Tuesday, December 30, 2014
After taking a long loop hike through Coyote Buttes North on Monday we decided to try and make today an easier day. I had never been to Cobra Arch before and thought it might make for a nice easy hike to an interesting arch. We made it to the Middle Trail trailhead on the West Clark Bench shortly after sunrise and were soon descending The Dive on our cross-country hike to Cobra Arch.
View to the southwest over Buckskin Gulch towards Steamboat Rock, Coyote Buttes and Top Rock as we descended The Dive.
Nice light on Steamboat Rock.
We had some nice light and clouds as we hiked across the desert this morning. The temperature was pretty comfortable, too.
After a couple of miles hiking along the base of The Dive, we reached the impressive Cobra Arch. Luckily, the nice clouds stuck around a little longer so I could get a few photos. On our hike back from the arch, the sky would turn completely overcast and stay that way for the rest of the day.
Before hiking back to the trailhead, we explored the area around the arch a little.
After the hike, we drove over to an overlook of the Paria River Canyon and had a little lunch. It was still early in the day, so we decided to drive around to the White House trailhead and hike down the Paria River to visit a panel of petroglyphs. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to cross the river too many times in order to reach them, but it turned out that would have to cross it quite a few times. Much of the river was iced over, but you would break through the ice with each step. Luckily, if you picked a good place to cross, the water underneath wasn’t too deep and the ice you broke through would help keep you out of the water. This method, combined with waterproof boots, allowed us to keep our feet dry on the hike.
A frozen Paria River.
Our path of destruction at each point we crossed the river.
There were a lot of petroglyphs in the large alcove we visited, but most of them were very faint and hard to see.
Nice varnish on the canyon wall here.
After visiting the petroglyphs, we returned the way we had come and then drove back to Page for dinner and to relax for the rest of the evening.
As always, great shots! That Cobra Arch Sunburst image is special… I imagine you took that with a wide-angle lens…