Field Station Arch

Field Station Arch, Lander, Wyoming

A friend of ours told us there was an arch behind the Central Wyoming College Field Station in Lander Wyoming on the road up to Sinks Canyon.  I determined that I needed to find this arch!  It had been a couple years since he had been there, so he only remembered that you climb up the red rocks, follow a single trail, go through some fences, and then explore around until you find it.  My husband James and I decided we would give it a shot!  We ended up being able to walk right to it, only about 1.17 miles, almost all on the trail.  The arch is not very big, although it is bigger than the small arch in Red Canyon and the small arch in The Bus, both in the Lander area.  You can climb inside and on top of this arch.  We studied the map posted on one of the signs, compared it with my GPS pin on Google Maps and decided that the arch is most likely on State Lands, but it might be on BLM land.

We arrived at the CWC Field Station and parked.  This was our view and we started on the trail

Our friend mentioned the ditch & ladder before climbing up onto the red rocks.  We followed the trail, but I think he might have climbed up the ladder and then joined the trail on top.

The trail is simply cut into the grass for this part.  Most people come out here to bike.

This is where the two-track trail switched to a one-track trail.  We continued following the trail.

This was the first fence we went through.

And this was the second fence we went through.  If you head up from here you enter private land.  Head down instead, staying on the trail.

This was our view to the left of the trail

This is actually where the arch is (center of the photo, in the red rocks), although you can't see it yet.  It is partly looking left and partly looking straight on the trail.

This is looking straight forward on the trail.

This was the last fence that we went through. We didn't realize it, but we could see the arch from here -- no light was shining through the opening because of the angle of the arch, but it is in the red rocks furthest right in this photo.

Still on the trail, approaching this red rock, which is right next to where the arch is - we just hadn't seen it yet!

The arch is actually visible in this photo, although we didn't know it yet.  We continued following the trail, which goes between these two large red rocks, and almost right in the center of this photo is the arch.  It just looks like a ledge in this photo.

 Right as we went between these two large red rocks, we spotted the arch on the right of the trail.  It was at this point that we needed to leave the trail to climb under the arch:

It is at this pin:

Field Station Arch

My husband climbed up into the arch while I stayed on the trail to take photos.  The ground on the mountain under the arch is pretty loose and easy to fall or slide.  There are a lot of loose rocks, pine needles, and dirt.  We were careful while climbing up under the arch, and even more careful while climbing down.

You have to be at this angle to see the light through the arch

I would guess that the top of the arch is about 5 feet off the ground

Then it was my turn to climb up there with James.

I am 5'2" and could almost stand up completely under the arch, with the head touching the top of it

Climbing on top of the arch is easy - just climb through the back, walk over to the left, and onto the top of the arch.  Just watch your footing, all of the surrounding area is unstable with loose rocks and debris.

The view from inside the arch

Behind the arch there are all of these tiny pencil-sized holes.  I wondered what created them.

View from inside the arch -- there were TONS Of pinecones under the arch!

Signatures from 1943

Apparently BSA Troop 17 left their mark on the rock...

view of the arch from the side

view from inside the arch

view from inside the arch - you can see the trial we came in on

debris under the arch

standing under the arch looking out to the left

James making his way back down from the arch - it was so easy to fall with all the loose debris!

view of James on the adjacent red rocks, while I was standing under the arch

rocks behind the arch

back side of the arch

back side of the arch

The view from on top of the arch

looking down from on top of the arch

It was not that high off the ground

You can see the trail really well from on top of the arch

This is to the left of the arch from on top

Back side of the arch from above

Back side of the arch from a little ways behind it

The arch is somewhat hidden by that tree on the back side

Backside to the left of the arch

The left of the arch, see the trail down below

climbing back down through the arch

We walked a little ways further on the trail to see where it went (it goes up the mountain further rather than looping back to the start like we hoped).  This was the view of the arch coming from the other direction.

This is the far-off view of the arch from the other direction

Hiking back, looking back at where the arch is as we went back through that last set of fences.

Now that we knew where the arch was, we could see it for half of our hike back!  It is in just about the middle of this photo.

We could still see the arch!  Again, in just about the middle of this photo

This is right before we lost our glimpse of the arch

Hiking back, about to go through the second set of fences, you can see the "Private Land" sign up above, if we had gone up instead of down.

Keep to the left on the trail after going through the second set of fences on your way to the arch

This map was posted by one of the fences that we went through.  The arch is in the upper right corner of where the state lands meets the BLM land, where the map shows a steep incline.

Beautiful view on our hike back to our car

The hike to the arch was only 1.17 miles!  We didn't have to back-track at all, we just walked right to it.  I guess the directions our friend gave us were good enough that we didn't have to explore too much to find it!

If you weren't watching for the arch while you walked along the trail, you might miss it!  You have to be looking at the right angle to see the light through it.  It is visible from the trail as long as you keep watching for it!

I'm just bummed that this arch has been so close to my house all these years and I didn't know about it!