Park Avenue Trail

The Park Avenue Trail is one of the first major attractions within Arches National Park. It is a one-mile trail that follows the bottom of a canyon at the feet of some of the park’s gigantic and well-known monoliths.

Trail Head: 38.624431, -109.599582

Trail Type: Hiking

Length: 2 miles round trip

Difficulty: Easy

The Three Gossips, the Courthouse Towers, Queen Nefertiti and Queen Victoria Rock, the Organ, and the Tower of Babel are all visible from the road as visitors drive up towards Balanced Rock and Delicate Arch, but there is a large difference in experience when actually hiking through them. All of these natural wonders are famous and often photographed.

The lower trailhead is located on the Arches Entrance Road, 2.5 miles north of the visitors center, off to the north side of the road. The parking lot has a paved walkway that heads 320 feet to a Viewpoint. From there, there is a well-worn trail that heads down the Avenue and towards the Courthouse Towers Parking Lot.

The massive sandstone towers that make up the western background of Park Avenue are called the Courthouse Towers. Like the prows of enormous ships, these landmarks jut out into the desert below, some of them over 600 feet tall.

The Organ is a smaller monolith just to the south of the Tower of Babel, off to the right side of the Arches Entrance Road. The Courthouse Towers parking lot sits off to the west flank of the Organ.

The upper trailhead is at the Courthouse Towers parking lot, off to the west flank of a rock structure known as The Organ.

The Tower of Babel is located to the north of the Courthouse Towers, standing just above Courthouse Wash, north of the Organ and beside the Entrance Road.

Click here for more information about Arches and the surrounding area.

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