Arch Canyon 3.0

Walk through ground level Indian ruins, view beautiful Cathedral Arch, inspect a granary and gaze at several visible cliff dwellings.

It is 8 miles to the end of the canyon and the same back out.  Under 4 hours of driving plus numerous stops for the attractions and lunch.

The trail crosses the stream over 50 times, and may be inaccessible during and after rainstorms.

Arch Canyon is famous for it’s three arches, Cathedral, Angel, and Keystone.  Cathedral is visible from the end of the road, Angel Arch is a half mile farther up the canyon and Keystone Arch is a 2.5 mile hike.

There is a GPS - gpx track file at the bottom of the page.

Cathedral Arch

Arch Canyon Ruins are the remains of an ancient Anasazi village.  Little remains today, but it appears to have been fairly large.  We are guessing that the holes in the sandstone anchored log for upper stories of the structures.  There also are a few pictographs.

There are cliff dwellings on the same side of the canyon only a short distance farther up.  Another visitor told us about them on our way up, and we forgot to look for them on our way down.  You may have to park and then walk through the trees toward the cliff for them to be visible.

Arch Canyon Ruins

Anchor holes for upper logs

I read on the web that some people call the cliff dwellings just mentioned "Beaver Dam Ruins".  We did see a beaver dam in the creek in 2017.

Beaver dam

Beaver workings

The many creek crossings make this an interesting trip.  Some of the crossings are steep, and this causes the 3.0 rating.  Most of the time you cross the creek, but occasionally you drive in the creek.  The road can be brushy in places.  This is a beautiful canyon.

Cross the creek

Drive in the creek

The Jailhouse Ruins are so named because of the vertical sticks in the entrance.

Jailhouse Ruins

Jailhouse location

There is a granary very close to ground level.  It presently is home to a packrat.

Granary

Granary location

Mule Canyon Ruins are visible from the road.

Mule Canyon Ruins

Mule Canyon Ruins location

There is a shaded picnic table at the end of the road, and you can enjoy a view of Cathedral Arch while you eat lunch.  Easy to see how it got the name.

Picnic table at end

Cathedral Arch formation

Page updated 2017

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