For my first hike of 2026 I went to Arches National Park yet again–my fourth trip in the past month. I’m kinda surprised I’m not weary of the area yet but the park encompasses so much diversity of terrain that it’s easy to keep my interest level high. I’d planned on going Saturday but by Friday morning the forecast was showing fog and a slight chance of rain so I deferred until Sunday. Even though the forecast didn’t mention fog on Sunday, it was foggy for most of the drive there. I expected it to burn off after the sun rose but instead it came and went for most of the day. For this hike I wanted to try a route up onto a mesa and explore around the top. I knew there would be great views, which is why I’d hoped the fog would dissipate, but I guess it turned out okay despite not being able to see beyond the mesa’s edge for much of the time. There are a couple of documented scrambling routes to the top, as well as a flat and easy but much longer hike into the area, but the route I took doesn’t appear to be well traveled. I wasn’t sure it would go all the way to the top but it at least seemed plausible from the sat imagery, and there appeared to be some potential for rock art on the route–lots of boulders and crevices and desert varnish. While I was walking a very short distance down the park road before reaching the beginning of my off-trail route, a park ranger happened to be driving by and stopped to ask where I was hiking to. I must have clearly looked different from all the other tourists in my hiking getup, wearing gaiters and a big pack with GPS, inReach, and binoculars attached. I told him where I was headed, we chatted for a minute about the other routes to the top, and he seemed satisfied that I knew what I was doing before driving off. I ducked off the road and started climbing through the fog onto the mesa. I couldn’t even see the steep and rocky slope ahead of me.
Starting point
Big rocky slope not visible through the fog
The first pitch was bouldery and rocky but with good footing, and above that was a loose section where I slid back down a couple of times before it leveled off briefly. I wasn’t originally planning on a side trip but the small bench I was on looked promising and I followed it for quite a ways. The bench narrowed and after turning a corner I could see it narrowed further into a thin ledge, but where the ledge ended at the base of a talus slope I could barely see the outline of a sign. I got excited, thinking it was one of those notices about not disturbing archaeological sites, but after traversing the ledge I was disappointed to see the sign was about a climbing route closure.
Steep and bouldery ascent
Small arch
Loose and steep!
Side trip along a narrow bench
Rock pillar
Long ledge
Sign unreadable through the fog
Switchbacks below
Not the sign I was hoping to see
I returned back along the bench and climbed up to the next level above it, then traversed sideways more until I reached another rocky slope that led even higher. Along the way I found three pieces of wire attached to trees and a boulder that must have been part of a survey station, and I was expecting to find a survey marker in the center of the three but there was nothing.
Sloping slickrock route
Boulder near the edge
Wire tied to a tree
View below survey location
The next part of the route rose more gently toward the top of the mesa, passing through sandstone ledges and huge boulders covered in patina. I found a single piece of granite river rock that seemed very out of place but it didn’t have any marks on it indicating human use. In one place I found some petroglyphs–maybe they are supposed to be footprints? In a crevice near the petroglyphs was a rock that appeared to have been purposely shaped into a hammer or axe, but half of it was missing. My path took me above a very long crack that had patina on both sides but I couldn’t see way down into it, and I felt like I’d spent way too much time already during the ascent so I decided to pick up my pace and get to the top, and maybe check it out again on the return.
A blank canvas
Granite river rock out of place
Granite river rock
More patina
Petroglyphs on a boulder
Footprints?
Unfinished bighorn sheep?
Rock in a crevice
Possibly a broken axe head or hammer
Shaped edge of the stone
Big boulder below
More empty patina
Big crack I couldn’t get down into
Big crack I couldn’t get down into
At the top of the mesa there should have been some excellent views but the fog was still filling the valleys below. I set off across the plateau and there was so much broken chert littering the ground. The fog came and went as I hiked across the relatively featureless terrain, occasionally seeing older footprints of previous explorers. My planned route took me to another edge of the mesa top which I followed with caution, having to skirt very close to the edge in some places but unable to see the drop hundreds of feet below.
Almost to the top
View obscured by fog
Lightning-struck boulder
Lightning mark
Chert everywhere
Chert chunks underfoot
A decent arch
Brief clearing in the fog
Full potholes
Older footprints on the mesa
Approaching the edge of the mesa
View from the edge
Easy ledge traverse with big drop below
After another cross-country jaunt to a different side of the mesa the fog cleared and offered some nice views for once! I followed the rim for a while and found a section corner marker right on the edge, but later checked a topo map and discovered the marker is about 150 feet from the actual section corner. I guess the surveyors couldn’t or didn’t want to reach the actual corner, below the cliff’s edge.
Layered rock formations
Potholes
The fog clears again
Above a small canyon
Pool on the mesa
Section corner marker
It was past noon so I found a spot to sit down and eat lunch, then I began heading back. There’s not much relief on top of the mesa so there was little chance to find any overhangs or cliffs with rock art, but I did see some axe-cut trees indicating somebody had probably camped there. It was probably sheepherders but I didn’t see any signs, like old cans, indicating an encampment. I ran across another section corner marker, and this one had some collapsed aluminum poles and a couple of aluminum tags on or near it.
Return route across the mesa
Axe-cut tree
Unremarkable return route
Collapsed aluminum poles and section marker
Aluminum tag on the section marker
Another aluminum tag
The fog was mostly gone, and back where my ascent route had topped out I was treated to the nice views I was hoping for earlier. On the way down I wove my way through a different path between the many boulders but didn’t find anything new. Then I arrived back above that crack I’d passed up that morning. I followed the rim and dropped down several ledges hoping each one would land me in the bottom. Eventually I found a brushy and bouldery downclimb that led me where I wanted to be.
Finally, a fog-free view!
Haze over Moab
The Portal
A starkly different view from earlier
Starting the descent
Switchbacks
La Sal Mountains
Back to the crack
This might go?
Bouldery downclimb
These petroglyphs were pretty cool to see! There was one large triangular figure with a snake extending below it to the left, and many other figures, most with downturned arms, which also had snakes extending the same direction.
Petroglyphs
Triangular body and snake
Two figures and a snake
Single figure and maybe a snake?
Blob and maybe an animal figure
After exiting the crack I continued descending, taking a slightly different route than I’d followed up, and it was a lot looser and steeper and I didn’t get my camera out for much of it. I needed both hands and all my concentration to keep my feet underneath me. At the bottom of the steep part it was an easy walk back to the truck. The trip odometer on the GPS registered just over nine miles, and the hike didn’t really feel that long but I verified at home that it was pretty accurate. It had been a good hike with some fun challenges, and in the future I’m sure I’ll do some more like it–minus the fog.
Above the rocky descent route
Photo Gallery: Arches Backcountry XII: Foggy New Year!