Klondike Bluffs to Tower Arch

Tower Arch sits in the remote Klondike Bluffs section of Arches National Park, accessed via a dirt road in the park's northwestern corner that requires a high-clearance vehicle when wet. This distance from the main road keeps crowds minimal even during peak season, making it one of the best places in the park to experience the silence and solitude that defined early explorers' accounts of canyon country. The trail crosses open sand flats and climbs through eroded sandstone fins and small canyons before reaching the arch.

Tower Arch itself is one of the larger spans in the park at 92 feet wide, with a distinctive tower of rock rising directly above and beside it — the combination that gives the formation its name. Explorer Alex Ringhoffer, who discovered and named many of Arches' features in the 1920s, initially called it Minaret Arch. The surrounding Klondike Bluffs are a maze of orange sandstone walls, isolated balanced rocks, and small arches that reward those who explore beyond the main trail. Evening visits produce spectacular light on the bluffs. The Klondike Bluffs area is also accessible to mountain bikers on the dirt road leading to the trailhead.