About 20 minutes from Moab are the La Sal Mountains. They’re beautiful and a little different than the red rock we had been seeing while in Utah so we decided to give the La Sal Loop Road around the mountain a try. This is a 60 mile scenic road that looks through the mountains and down to Castle Valley. It has amazing views of the Moab Valley and it climbed quite a ways in elevation, reaching 8,300 feet by the time we reached the top. And who would have known, there were cows up wandering around the road. This one was my favorite…a panda cow.
While following the winding road up through the desert plateau you’ll reach the beautiful forest covered mountains. There were several dirt roads and hikes along the road but we chose just to make the drive and enjoy the scenery on this day. Once you climb the mountain you’ll notice the scenery change and as you continue down the loop road you’ll notice the desert plains return as you make your way down to the sandy desert floor. The switchbacks were a little scary for me but the photographs I got with my camera were beautiful so it was totally worth the drive. We saw mesas and buttes and steep laccolith peaks all along the paved road. The coolest part of the ride was that you went from alpine ridges of the La Sal Mountains to the red rock desert and sandstone pinnacles of Castle Rock, all within one drive. Here are some photos from the drive.
The next day we were back at our hiking and decided to try the Corona Hike, Bowtie, and Pinto. They were all three together and were not within the park so we didn’t feel like we had to get up early to get into the park but we did want to complete the hikes before lunchtime as the temps were kinda warm in the afternoons still. The hike was great! It started along the Potash Road which follows the Colorado River west from Hwy 191. The trailhead is clearly marked about 10 miles down the Potash Road. The trail is clearly marked much like the Appalachian Trail with bluish/green “blazes”, a rectangle of paint 2 inches wide by about 6 inches high. The hike crosses open slickrock and then there’s a ladder bolted to the rock which allows people to climb a short cliff more easily. In another spot, there are steps cut into the rock and a cable aids hikers to ascent a steep slickrock ridge. At times there are cairns marking the road, other times the blazes mark the trail but it’s clearly marked throughout the entire hike. We chose to go directly to Corona Arch and then to backtrack to go to Pinto Arch which just added another mile to the hike. Bowtie Arch is passed as you get to Corona. The light was better after passing through the arch so some of our photographs were taken from the backside but both sides were lovely!
When you begin the trail you have to climb east and cross the railroad tracks and then continue along an old road that climbs to a gap. From there you follow cairns, blazes or slickrock paths. After you climb the chain and short ladder, the trail will put you on top of a large bench. The trail takes you under Bowtie Arch which is a pothole-type arch located high on the cliff above the trail. Once you pass Bowtie, the trail continues on to the base of Corona Arch. You can easily hike under it which we did and we stopped for a break and to enjoy both the shade and the view. The sky was a beautiful blue and it was truly one of the prettiest arches we hiked to on the trip.
We watched a few rock climbers along the Potash Road on Wall Street. The wall was right on the street and the cliffs were so high I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to climb the “wall”.
We finished our day with a quick trip to Dead Horse State Park for a picnic lunch and to see the “famous” Colorado River horseshoe view that everyone seems to want to see! Here’s the horseshoe below. Next post will be from Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.
Camping Konneys 
I’m so impressed by your hiking skills! Those are some seriously difficult trails you guys are tackling! Also, I didn’t realize that Jeeps are so flexible. Wow!
LikeLike
We’ve moved up to only doing strenuous hikes! Jeep’s are more flexible than me! We look for hikes with ladders, chains, scrambling, etc. to make them more challenging.
LikeLike