Yes...as Kathy O pointed out, I did switch from North Africa to Moab, Utah USA. Yes there is quite a resemblance.
So what do a bunch of mountain biker do when they only rode 7.5 miles, 1721 vertical feet decent, 1678 accent by GPS in the morning. What better to do than switch over to Rock Climbing and hiking. While our Colorado group spun around Slickrock again, part of our group switched over to climbing gear, while the rest got ready for a nice 3.5 mile hike to an arch off the Colorado River.
Here Scott climbed up the rock like a Gecko to set the rope so he could belay from below.
The hiking group met up with the climbing part just in time to get a nice climb in before heading out hiking. Here Matt scales the wall.
Matt also scurried up the rock with the ease of a Gecko.
Ok, the start of the hike. Just as we started hiking, Matt and Pam of the Colorado crew pulled into the parking lot. They arrived just in time for the sunset hike.
Right away we were greeted with huge cliffs and beautiful rock.
Hey, what am I taking a picture of...and what is with the tripod?
Nothing too much, just creating a 4 picture panorama of the valley to hike in. Much easier to stitch when using a tripod.
Sometimes you forget how little rain falls down here.
The trail had us cross this rail line. I cannot imagine trying to put in a rail line having to blast that much rock. That is crazy.
The Matts' decided Pam needed some camera attention. Colorado Matt and Washington Matt took this photo.
As the hike continued, you can see the railroad line below the rock cliffs. What amazing rock.
The trail didn't mess around getting you up the mountains. It was nice they carved out foot steps.
Our first sight of bowtie arch.
Here is a panorama to get the whole arch in the picture. This thing was really big.
We were at least 1/4 mile from the Arch to get this picture.
In the middle lower part of the picture you can see people to get a perspective on how large this Arch was.
A bigger expanded view of bowtie arch with Matt and Pam in the foreground.
Corona Arch, what we came for. Note the lack of crowds! If this was delicate Arch in Arches National Park there was a line up to get a sunset photo with 100's of people. This arch was free to park and a short hike and no people! I recommend this hike for an afternoon.
Different view. At first it was hard to see the arch with the rock in the background.
We will get a better size view below.
The above pictures were zoomed in, but this is when we first spotted the arch. To the left is Bowtie Arch. Keep in mind how large the rocks above the arch when we see the photo of Matt next to the lower part of the Arch.
Whew...if Matt wasn't holding up the arch it may fall...well not really but makes for a fun picture.
My turn to hold up the Arch. If you look closely at the lower right inside part of the Arch, Matt is standing up. At the far right outer part of the Arch Trey is hiding out.
Look above at the arch and try to find Matt in this same picture. This begins to show how large this arch really was.
This is a 3 picture panorama looking upward at the arch.
Behind Corona Arch was a really neat boxcanyon. This is really crazy terrain to navigate.
Here I am next to the box canyon behind Corona Arch.
Colorado Matt had a thing for getting really close to the edge of large cliffs and looking over.
At the end of the hike, there were old petons pounded into the rock to rope up. Here Colorado Matt climbed up until the cut out rock ended. Needed climbing gear from here. A buddy from Team Dart Nuun completed an Expedition Adventure race here several weeks before here and mentioned they got to rope up, climb this section and then overland to the next checkpoint 4 hours later. Rugged terrain for an adventure race...especially when it is over 3 days long.
While in Moab, we picked a week with a full moon. Around 0430 in the morning, you cast a shadow it was soo bright out. Makes for a nice hikeout.
End of Day 1 riding/hiking/climbing. What a good start to the week.
1 comment:
Spectacular! I particularly liked the perspective/descriptions; without the people in the background you really wouldn't know the size of the arch. The colors are glorious.
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