Arches National Park Self Guided Driving Audio Tour

Welcome to one of the park's most spectacular canyons—a place early visitors thought looked just like New York City's famous street lined with skyscrapers.

Ever mistaken snow for salt? Spanish explorers did exactly that in 1776—which is how these mountains got their rather salty name.

Courthouse Towers is a cluster of tall sandstone monoliths rising several hundred feet above the canyon floor. Their name comes from the way the vertical faces and grouped columns resemble grand courthouse façades and big‑city skyscrapers, much like buildings along New York’s Park Avenue.

Look at that massive boulder perched on its narrow pedestal, the whole structure stands 128 feet tall and weighs about 3,600 tons. The top boulder is 55 feet high by itself, made of hard Entrada Sandstone, while the pedestal underneath is softer Dewey Bridge mudstone that's eroding faster.

Double Arch dominates the landscape. This is two separate arches sharing the same stone base, creating a formation you won't see anywhere else on Earth. The larger arch spans 144 feet and stands 112 feet tall, while the smaller one reaches 86 feet. What makes this truly unique is that the two arches formed through different processes but ended up connected. In 1989, scenes from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" were filmed right here, with Harrison Ford riding through on horseback searching for the Holy Grail. The trail to Double Arch is only 0.5 miles roundtrip and takes about 15-30 minutes—you can actually see the arch from the parking lot.

The word "petroglyph" comes from Greek—"petro" meaning rock and "glyph" meaning carving. These are images carved or pecked into the rock surface, not painted. The Ute people created these carvings showing bighorn sheep and horses, depicting their hunts and daily life centuries ago. That is very interesting.

Early settlers knew it as "the Schoolmarm's Bloomers," which gives you an idea of what Victorian-era pioneers thought it looked like. It was also called "Old Maid's Bloomers" and "Cowboy Chaps" before Frank Beckwith finally settled on the more dignified name during a 1933 expedition. The arch achieved icon status when it appeared on Utah license plates and postage stamps, and the Olympic torch passed through it during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

The turnoff for Fiery Furnace is on your right. Want to see this maze-like cluster of narrow, orange-red fins that glow like fire at sunset? Turn right and hit the dig deeper button once you're parked. Restrooms are available at this viewpoint.

The trail to Sand Dune Arch is only 0.3 miles roundtrip and takes about 15-30 minutes. You'll walk through a narrow passage between towering sandstone fins that rise 60 feet on either side, creating what feels like a natural slot canyon. The passage opens into a shaded alcove where the arch sits, completely enclosed like a room built specifically to display it. The soft sand covering the ground here gives the arch its name—it's actually millions of grains that have eroded from the surrounding Entrada Sandstone walls and collected here over thousands of years. Because the alcove is so protected from wind, the sand doesn't blow away like it does in open desert areas. This sheltered spot creates a microclimate that's often 15-20 degrees cooler than the surrounding desert, which is why families with small children love it here. I bet you’ll love it, too.