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Christmas in Arches 2025

Arches National Park | Wednesday & Thursday, December 24-25, 2025

Christmas is here again, which means that it’s time to return to Arches National Park for our annual Christmas tradition. Although Diane is still not supposed to do much hiking right now, she wanted to join me for some easier hikes in the park since she missed out on the past two years because of work, so we planned to spend the holiday hiking some of the easy and popular trails in the park that we usually pass right by. After getting out of work early on Christmas Eve, I stopped home to pick up Diane and we made our way over to Arches around noon. While we have enjoyed hiking in mild temperatures on Christmas a few times in the past, I don’t think we have ever experienced 60 degree temperatures (pushing close to 70 on Christmas Eve) like we did this year. It sure didn’t feel very much like Christmas this time!

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Moab Meanderings: Moab Area Rock Art XLVII

Saturday – Sunday, December 28-29, 2024

For the final weekend of 2024 I returned to the sandstone landscape surrounding Moab and met up with a friend so we could spend another weekend exploring, hiking, camping and searching for some petroglyphs that I have been trying to find for a while, and we ended up having a lot of luck this time! We were also treated to the sight of fog filling up some of the valleys on both mornings which made for some photogenic conditions, even if it did slow down my drive to Moab quite significantly on Saturday morning. I’ll start off this Trip Report with a few photos from the sunrise I watched at Arches National Park on Sunday morning since it was a great way to close out the year. I hope you all have a great 2025!

Christmas in Arches 2024

Moab Area Rock Art XLVI | Tuesday – Wednesday, December 24-25, 2024

After spending the last two weekends hiking around Moab, I returned again for my annual Christmas visit to Arches National Park like I do each year. Unfortunately, Diane had to work the holiday again this year so I was on my own. Since I got out of work early on Tuesday I was able to spend a few hours on Christmas Eve searching for some new petroglyphs before spending the night at the Devils Garden Campground inside the park. Although the weather forecast had been predicting rain and/or snow overnight and into the morning, aside from a few brief sprinkles overnight no precipitation ever materialized and the sky was mostly clear when I woke up on Christmas morning to start hiking to Landscape Arch for sunrise. These are my photos from yet another Christmas in Arches!

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Christmas in Arches 2023

Moab Winter Weekend | Saturday – Monday, December 23-25, 2023

After spending last weekend exploring the sandstone fins on the east side of the Colorado River in the Sand Flats Recreation Area, it was time for me to head over to Arches National Park for the extended Christmas weekend. While I usually only spend Christmas Day in Arches and then bounce around the desert canyons surrounding Moab for the rest of the holiday weekend, this year I wanted to spend the entire three days within the park. Unfortunately, Diane would not be joining me this year since she was scheduled to work all weekend and on the holiday, so I would be on my own. I left home early on Saturday morning and drove straight to Arches National Park through a consistent rain the entire way with some fog in the lower lying areas.

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Christmas in Arches 2022

Moab Winter Weekend | Moab Area Rock Art XXXIV
Saturday & Sunday, December 24-25, 2022

Christmas is here once again, which means that it was time for Diane and I to continue our annual tradition of spending Christmas Day in Arches National Park. This would be my fifteenth year visiting Arches around the yuletide holiday and Diane has been joining me for the past nine of those years on Christmas Day. Since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, Diane and I headed down to Moab on Saturday morning and we did a little exploring around the area before spending the night in town. Then we got up early on Sunday morning and drove to the Devils Garden Trailhead so we could hike out to Landscape Arch at sunrise before we spent the rest of the day in other parts of the park.