Fiery Furnace & Devil's Garden, Arches National Park

If you have the time as you head out of the park, take a few minutes to stop at some of the viewpoints you may have missed on the way in. Fiery Furnace is worth a look: the elevated perch provides a great view of the colorful Salt Valley.

Fiery Furnace & Devil's Garden, Arches National Park

From here, you can also look north, for a wide view of the Devil’s Garden area.

Fiery Furnace & Devil's Garden, Arches National Park

The road into Devil’s Garden.

Fiery Furnace was my last stop. After leaving here, I headed for the park exit. Instead of returning to Interstate 70 by way of the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway (Rte. 128), I chose the longer, but faster. US Rte. 191. While you’re likely to pass plenty of big trucks along this route, much of the road has been widened and improved.

There’s another option you might consider, if you’re not particularly interested in the Unaweep / Tabeguache Byway (part of Day 5’s route) and you’d like to spend more time in Telluride. Spend Night 4 in Moab, then on Day 5, head south on Rte. 191 to Utah Rte. 46. This road will take you back into Colorado, and turn into CO Rte. 90, which ends at Naturita. You’ll miss a large portion of the Unaweep Byway, but eliminate the need to backtrack to Fruita/Grand Junction.

utah rainbow

As the sun set (always a magical occurrence in the desert!) I caught a glimpse of a rainbow, touching the ground just north of Moab.

Delicate Arch & Landscape Arch

Unaweep / Tabeguache Byway, Colorado

Note: This trip was first published in 2005.

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