This is a very nice Grade A arch on a Class 1.1 trail (well-marked, easy climbing trail) until you get just below the bluff then you must use a rope to pull yourself the final 20 feet onto the exposed rock (Class 4.0). The arch is to the right of the rope required climb-up area along a split in the rock, but still there is a bit of climbing that upgrades this hike to the arch a Class 3.0 (going on up to the Cloud Splitter Overlook is Class 4.0 due to the rope). In Fall 2026, some people had to be rescued from the top of Cloud Splitter rock because they couldn’t use the rope to get down in the dark.

The problem with this arch is there is no parking lot where the trail starts, the nearest parking lot is several 100 yards away. Unfortunately, there is a trail that starts up the hill from that parking lot, which I mistook. Just as I got to the top of the first hill, it started raining. It quickly got too wet to go down the trail so I continued on the hike and hoped that I would run into the existing trail to Cloud Splitter, but the heavy rain/fog prevented me from getting my bearings and I descended the same path that I just traveled up. When I got to the final section, which was over 50 feet above my car down a 45-degree hill covered with super-wet ferns, mud, and thorns bushes and some trees, I tried to lower myself from tree to tree. When I missed grabbing one tree, I shot down the remainer of the hill with great velocity, hitting the ditch at the bottom (which totally removed all traces of clothing from my rear end), and which popped me in the middle of the road right beside my car. Luckily no one was driving past at that moment.

Take note: It is very dangerous to travel on steep hills or exposed rock when it’s about to rain or is raining.