On our second full day in Utah, Joe and I hiked (out and back) to Corona Arch. The day before was hard, so we did an easy hike for our rest day.

Looking back towards the road and river:

Bowtie Arch on the left and Corona Arch on the right:

Bowtie Arch:

After passing beneath Corona Arch and scrambling up the ridge beyond, I took the photo of Corona Arch, above.  When I turned around, I saw this view of the canyon and other rock formations, below.

Prickly Pear blossom.  (Joe and I met a woman wearing a pink balaclava; she told us that she saw two unusual things. One was the Yucca stalk (or whatever it is) shown earlier in this post. The other was the prickly pear blossoms. For this area, I don’t think that either is that unusual. But it may be that they were unusual for wherever it was that she came from.)

The hike crosses these train tracks near the trailhead.  To the best of my knowledge, the trains traveling these tracks carry potash.