Day 16: Moab and Arches

 Tuesday, May 28

Early morning for us with a 5:20 wake-up call so that we could drive into Arches National Park before 7 AM when timed permits are required. Added benefit is that the lighting is best in those early morning hours anyway. Check out these photos of Balanced Rock with the moon in the background, Turret Arch, and Double Arch. 

We spent all of the morning into early afternoon exploring this wonderful national park. Second, third, fourth, maybe even fifth slice of cheesecake—it just never gets old. Here are some pics of Skyline Arch, Broken Arch, Sand Dunes Arch, and the Fiery Furnace. 

After a lovely lunch at the picnic area for Lower Delicate Arch viewpoint, we drove south to Moab and then west on Rt274. About four miles out the road were some amazing petroglyph panels.

Ten miles out the road was the trailhead for Corona Arch, an arch that rivals the more famous Delicate Arch with an opening of 140 x 105 ft. Corona Arch, along with Bowtie Arch and Pinto Arch lie out this moderately strenuous 2.3-mi RT trail. Because they are on BLM land and not in the national park, I was able to fly my drone right up to and under the arch (YouTube coming soon…). 

There were also some great views of the Colorado River along Rt274 before we returned to our same free boondocking site north of Moab on Klondike Bluffs Road with four bars Verizon!