Charred Arch / Pass Arch Trail

This trail offers the chance to see two different little-visited rock arches in the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area.

While two arches can be viewed along this hike, those arches, as well as the routes to reach them, are pretty different from one another. From the parking area where the gravel road in has a wide turnaround area right before the road becomes significantly more rough, hikers can leave their cars and continue walking up the road. As most visitors stick to the signed trailheads, you're unlikely to see many other people here unless one of the dispersed camping areas has been staked out.

The trail heads toward Pass Arch, climbing the dirt road and merging for a short bit with the Alabama Hills Trail. Eventually, at the end of the dead end road, a single boulder sits just beyond the turnaround. This is Pass Arch. The arch itself may not be as spectacular or make for epic photos as some of the other more well known and visited arches, however it's worth seeing and gets you off the beaten path inside the Alabama Hills.

To reach Charred Arch, you must head off trail and do some backcountry hiking. Charred Arch is much more significant in size, however it is set before a backdrop of rock, making it very hard to see from a distance in all but the perfect lighting conditions. The best way to reach Charred Arch is to follow a GPS track, or to head to the nearby identifiable landmarks, and then look for the arch once you're nearby.

The area near Charred Arch can be seen from the parking area, and can be reached either by heading from the parking area in the direction of the arch where the landscape takes a steep uphill bend, or by walking there from Pass Arch and somewhat hugging the landscape just below where the steep uphill occurs until just about even with the parking turaround.

As Charred Arch takes some searching to find, allow yourself a little more time for this one.

There are no signs or amenities of any kind along the trail, and no cel service in this portion of the Alabama Hills, so have your navigation planned out before starting the hike.