Fiery Furnace, Part 1
A different kind of hiking
The Fiery Furnace is one of the highlights of Arches National Park. It is a natural maze of narrow passages between towering sandstone canyons, fins and natural arches located in the heart of the park. It’s also a highly sought-after hike, so much so that the NPS has implemented a permit system. The Fiery Furnace was closed when we arrived earlier this month (bummer), but the permit window reopened last week, and we got 2 permits for opening day this week (yeah!).
The park describes it this way … “Hiking in the Fiery Furnace is a different experience from other trails in the park. You may encounter dead ends and it can be easy to get lost. There are small markers for one counter-clockwise route in the Fiery Furnace, but there are many other possible paths, and getting lost is a real possibility. GPS units do not work well due to the towering sandstone walls. Navigating its complex passages requires physical agility and careful observation.“ Exciting!
Right from the start, the trail takes you between big rocks, either going up or down ...
Or following sandy washes …
Or makes you do a little backcountry parkour …
But mostly it’s just a beautiful and grand place to be …
The Fiery Furnace gets its name from the reddish hue its sandstone formations take on at sunset, resembling the glow of a furnace …
And yes, we saw arches. Here’s the Skull Arch …
Kissing Turtle Arch …
And the Surprise Arch …
Even elephants! Here’s Nancy petting the elephant’s trunk. Do you see it?
Along the way, we heard the most beautiful songbirds — Canyon wrens and White-throated swifts — identifying them using the Merlin birding app. Check out the sound of these two birds at the links above.
Here’s our actual route. Clearly we did some “exploring” haha!
6 miles, 900 feet of elevation change, and 4.5 hours later, we emerged, happy hikers!