The area concentrates geological and cultural features found in Arches National Park to the north and the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park to the south, providing outstanding backcountry recreation and solitude in first-class scenery immediately outside the town of Moab. The concentration of arches in the proposed Behind the Rocks wilderness is similar to that in Arches National Park, with over 20 major, named arches and at least that number of unnamed arches known within the area, with more being discovered each year. As in Arches National Park, most arches are in the Navajo and Entrada. Unlike Arches, at least one large arch also occurs in the Kayenta Formation in the Goldbar unit, similar to the Cassidy and Hickman Arches in Capitol Reef National Park. The top of Goldbar Canyon, Hunters Canyon, and Hatch Wash bears a remarkable resemblance to the area of Capitol Reef National Park traversed by the Frying Pan Canyon Trail between Grand Wash and the Fremont River.
Potholes abound in the tops of Navajo Sandstone domes and smaller canyons.
There are exposures of Navajo fins in the Klondike Bluffs area of Arches National Park, but the area of fins dominating Behind the Rocks is much larger. Lower Pritchett, Hunters, Kane Springs, and Hatch canyons penetrate the Wingate, with only Pritchett lacking perennial water. Behind the Rocks was inhabited extensively by the Anasazi and Fremont Indians, the two cultures apparently overlapping here. Because the deep canyons are sinuous and typically thick with riparian vegetation while the majority of the country is a whimsical labyrinth of domes, fins, arches, spires, and potholes, one rarely encounters other visitors. It is rare to find a natural area with as much geological and cultural interest so close to a town with extensive visitor facilities.