Spring 2026 - Idaho, Utah, Arizona, 5.2.26 - 5.27.26, Part 3: Arches National Park/The Fiery Furnace & Potash Road
After Nine Mile Canyon, the next stop on our Spring 2026 trip was a few days in Moab, Utah. We have been to Moab several times and done a ton of things in the area, but there is so much to do around there we keep coming back for more. Just outside of Moab lies Arches National Park. We have also been to Arches numerous times and done quite a bit of hiking in the park. For this trip though, I had two specific things in mind I really wanted to do. One was to drive out to a more remote part of the park and hike out to Tower Arch. The other was to pay a visit to The Fiery Furnace. I had been to the Fiery Furnace on my very first trip to the desert southwest back in 1989. Back then we just wandered into the furnace and hiked around a bit, not knowing anything about the complexities and extent of what can be found there. Nowadays, you must have a special permit to visit the Fiery Furnace. There are two options. One is to go on a guided tour with a ranger and the other is to apply for a self-guided tour. They only give out permits for seventy-five people per day so it can be a hot ticket to acquire. The permits become reservable one week before the date you want to go so I think it was the day before we left on our trip I was on recreation.gov at exactly 8AM mountain time trying to secure a self-guided permit for four people for Thursday, May 7th. Luck was with me and I got the permit.
Permit for four you say? No, I didn’t convert to Mormon and marry two more wives. My good friend Mike from Steamboat who has met up with us many times on our trips was coming out to join us for the two days in Arches and then go backpacking with us a couple of days later. The fourth would be another old friend Jane. Janey and I met clear back in 1967 at Geneva Glen Camp in Indian Hills, Colorado. We became close friends right off the bat and have been very dear friends now for almost sixty years. She really wanted to meet up with us for some hiking so she also drove out to Moab from her home in Lafayette, Colorado.
Once Bridgit and I arrived in Moab we parked the Navibahn across the street from our campground (we were too early to check in) and did a grocery run. At one we met up with Jane and drove into Arches to the visitor center. There we met up with Mike so the four of us could go to the mandatory Fiery Furnace orientation.
Janey and me, Geneva Glen Camp, 1967
Janey and me now
Once we had our permit in hand, we drove up to the trailhead parking lot which had a very short walk out to Fiery Furnace Overlook. The Fiery Furnace is a large area of rock fins mostly running sort of southeast to northwest. sounds simple enough but once you get in there, it is a jungle of rock pinnacles, walls and canyons. It would be very easy to get lost in there which is part of the reason for the permit system. We were really psyched to hike deep into the Furnace the following morning.
The view from Fiery Furnace Overlook
Wanting to beat the heat, the other hikers and the ranger guided tour, we were at the trailhead ready to rock at six-thirty. No other cars were in the parking lot at that hour. It was pretty chilly in the mid forties but was expected to warm up.
There is actually a loop that goes through the Fiery Furnace and a few well placed arrows help you stay on track as you loop through. I also had a route downloaded on my Gaia app but this is no ordinary trail. It’s not a trail at all. The hike is all on rock and there are so many little offshoot canyons, nooks and crannies that even armed with a navigation app and the arrows, most people including us take many wrong turns along the way. But that’s what made it so fun. There are even several signs that say dead-end but we were told many of those have hidden gems so we went everywhere we could.
The team ready to tackle the Fiery Furnace
I had several goals in mind for this hike. One was to complete the loop alive. Another was to find an arch called Skull Arch which was not on the main loop. Another was to find Surprise Arch which was also not on the main loop. I knew where they were supposed to be on my Gaia app, but there was no guarantee it would be of much use.
We set off to hike through the Fiery Furnace in a counter-clockwise direction. First we descended down to a dry sandy wash. Along the way, Mike spotted the first arrow indicating where to go. These arrows would get much harder to find the further we went.
Mr. Navigator pointing the way
Just as I had hoped (and planned), as we followed the wash up and began to enter a world of rock, the sun began to hit the top of the pinnacles all around us. We had incredible lighting for much of this hike with shade deep down in the fins and sun on the pinnacles and higher shelves.
The moon setting as the sun rose
A short way up the wash we came to a junction. To our left a sign said Dead End and and arrow pointed to the right. Being the intrepid adventurers we are, we explored up the dead end and sure enough, around a corner we came to an arch. There are many hidden arches within the Fiery Furnace and this one was the first one we had come across so far.
Just an arch up a dead end street
I think this alcove was just a bit beyond the arch
After scoping out the dead end side canyon we backtracked to the main loop and found another arrow pointing the way. Even with our apps, we still found ourselves constantly backtracking and trying other ways to continue. As I said, nothing was straightforward in this maze of rock. Around this time another couple came by and we played leapfrog with them for about twenty minutes or so. We also had one other couple come by from the other direction but other than those four people we never saw anyone else. By now the sun was really working magic on all the pinnacles and fins. I even came across a few small pools of water that made for some great reflections.
Magic light in the Fiery Furnace
Early morning in the Fiery Furnace
Golden light on pinnacles
Reflection in a small pool
After wandering through the furnace for a ways, we came across another dead end sign and decided to follow that side canyon up. I had a hunch this was the one I was was looking for. We followed it up and after a bit we came around a bend and high up on our left was a huge double-holed arch. Skull Arch had been found!
Skull Arch!
Jane and Skull Arch
Skull Arch was massive and very impressive. I was so happy we had found it because I’d read that some people don’t find it even knowing roughly where it is. We headed back the way we had come up the dead end side canyon until we got back to the main loop. At this point in our hike, even staying on the main loop was no easy task. We took a leisurely break in an open area that had sun before continuing.
Another alcove along the way
Our break spot with a cool little window
Once again, going through the Fiery Furnace is not your typical hike. There are several places that require some scrambling but nothing death-defying. I’d call it enjoyably spicy. Proceeding, we were now on the hunt for another side canyon that would lead us to Surprise Arch. This was no easy task. We went up the wrong canyon a couple of times and dead-ended on some ledges before finding the correct route. Even there we weren’t sure we were in the right spot until we finally rounded a bend and high above us was Surprise Arch. When he saw it, Mike realized he had been here before with his mom about a hundred years earlier.
Mike and Jane
No arrows up here!
Great view but not the way we needed to go
Not sure why they’re pointing
So beautiful. And the rocks are nice too!
Could Surprise Arch be up here?
Surprise Arch!
Surprise Arch was also up one of those side canyons so after finding it we went back to the main loop. At this point we found a set of stone steps dropping steeply down to a rock shelf. From the shelf another set of rock steps took us out of the depths of the Fiery Furnace into a more open area. There we found an actual trail that led us back to the trailhead, completing what ended up being a 4.8 mile loop that was billed as a 1.8 mile loop.
Stone steps dropping down to a rock shelf
Looking back up the stone steps
The steep stone steps came down from behind the crack left of center. The next set of steps dropped down on the right.
Back out in the open
Our somewhat laughable track on Gaia of our route
Remarkably, it was only 10:45AM when we finished the Fiery Furnace hike. We all had other things we wanted to do so we split up for the day. Bridgit and I went into town so I could stop by the library and print my backpacking permit. We got some other things done and went for an early burger at Milts. Great burgers, great fries, great shakes, they’re an institution in Moab.
Around four we hopped in the Jeep and drove up to the Island In The Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. Just beyond the gate we turned off onto the Shafer Trail. Gearing down, we dropped down the Shafer switchbacks. We’d dropped down these steep switchbacks several times but always turned off on the White Rim Trail. This time we stayed left and took the Potash Road all the way back to Moab in the late afternoon light. This road isn’t too wild but it is a geeat route. It goes right underneath Dead Horse Point and follows the Colorado River past Thelma and Louise Point. This was where the final scene in the movie was filmed even though they were supposedly driving off the rim of the Grand Canyon. Anyway, it was a beautiful drive and one I had been wanting to do for some time. It was a great way to cap off a fantastic day.
Shafer switchbacks
Shafer Canyon and Potash Road
Along the Potash Road
The Colorado River
The Colorado River
The Colorado River