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In the span of less than one day, you can take three short hikes to three totally different features on one trip up Dry Creek Road, which is a rough, washboard dirt road.  In dry weather the road is passable for all cars but it can be a very rough trip.

Vultee Arch is a well known attraction and is the premier feature of these three short hikes. The trail up the canyon sees a lot of traffic from locals and visitors alike.  The trail head is marked and the trail is easy to follow as it progresses up the shady, gentle bottom of Sterling Canyon.  At a marked junction, Sterling Pass Trail branches off to the right but keep to the left and climb about 100 yards more onto the huge Red Rock slab outcropping.  This is the normal viewing area for the 40 foot high arch spanning 50 feet, and which is located to the North of the outcropping, across the small canyon. 

Vultee Arch is named after Gerard and Sylvia Vultee, early pioneer aviators who died in a plane crash about a mile North of the Natural Arch in 1938.  There is a brass plaque commemorating the two just past the the Sterling Pass Trail junction.

It is possible by crossing the outcropping and bearing slightly North-East to find a trail up to the the right side of the arch.  This part of the trail is difficult, steep and overgrown so the slab outcrop is the turnaround for most hikers. Once at the top of the arch you can scramble down to walk out on it.  Because no one was taking photographs at the time, I was able to sit and enjoy my lunch from mid-span.

Trekker