Not all great sermons are delivered in church, and not all great arches are contained in Arches National Park. “Have you seen Corona Arch?” a man said in the Golden Steak Café. Checking my research of arches I found no mention of it. “A woman got all skittish on the slickrock where we had to traverse a perty steep sidehill.”I found it less challenging than the Druid Arch Trail, and there I was alone. After today’s scramble up a non-descript canyon about ten miles from Moab on Road 279, I can say that Corona Arch is just as magnificent as any in the national parks. And I did say it. “It’s a local favorite,” he said.
Shadow of the arch, and looking straight up at it.
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I imagine him like William Granstaff who came here in 1877, one of the first non-native inhabitants of the region. There’s a deep canyon that feeds into the Colorado River off Road 128, and it’s named after him—Negro Bill Canyon—impolite as the name seems today. Two miles up along clear water, a sandstone gorge is a sight unimaginable unless you’ve lived here fourteen days as I have. 
They call it Morning Glory Bridge. At 243 feet long, it’s one of the longest. Set at the head of a canyon, I look up at its massively heavy rock and ask why? How?
Oooo-wee!
ReplyDeleteI love that you learn the local favorites... and you probably saw Morning Glory in all its morning glory. Yes, love the how and why... often the random seems so conscious... our host Masa's wife sent three little books of haiku translations with him as a gift for me, and one of Basho's I think applies to this... and has become a favorite of mine on this trip: "The banana tree/blown by winds pours raindrops/into the bucket (trans by Sam Hamill) Also by Basho, and trans by Hamill: "The morning glories/bloom, securing the gate/in the old fence ~Thanks, Sharon, for sharing your climbs and views and bringing us along on your morning glory adventures!
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