Sunrise At Arches National Park

One of the best places for sunrise photography at Arches National Park is the Windows Section

During blue hour, the light behind Turret Arch is beautiful. As the sun comes up behind you, it begins to cast light on the sky behind it if there are clouds.

Be sure to walk around the area to see the different view points as the light changes. Just be careful with it being dark. We used redlight headlamps which help the eyes adjust better for photography.

Blue hour is my favorite time to get there because it is less crowded, except you might see some photographers like me getting set up for sunrise along with a few other early risers.

One of my favorite things I like about this area is there are several massive arches within a short walk making it perfect for those who don't want to hike, can't hike, or don't have time to hike.

The sunrise will shift around depending on the time of year you go. We were there in May and had a great view of it by standing in the middle of the South Window opening. It makes a great natural picture frame! You get an expansive view of the Moab, Utah landscape.

If you stand up under the arch, you will probably be several photographers standing against the wall facing you as you are looking towards the sunrise. They are looking at Turret Arch through the South Window so I tried to stay off to the side a little so I wouldn't be in there way too much along with the many others trying to get sunrise.

Thanks to the beautiful partly cloudy sky, I was able to capture a sun star / sunburst of the sun as it came up in most of my photos, which is something I love to capture.

As I mentioned earlier, be sure to walk around to see different angles as the sun rises. After the sun came up a little further, I walked down below the formation and was able capture some sunbursts through the opening. I loved it when I was able to capture someone standing under the arch as it helps show the grand size of these amazing rock formations. One of my favorites was when I captured a man standing right in the sunburst (photo below).

Many first-time visitors (like us) are surprised by the size of these arches and rocks.

• North Window has an opening about 90 feet (27 m) high.
• South Window has an opening roughly 105 feet (32 m) wide.

Above I mentioned how some photographers will be looking though the South Window towards Turret Arch....this is because the sun will light up Turret Arch as it comes up. It's pretty cool to watch the shadow slide down as you can see in the below photos I captured. Only I took these from the opening of the South Window and along the bottom of it. We attempted earlier in the morning to go to that other spot where those photographer were, but it looked to be a challenging climb and I wanted to be able to move around and see different views. Light changes fast so I move around fast while I can.

Before the sun came up too far and got too bright, I wanted to get over to Turret arch and try to capture the sun through it's opening. As I worked my way that direction, I captured more photos that featured both the North and South Window and more. The two windows stand side by side, creating one of the park's most recognizable scenes.

It's only about a 3 minute walk from South Window to Turret and I took several angles along the way which you can visit my website to see more of them.

After reaching Turret, I climbed up into the opening and went further into it to capture a sunburst in the middle.

Be sure to where good shoes when walking around on this tough terrain! Sadly there have been fatal falls. There are rocks everywhere and it doesn't take much to slip and hit your head on something or to fall off if you've climbed up.

When standing closer to the opening or Turret, I was able to get both the North and South Windows framed in the center. Looks like eyes peaking through.

There is so much to see in the windows section of the park. Make sure you allow time to walk around to see more. You won't be disappointed. If you walk around to the North Window area, you will see where the trail continues around to the other side. This is called the Windows Sand Loop. Sadly we didn't have time to walk that trail and it is something I do regret not having time to do. We only spent one day at Arches so was limited on what we could see. I do recommend trying to at least spend a couple days there.

But we did take some time and walked around the North Window area too. I just love the cool juniper trees and desert plants. They all have their own character to them and make great foreground subjects in photographs.

They do have clearly marked trails, but you are welcome to wonder off the trails. Just be sure to respect the environment and don't damage any property including the rocks, plants and vegetation. Watch out for cactus too! You don't want to step on them. Some have massive thorns that would not feel good like this one...a Smallflower Fishhook. They are beautiful to look at, but painful if touched or stepped on.

After you get done with the North and South Window and Turret arch section, you do not want to miss Double Arch on the other side of the Windows section which I'll have a separate blog on it.

As you can see, there is a lot to see. We spent a couple hours in this area and didn't get to see everything. You can probably spend a full day in the entire windows section alone if you want to take your time and explore the details. I could show you a lot more photos we took but don't want to make this article to long so you can go check them out on my gallery here - https://5-jennifer-white.pixels.com/collections/arches+national+park/windows

We also did a video of the area too you can check out below. If you do plan on visiting Arches National Park, I highly recommend putting this section on your must see list.

Be blessed.