Corona Arch

Today was the last day of the Moab WIN gathering, but Ron and I are sticking around for a while. It was sad to see everybody leave us, but this area is so wonderful that we needed more time. On the bright side, Diana and Phil are here now so we can hike and tour with them.

Although I have another posting of WIN activities from the past few days, I'm going to start with today. Right across the street from where the WINs were parked is the trailhead to impressive Corona Arch (140 by 105 foot opening.) One morning, our friend John went up the 1 1/2 mile trail in the dark to get this incredible pre-sunrise shot.


I was inspired to get up early and try my luck, although I drew the line at hiking in the dark. So we climbed up slickrock,


And braved the ladder (alright it was a very short ladder.)


On the way, we stopped to admire Bow Tie Arch - not sure why it's named that.


And reached Corona Arch before the sun hit it. However, it was a real photographic disappointment. . .

I'm not sure even HDR would have helped - I guess to get anything nearly as gorgeous as John's picture, you really do have to climb up in the dark.

So we waited until the arch was in the sun and I took this of Ron with the arch.


As we headed back, Ron did discover why it was named Corona Arch when he turned back and took this picture of me. You can clearly see the sun's corona.


Almost down and another shot of one of the best places the WINs have ever stayed. A lot of them had already left since I believe we had 40 rigs there during the gathering.


To reward ourselves for our early morning exercise, we went to breakfast in Moab. At the Moab diner, we found this picture of a local pilot flying through Corona Arch. I can't imagine somebody being that crazy!