Devil's Canyon Arch

 Devil's Canyon Overlook Arch

I had heard about this arch at Devil's Canyon Overlook in Bighorn Canyon, and had seen photos and posts online about it.  I had been to Devil's Canyon Overlook before, but I didn't know about the arch so I didn't go looking for it.  You can easily find this arch.

Drive on highway 37 until you see the turn for Devil's Canyon Overlook on the right.  Park in the very first parking spot.  Get out of the car and start walking back towards the direction that you drove in.  Watch on your left for a pile of rocks that indicates where you should leave the road and go off-trail towards the canyon edge.  You will have to walk a little ways off the road before you see the arch down below.

Be very careful when climbing down to the arch because the rocks are very loose, and you are way above the water below.  Luckily it is not a sheer drop-off on the other side of the arch, although it is still pretty steep.  We were careful and were able to climb underneath the arch.  

This is where we parked the car

This is the pile of rocks indicating where to start heading towards the canyon wall

We didn't know about the rocks at first so we just explored starting at our parking spot, looking down below for the arch.

We didn't see it at first, because we were too close to the parking lot

After we did spot the arch we realized we needed to head back up a bit and over to where we could more easily make it down to the arch

This is where the arch is, you can barely see the opening in this photo

From this angle you can more easily see the opening in the arch

Other than the tree blocking the opening, this is a very nice view of the opening in the arch

better view of the arch as we make our way down to it

view of the Bighorn Reservoir down below, through the arch

Inside the arch

view through the arch

We were able to find the arch from the water when we were boating Bighorn Reservoir the next day, because we memorized that unique pinnacle on the turn.  Once we found the pinnacle in the water, we drove slowly through the water looking at the ridgeline above until we finally located the arch.  We would never have noticed it if we didn't know where it was.  It is not easily noticed from the water.  And there are only 2 places on the water that you can view it.  Since there isn't a sheer drop-off right beside the arch, you can't look up from the water and see it right beside it.  You can see it before you reach it in the bend of the water, as viewed from this photo, and you can see it again after going around this bend -- in fact, that is the better spot to view the opening in the arch, depending on where the sun is at the time.

When you get to turn #44 on the water you are right by the Devil's Canyon Overlook Arch.  You can't see it from directly below, though, so back-track until you can see it.  If you are past the Pinnacle on the water, even go out into that other canyon beyond it so that you're far back enough to see this bump in the ridgeline.  Inside that bump is the arch.  We could see the sun through it when approaching the arch in the morning (heading north up the canyon), and then could see it better after the pinnacle when heading back down south in the canyon in the afternoon.  So the position of the sun does make a difference in whether you can spot it from the water. 

The arch is right next to this high jut in the canyon wall.  This photo was taken in the morning when driving north up the canyon.

This photo was taken near the Pinnacle and has the arch in the very center of the photo.

This photo was taken in the afternoon when heading back south down the canyon.  It was taken from Devil Canyon, which is adjacent to the arch, and just north of the pinnacle.

In this photo the arch is in the far left of the photo in the center, and on the far right is the pinnacle.  If you look closely you can see the fence up on the ridge on the right, which is where the Devil's Canyon Overlook is.

This photo was taken with a zoom lens.  It is very difficult to see the arch from the water, although not impossible.

The arch is the perfect frame for the canyon

My husband and I under the arch

Underneath the arch

More views from inside the arch

looking down from inside the arch

framed view from inside the arch

Me under the arch

You can see how steep the drop-off is behind the arch

view behind the arch

This is the little spot I found to sit under the arch.  I tried to mark our location on google maps, but we didn't have any cell service up there.

Notice the boat down in the water

final view through the arch

You can see the top of the arch in this photo after we started climbing back up to the road

This is the view of the parking lot from where we walked up from the arch.  This gives you an idea of how far away from the parking lot the arch is

There is the rocks (cairn) on the side of the road where you head down to the arch

After hiking down to the arch, we walked around the Devil's Canyon look-out

Even if you don't want to look for the arch, the overlook is amazing and well worth the drive up there!

The arch is at the bottom right corner of the loop on this map.

Our elevation loss

location of the arch as compared to the overlook on google maps

This distance included our little walk around the lookout

The satellite view with the arch in the far right bottom corner of the loop

If you want a very difficult and strenuous hike with a great reward at the end, try out Sykes Arch, whose trailhead is just across the street from Devil's Canyon Overlook Road.  Read about it here:  Sykes Arch