- Drive to Courthouse Towers
- Take a classic Arches National Park hike
Moab today may be a mecca for mountain bikers, river runners, rock climbers, Jeep crawlers and anyone with the sense to point their cameras at the rugged red-tinted landscape. But Moab comes with a storied past, too — from the days its earliest Native American inhabitants carved petroglyphs into the towering desert canyons, all the way up to the area’s heyday as a go-to film location for Hollywood directors. Over decades, classics like “Rio Grande,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Star Trek,” “Wagon Master,” and “Geronimo” have filmed scenes here. So as you gaze at your wondrous sandstone-studded surroundings, think of John Wayne riding his horse into the sunset here — or, even better, Thelma and Louise in their 1966 Ford Thunderbird.
You’ll start your day in Arches, a crown jewel of a national park just a few minutes outside Moab. Shortly after entering the park, you’ll pass a cluster of soaring rock formations called the Courthouse Towers. This is the spot where Thelma and Louise, pulled over for speeding, decide to take the trooper’s gun and leave him in his car trunk. (Hey, they did apologize.)
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While you’re in the neighborhood, check out a few of the iconic hikes and overlooks around the national park. Delicate Arch is a can’t-miss landmark made famous on the Utah license plate and well worth the three-mile round-trip hike across gorgeous solid sandstone. If you can, sign up for a ranger-led tour of the Fiery Furnace, an insanely intricate maze of crimson rock fissures and pinnacles. And don’t leave without a stop at Devils Garden, a wonderland of red-hued rock shapes emerging from the living cryptobiotic soil, studded with hardy desert sage and juniper. Wandering this land quiets the mind and frees the soul. You can easily see why our film’s renegade heroines experienced new realizations here in the wide-open.
Where to Stay: Camp in Arches National Park, rent a hotel room or Airbnb in Moab or try glamping under the stars (Read: “The Best Time to Visit Moab”). You can also rent a room at nearby Red Cliffs Lodge and schedule a reservation for dinner at the lodge, which is the perfect way to cap off a desert day. (As a fun bonus, there is a Movie Museum at the Red Cliffs Lodge that’s free to the public and includes interesting props and memorabilia from local films, including “Thelma and Louise.”)
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Tips for Travel: The Moab area is gorgeous year-round and is fun to visit during any season. The high desert climate shows its more extreme edges at the high point of summer and darkest days of midwinter, so if that’s when you’re visiting, just plan ahead when it comes to clothing, layers and choice of vehicle. You can explore perfectly comfortably in winter if you bundle up and bring microspikes for hiking shoe traction. You can also have a wonderful visit in the heat of summer if you just time your hikes for early and late in the day. No matter the season, travel responsibly, practicing Leave No Trace principles while recreating and, when possible, supporting local during your visit to help keep Utah Forever Mighty.
Pictured: “Thelma & Louise” at Arches National Park, 1991. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
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