Round Trip Distance: 0.8 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 6446 - 6505 feet
Cellphone: 0-3 bars
Time: 1 hr.
Trailhead: 37.47118, -111.44881
Fee: none
Attractions: Scenic arch, ruin, pictographs
Collet Top Arch is located in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument near the town of Escalante, Utah. Found tucked away in a small alcove beneath the arch is a cliff dwelling style ruin that is still in almost perfect condition. A few pictographs can also be found in another small alcove that is on the backside of the same sandstone point as the arch.
Both of the common routes to the Collet Top Arch require a high clearance 4WD vehicle and a one-way drive of about 38 miles. For this post we began by following the Smoky Mountain Road, so we could stop at some of the Alvey Wash rock art sites enroute, and returned via the Left Hand Collet Road. Before setting out consider stopping at the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center on the west end of town for the latest road conditions for both the Smoky Mountain and the Left Hand Collet roads.
The Smoky Mountain Road begins on the west end of Escalante not far from the before mentioned Visitor Center. On the day that we made the trip they had just graded the first 10-15 miles of the road which made for a more pleasant drive.
Which ever route that you take you will come to a 3-way intersection that is at the top of the Left Hand Collet Road. Here you will want to head east in the direction of the Croton Road.
Measuring from the 3-way intersection go left at the 0.7 mile point.
Go left again in another 0.6 miles at the 1.3 mile point.
At the 2 mile point go to the right.
In another 0.4 miles, at the 2.4 mile point, you will find the nondescript trailhead. Currently you won't find any trail signs or markers of any type or anything that looks at all like a normal parking area. Find a place to park out of the way and you should be able to find the trail leading off from the road toward the arch.
During the summer months the arch probably has at least a few visitors every week which makes the trail easy to follow as it starts out. Do your best to stay on the same common route to help keep the area from being braided with a confusing number of different trails. The BLM normally accomplishes this with brown mylar markers but here they appear to choose neglect instead.
The crux of the hike comes up about halfway to the arch where the trail crosses an expanse of slickrock and disappears. At this point continue straight across the slickrock and try to pick up the trail again. Unfortunately you will find many routes from which to choose. Having a handheld GPS device with the track and waypoints loaded will make it easier.
The quaintly scenic little arch is better seen by coming at on top of the cliff from behind.
This is one of the views of the arch and ruin from below.
The ruin in the alcove beneath the arch, which was probably used for storage, is in near perfect condition. There aren't any signs to remind visitors but to help it remain in its present condition don't try to go inside the ruin.
Another small alcove can be found on the backside of the rocky outcrop below the arch where there are a few pictographs.
The images include a few partial stylized hand prints.
There are a few other images in a darker color for which it is harder to imagine a meaning.
