal comfort during all seasons. Throughout this half day experience you will learn all about the parks, history, and geology of the Moab area. Your guide will point out Arch formations, and other towering landscapes along the way. Since our tours are private we can stop for photos at any point. Sights on this tour include but are not limited to Marching Men, Tower Arch and Eye of the Whale Arch. This tour will include both pavement sections and 4x4 road sections that are not paved. Water and snacks are always provided for free. This tour includes your National Park Entry fee. You DO NOT need a reservation in Arches National Park to participate in this tour.
Before crossing into the national park, our off-road route cuts directly through Utahraptor State Park, home to one of the densest Early Cretaceous dinosaur bone beds in North America. Here, we leave the 4x4 for a short walk to examine fossilized dinosaur tracks permanently stamped into the desert stone. Your guide will decode these ancient footprints, introducing you to the prehistoric hunters—including the massive, fearsome Utahraptor—that ruled this exact terrain millions of years before the arches even formed.
Eye of the Whale Arch is located in the Herdina Park area of Arches. An optional 1/2 mile hike leads you under the arch to an outcropping of seldom visited red rock formations
Standing over 128 feet tall, Balanced Rock is one of the park’s ultimate heavy hitters, but it’s a lot more than just a great photo stop. Your guide will show you how this massive, 3,500-ton block of Entrada Sandstone is performing a high-wire balancing act atop a shrinking pedestal of softer Dewey Bridge mudstone. It is a perfect, real-time demonstration of how different rock layers erode at different speeds, offering a striking reminder that this ancient landscape is constantly changing right before our eyes.
No trip to Arches is complete without seeing the park’s crowning jewel. Our route brings us to a overlook, offering a classic long-distance view of Delicate Arch.
This spectacular zone features the highest concentration of massive spans in the entire park, including North Window, South Window, Turret Arch, and the towering Double Arch. Your guide will point out the massive cavernous openings of Double Arch—famously featured in the opening scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as the hidden cave of the Cross of Coronado. Beyond the movie magic, you’ll discover how these immense amphitheaters were hollowed out from the inside out, creating some of the most dramatic overhead architecture in the American Southwest.
Highlights
What's included
Pickup Locations & Times
Please confirm pick up 24 hours prior. Thank you.
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Please book separate reservations for groups over 6. Your group will travel together in separate vehicles.
Reviews(89)
Jack Young is a wonderful guide whose knowledge of the park and Moab area is impressive. He explained geological concepts in ways we could understand. He also shared insider knowledge of the history of the park and town that made our visit more interesting. We started our visit with his back country tour and got to see a completely different side of Arches NP. But first he took us through the main attractions and suggested helpfully how best to use our time for our second day at the park. He also guided us to the best running water bathroom inside the park.
Our tour guide was Jack. He was very knowledgeable and informative about the area and the geology. We really enjoyed our tour of the arches and backcountry.
We had a fantastic time. Jack was our guide for the trip and he really took us way off road. The extreme 4X4 part was for real. All along the way, he taught us about the history of the land and the resourcefulness of nature. We learned so much. We’d like to thank Jack again. He’s a great guide to be out in the middle of nowhere with. This trip is a must do.
We had a fantastic time. Not only was the extreme part for real, Jack’s teaching and storytelling was off the hook. He told us so much about the area that we never knew. Absolutely ask for Jack.
Kevin was very friendly and knowledgeable. Off road experience was good. It was nice to see dinosaurs footprints .
We had booked a tour of Arches but our guide, Kevin, offered us the alternative of a back roads tour of Canyonlands, explaining that all of the key sites at Arches are easily accessible by car, but he could take us down into the canyons at Canyonlands where typically you only get to see the canyons from above. We took him up on the offer and we’re very glad we did. It was like driving down into the bottom of the Grand Canyon. We took steep and rocky roads that I would never have attempted and yet felt very safe and quite comfortable both descending and climbing out of canyons. We highly recommend choosing this alternative to a tour of Arches which we subsequently did on our own. This was definitely the highlight of our trip which also included Zion, Bryce and Capitol Reef. Thank you, Kevin.
Fantastic way to see parts of Arches NP that most never see. It’s off road, so be prepared for the ride.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us! We hope to see you again, safe travels!
Kevin was our guide and he was extremely knowledgeable. We booked the Backcountry Arches tour but he also took us through Canyonlands National Park.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us! Both parks are incredibly beautiful and we are so thrilled to share those experiences with you! Safe travels!
Jack was a great guide, lots of interesting facts and area knowledge. The tour was everything we hoped for and would do another tourExcellent if we are ever in the area again!
Thank you for sharing your experience, we love Jack too and we look forward to seeing you again!
Outstanding experience with Braden. Went on a trip that was everything you would hope for. Something that you can only do in a 4x4, and definitely unique. Highly recommended and it made the second day at Arches better because of what we experienced and learned with Braden.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Braden is so fun and full of positivity and passion as a guide! We love that you experienced the beautiful Arches with some fun and excitement! We hope to see you again! Safe travels.
