Hiked and visited on Sunday, June 9 and Monday June 10. I was in Moab from June 7 through the 10th, having committed myself to three consecutive days of telescope work to support the Southeast Utah Astrofest. Ranger talks and telescope viewing were scheduled in Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, and Canyonlands National Park, in that order, from Friday through Sunday nights.
Of course, I've been to the area several times since I started this blog, and several times before, as well. I've taken hikes in both daylight and after dark. I've hiked on clear days and wet days. I've hiked in Arches, as well as in Canyonlands, both along Grand View Point Road and near Upheaval Dome, and also in areas adjacent to these parks, including William Grandstaff Canyon, just across the Colorado River from Arches.
I'd also done drive-through visits to these parks, and not all of those have been blogged. For example, I'd been to Dead Horse Point State Park, before, but saw no entry for that on my blog. Still, there are so many interesting places within a day's drive of Moab that I knew I could busy myself with, so, when I heard about the Southeast Utah Astrofest, I definitely wanted to go.
Unfortunately, the best time for desert hiking (both temperature and lighting-wise) is either late afternoon or early morning, and volunteering as a telescope operator, with the very late nights you need to do at this latitude, in this part of the time zone, during daylight savings, made the latter impossible and the former difficult. Also, I was traveling with my wife, who isn't much of a hiker. That means I didn't do as much hiking as I had hoped, but I did get to visit one area I hadn't been to before. That was the area along Potash Road (UT-313), and Corona Arch.
This is Bureau of Land Management (BLM) territory, so the rules are less restrictive than in national parks. In particular, hiking with dogs on the trails is permitted, so I did see a number of dogs along this rather short hike. That's neither a plus nor a minus; just an observation.
The top four shots were from the Corona Arch trail. It's where I dropped the pin on the location for this post, but the other stops were very nearby that trailhead.
I got there mid-morning, and was pleasantly surprised to find the trailhead relatively empty. This was on a Sunday for the actual hike. Parked right near the trailhead, grabbed my pack (no camera, just a cell phone, personal locator beacon, and two bottles of Powerade), and headed out. I was out so quickly I didn't notice I hadn't put my hiking boots on, but even after figuring that out, I was pretty sure I'd be fine with my athletic shoes, so I didn't bother turning around.
A lot of this trail is over slickrock. In those areas, green rectangles of paint marked the route. Other areas are across sand. It's mostly not difficult, but there are a few steeper sections that will make you feel the moderate altitude of the area. There is also a very short area on the way to Corona Arch where there's a ladder and an anchored chain to help you up short climbs. Obvoiusly, if you bring a dog, the doggo will need help going up the ladder, although I've read that a short detour would allow your four-footed friend to walk around the ladder climb.
The trail to Corona Arch is given as 2.2 miles roundtrip. It goes right past Bowtie Arch, with essentially no addiitonal distance. By contrast, the sidetrip to Pinto Arch (pictured) will add about one mile to your hike, total. Both Pinto and Bowtie are sort of vertical skylight arches, with the opening pointing mostly up rather than horizontal to the ground. Also of interest, near the start of the Corona Trail hike, you cross an active railroad track. Makes a nice photo. Obviously, pay attention if you hear a train approaching!
Before getting to the Corona Arch trail, there are two areas of interest you probably want to stop at. The first is given as just "Potash Roadside Petroglyphs." That's exactly what they are. They are right adjacent to the road. You can even see them in the google maps street view of the location.
The petroglyphs may be easier to see from across the highway. A telephoto lens or binoculars will give you a closer look. Post-processing can increase the contrast and make the glyphs more apparent in photographs.
However you choose to view them, obviously be mindful that you're standing adjacent to (or perhaps even on) an active highway. Don't get run over!
The other point of interest you'll come across on the way to the Corona Arch trailhead is at the Poison Spider trailhead. That's actually the start of an off-highway vehicle motorized trail, but there's a parking area for non-OHV there, too.
There are two things you want to see near this trailhead. Both can be reached with just a hundred yards or so of walking. If you want to do more walking, you can continue a bit over a mile more to yet another arch, Longbow Arch. I didn't go there.
From the parking area, if you head away from the dirt road (towards the infromational kiosk/bulletin board), you'll see a hill above and maybe to your left (depending which way you're looking. It's probably only about fifty horizontal yards from the road, just north of the parking area, where you'll see a couple of slabs of flat rocks, laying open on the boulder-strewn hill.
The flat slabs are your first destination from this trailhead. The upper slab has indentations from dinosaurs walking. The lower slab is the protrusion that would been directly above indentations such as these. When the dinosaurs walked over what would have been wet, silty ground, they compressed the silt, making a stronger rock that what formed of the rest of the silt. When the slab fell, it split at the division between what came before and what came after the footprints' formation, exposing both the indentations and the protrustions. It's pretty cool.
If you continue past the slab, to the base of the flat cliff base with desert varnish, you'll see many ancient petroglyphs. That's the second destination from this trailhead. Unfortunately, some more recent graffiti is also on these rocks, though not as much as you might have noticed near the Roadside Petroglyphs.
The way to the dinosaur prints and petroglyphs at Poison Spider trailhead are a minimal distance, though a bit up a steep eroding way, so athletic shoes, at least, are recommended. And, as noted previously, athletic shoes were sufficient for Corona Arch, although this was during dry weather. If the rocks were wet, they'd be slicker, and lug soles might prove helpful.
Overall, just 3.5 miles or so of walking for everything pictured. Adding Longbow would have added a few more miles, so still a pretty manageable day, if the temperatures are moderate.
Regarding the star party, I had fun, of course. It was well-advertised, as we saw ads for the event on the back cover of the local free newspaper, as well as on bulletin boards in various visitor centers and places of business in town.
Friday night was the least good for viewing, with significant clouds for most of the night. This limited us to just a few bright stars for the first hour or so, while most of the visitors were still there. The last half hour cleared enough to show M4, M13, M57, M51, and M81 (Globular cluster near Anatres, Hercules globular cluster, Ring Nebula, Whirlpool Galaxy, and Bode's Nebula, also a galaxy, respectively).
Saturday was much better, so I could add the Leo trio of galaxies and Markarian's Chain of galaxies to the above-noted objects. Finished the night with a low view of the Lagoon Nebula in Sagittarius, a combination open cluster and emission nebula. This was my first view of that object this season.
Sunday night had the clearest seeing, except to the southeast, so everything above, except for M8. Also hit the Alcor/Mizar system for a bit, and we had a decent crescent moon to show before and during the ranger talk. That meant the sky was not quite as dark Sunday as it was on Saturday, but the deep sky objects still looked great. I think these were my most rewarding views of Markarian's chain and M51 that I have had through my own telescopes. I brought my 10" Explore Scientific hybrid dobsonian telescope. Second consecutive outreach event using it. Works fine for everything except high-power views
Definitely worth the trip, although it's a long one. Not sure if I'll be able to come next year. I likely start a new job classification soon, and vacation time may become more limited.
Included shots were from Sunday night, at Green River Overlook, in Canyonlands. Ranger's giving a talk in the last shot. Few seconds of exposure time, so she's a blur. Scorpius' head is rising. Second to last was of some tourists, trying to snap a picture of the crescent moon through my telescope.
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