Hello forum:
Going to Moab in a few weeks and wanted to hike the Fiery Furnance. There are no ranger-guided hikes until late April or May due to road construction per the NPS. Is the Fiery Furnance a tough route to navigate? I haven't done many tougher slot canyons before and don't want to get over my head. Thoughts?
Fiery Furnance - Arches
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YonderMountain
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Scott P
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Re: Fiery Furnance - Arches
The part that the rangers do is not a difficult hike; there is just minor scrambling.
It can be a tough place to find exact landmarks, if you are looking for something specific, but it's easy enough to wander at will. You have to be careful about stepping on crypto and vegetation though and any violations to the policies can lead to closures.
It can be a tough place to find exact landmarks, if you are looking for something specific, but it's easy enough to wander at will. You have to be careful about stepping on crypto and vegetation though and any violations to the policies can lead to closures.
I'm old, slow and fat. Unfortunately, those are my good qualities.
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acidchylde
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Re: Fiery Furnance - Arches
As far as I know, they've never offered guided hikes over the winter season - nothing to do with construction. This year, because of the construction and variable schedule, they won't be offering advanced reservations but they will still be offering tickets at the visitor center, up to seven days in advance. But the variable schedule means that at some point, the entire area will be closed, period.
Now it sounds like your trip will be ahead of all that. There used to be a rule, official or not, that unless you'd been in there before on a ranger-led hike or with someone else who had, they wouldn't issue you a permit. I was told that a couple of times during my first visits to the area, but now the website just states that's a "recommendation" and in more recent trips I've both run into people on the trail and in the visitor center who were issued permits but no one in the party had ever been in before. I'll also mention that not one of them had found their way through the loop hike, they'd gone in one end or the other and come out the same way.
As Scott said, it's not difficult when compared to easy slot canyons in terms of physical moves. I think that photo on the website of the woman coming forward and the ranger's back who is watching is probably the hardest spot. But it's very different in terms of navigation. With a slot, aside from locating the entry/exit points, you've got pretty much one way to go. In the Furnace, you're in among narrow fins and will be passing between them, climbing up them, and having to determine which way to go almost constantly. There are a couple of places that are highlights of the ranger tour (or just off it but not visited) that you can walk right by and never know are there. And even that standard route has a couple of tricky turns that are very hard to spot if you don't know what you're looking for - the right way often isn't the obvious one. Now the website has some new language on it I haven't seen before: "One counter-clockwise route is marked in the Fiery Furnace." I'm not sure if that means they've added signs or cairns or something since I was last there a couple years ago, but there didn't used to be. They might also just mean they have one standard route, and everything else is at-will.
All that said, you can certainly have an enjoyable time wandering in and exploring where you can while following the rules. Scott mentioned crypto and vegetation, but you're also supposed to stay off stable sand slopes as well - you'll have to watch an orientation video and take a little verbal quiz before they issue the permit that will cover everything you need to watch for. Following those rules can help navigating, because in many cases it will quickly narrow down your choices. Beyond that, as long as you're confident in retracing your route when a lot of things look the same so that you can at least find your way back if not forward, you'll be fine.
tl;dr - physical moves aren't all that challenging, navigation is.
Now it sounds like your trip will be ahead of all that. There used to be a rule, official or not, that unless you'd been in there before on a ranger-led hike or with someone else who had, they wouldn't issue you a permit. I was told that a couple of times during my first visits to the area, but now the website just states that's a "recommendation" and in more recent trips I've both run into people on the trail and in the visitor center who were issued permits but no one in the party had ever been in before. I'll also mention that not one of them had found their way through the loop hike, they'd gone in one end or the other and come out the same way.
As Scott said, it's not difficult when compared to easy slot canyons in terms of physical moves. I think that photo on the website of the woman coming forward and the ranger's back who is watching is probably the hardest spot. But it's very different in terms of navigation. With a slot, aside from locating the entry/exit points, you've got pretty much one way to go. In the Furnace, you're in among narrow fins and will be passing between them, climbing up them, and having to determine which way to go almost constantly. There are a couple of places that are highlights of the ranger tour (or just off it but not visited) that you can walk right by and never know are there. And even that standard route has a couple of tricky turns that are very hard to spot if you don't know what you're looking for - the right way often isn't the obvious one. Now the website has some new language on it I haven't seen before: "One counter-clockwise route is marked in the Fiery Furnace." I'm not sure if that means they've added signs or cairns or something since I was last there a couple years ago, but there didn't used to be. They might also just mean they have one standard route, and everything else is at-will.
All that said, you can certainly have an enjoyable time wandering in and exploring where you can while following the rules. Scott mentioned crypto and vegetation, but you're also supposed to stay off stable sand slopes as well - you'll have to watch an orientation video and take a little verbal quiz before they issue the permit that will cover everything you need to watch for. Following those rules can help navigating, because in many cases it will quickly narrow down your choices. Beyond that, as long as you're confident in retracing your route when a lot of things look the same so that you can at least find your way back if not forward, you'll be fine.
tl;dr - physical moves aren't all that challenging, navigation is.
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Shaolin
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Re: Fiery Furnance - Arches
Very cool place to visit for sure, enjoy!
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YonderMountain
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Re: Fiery Furnance - Arches
Thank you for the responses. Will definitely follow the rules!!
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claguire
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Re: Fiery Furnance - Arches
I have done both the guided twice and unguided (with many years between). To be honest you can tell where the tours go if you look for worn areas on the rock and sand. I found all the main points the tour highlights, however I basically wondered upon them all. Also as far as difficulty, many years ago I took a child carrier in there and did have any problems.
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Kinesiologyman
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Re: Fiery Furnance - Arches
Definitely visit the fiery furnace! It is amazing. You can wander at will (staying off the restricted areas, of course) for hours. We enjoyed it so much we went back the next day. The Ranger may try to convince you that you need a guided tour before they will let you in...but you do not. It is not required, they just "highly suggest" it. We encountered no one while in the furnace, both days, making it even better. We did see the two tour groups that went through on day one...and simply went the other way and avoided them completely.
The hidden gem of Arches, for sure!
The hidden gem of Arches, for sure!
You can take the man out of the mountains...
But you can't take the mountains out of the man.
But you can't take the mountains out of the man.
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Scott P
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Re: Fiery Furnance - Arches
It depends on the day. Some days there isn't that many people and on other days it can be crowded. It's definitely a well known location.The hidden gem of Arches, for sure!
I'm old, slow and fat. Unfortunately, those are my good qualities.
