aztec sandstone arches

My family and I visited Aztec a few years ago. While in town, we decided to try and find some of the arches located in the area. After looking at the choices and trying to figure out which ones we had a chance of finding without getting lost, we settled on the Cox Canyon arches since it was considered one of the largest and one of the most impressive. At the time, you were able to either send for or stop by the visitor center to pick up a brochure which contained descriptions and directions to each of the arches. I'm not sure if they still supply this brochure or not, but it was really helpful. I called and ask them to send a copy to me beforehand and they were great at doing so. Unlike the website, it contained pictures.I want to first state that my husband, two young kids (ages 7 and 10 at the time) and I didn't have GPS so we had to find it by means of the directions which went something like this: Take Road #110. Drive 2.3 miles until you come to an oil well. Turn right at the oil well and drive until you see a large rock. Go around the rock and down across the dry river bed and up the other side. Drive 1.18 miles until you come to an opening. Park and walk NW 1000 feet to the base of the cliff. Look for the trail made by others and climb up the cliff.......You get the point. The directions were CRAZY and it's honestly amazing that we were able to find the place. I'm sure it would be a lot easier with GPS. Needless to say, once we found the trailhead (which is not marked, at least they weren't when we were there), you had to use footholds to climb a 15 foot vertical wall. Once at the top, you'll be walking on slickrock. The trail is basically flat with a slight incline as you near the arch. Follow the cairns. You have to climb over some boulders in order to get under the arch. Otherwise, you can view it from afar.The arch is simply beautiful and so is the hike, though it's a bit nerve wracking because you're really out there by yourself. Coming back down the rock wall is a bit nervewracking too in that you sort of have to blindly scoot yourself over the side to find the footholds. If there isn't already a cairn at the location where you need to go back down the rockface, make sure you place one there or you'll never find it again.We did this driving a sedan, took our time and didn't have a problem. Though there are some bumpy parts, you should be able to do it in a regular car as long as it hasn't rained. Both of my kids and husband had no problems. Since I have a moderate fear of heights, it was a little tough for me to get up my nerve to go back down the wall, but my husband went down first and helped me find the first foothold and I was fine after that.Once you park your car, it takes about an hour or so to do the hike round trip which allows for hanging around the arch to take some pictures. Once exiting the main road, allow yourself about two hours in driving and hiking time.We attempted to find another arch further down the road, but was unable to locate it, though we know we were really close. Again, GPS would have probably helped a lot.If you're in the area, enjoy hiking and treasure-hunting, I would highly suggest this hike (and some of the other arches as well). Realize that some of the arches listed are quite small.

We have been to Arches National Park several times and were enchanted by the amazing arches. When we went through Aztec, NM and saw that they had over 220 arches so we decided we had to see some. They have a beautiful color brochure with photos of the most popular arches with directions to get to them... and the latitude and longitude locations of each! Perhaps we picked the wrong arch to check out first but what an experience! For the arch we picked the directions gave mileage (about 15 miles) from the center of the town of Aztec, including the turn onto a dirt road, then 2.1 miles on the washboard bumpy dirt road. The dirt road is a gas/oil road not maintained by any government agency. Without our GPS we could never have known which of the many dirt roads to use! Even with our GPS, we turned around to return without being able to find the arch. About 1/4 mile back from where our GPS said it would be we finally located it. While the brochure said it would be an easy hike to the arch, there was no place to park and no visible trail. Since the brochure warned about rattle snakes we limited out sighting to the view from the car. No wonder there haven't been other reviews! Without signs to guide a visitor this arch was tough to find. We did talk to a young person who lives in the area who was thrilled with her opportunity to hike to these arches. I'm sure hikers who are more adventuresome would be thrilled to have so many arches in the area to explore - and I'm sure they'd love the solitude. The arch we did see was impressive! And the surrounding area was lovely with amazing rock formations.