See Cobra Arch, Paria Canyon, Utah

Add to My List Check Off

Cobra Arch is located near the middle of Buckskin Gulch on the Utah side of Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. The trailhead is in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. It's about 6.6 miles roundtrip from the carpark using the Middle Route Trail. After a drive on rough dirt roads, it's about a 2 mile hike (or longer) to the arch. It's best to have a GPS map on your phone, because the trail markings are ambiguous. You don't see the arch until you have passed it. The name comes perhaps from the view looking up the arch head-on, where there might be some semblance to the Asian snake. In the view shown here, with some imagination you can see another snake, its body coming from beneath the arch and its head just above the blooming cactus. The hike takes longer than you might imagine due to the rough terrain and lack of an established trail in some places. There's a fairly steep decline about halfway in and a steep incline on return.

Write a Review

No Ratings Yet

Flag as inappropriate ›