What Is Corona Arch And Where Is It?
When you think of Moab and Southern Utah, chances are you think of Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. You’ve probably seen some photos of sunrise at Mesa Arch. You’ve likely seen photos of Delicate Arch. There’s a decent chance you’ve seen photos of Turret Arch Through Window Arch. It may very well be one of those photos that piqued your interest in visiting the Moab, Utah area.
Corona Arch is located outside the national parks on BLM land. Despite its lower profile, it is still a very popular hiking and photo spot. It was a viral video of the Corona Arch swing that made lots of people aware of Corona Arch a number of years ago. The hike to Corona Arch is a moderate 1.5 mile one way hike from the parking area on Utah State Route 279.
What Is It Like To Travel To And Photograph Corona Arch?
As noted above, Corona Arch is located close to the town of Moab, Utah. It is a small but growing town in southern Utah full of hotels, restaurants and increasingly people as more people flock to the US National Parks and public lands. If flying out to the Moab area you might fly into the Salt Lake City airport or a smaller, closer airport like the Grand Junction, Colorado Airport. Once you land you will of course need to get a rental car and drive over to Moab.
If you’re close enough or have the time to take a road trip from wherever you are, Moab is a great road trip town. There is a large variety of lodging including lots of hotels. Both Choice Hotels and Wyndham Hotels have a number of properties near Moab. If you want something cheaper and more rustic, the Lazy Lizard Hostel in Moab is a budget lodging option. These are great options anytime but especially in the colder winter months. Rates tend to be much lower and a bit of snow on the red rocks of Moab is really beautiful!
There are a number of RV and commercial campgrounds around as well as National Park campgrounds and BLM land to camp for free or close. The campgrounds actually in Arches and Canyonlands are small and very difficult to get sites in most of the year. Your best bet is not to plan to camp in one of those unless you manage to snag a reservation.
The drive from Moab to the Corona Arch trailhead is about 17 miles and could take up to an hour. It’s a normal road that just requires a normal car. Sunrise is a great time to be there is see Corona Arch begin to glow as the sun comes up but anytime is a good time to go for a hike out to Corona Arch! Photographing Corona Arch is easy. You can walk right up to it, under it and climb on it if you so desire. Since it is on BLM land, the rules are a bit different that in the national parks.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo Of Corona Arch?
If you want to get wall art quality photos of Corona Arch you really just need to get there! Like other landmarks and famous arches in Utah, Corona Arch can get really crowded. If you want to get photos with few or no people in them, chances are you’ll need to get there early and maybe even go in the winter when fewer people are spending time in Moab.
Sunrise at Corona Arch is a great time to go as the arch takes on a nice glow as the sun rises. You can get closeup and distant photos of Corona Arch. The landscape around it is pretty wide open. There is also a face in the rock by Corona Arch that can be incorporated into photos for something a little different.
When you head up, just bring a decent camera, pack your creativity and toss in some patience (and go early or in the winter) if you want to try to get photos without people in them!
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing Corona Arch?
Most any camera will do. If you want to get files good for large prints you’ll probably want a decent DSLR or mirrorless camera. Since Corona Arch is so large, you’ll probably want to have a really wide angle lens for closeup shots. By really wide, angle I mean 16m or 17mm. An idea kit would probably be a 17-40mm lens and a 24-105. That will give you plenty of flexibility to get lots of different photos from lots of different perspectives.
If you’re going at sunrise you’ll probably want to have a tripod for the low light. The shutter may need to stay open for a while longer than you’ll be able to get a sharp shot by hand holding the camera. I always recommend a tripod in all situations but definitely at sunrise and sunset.
The landscape can lend itself to panoramic photos but its not a great panoramic photo spot. If you don’t mind carrying your panoramic photo gear the 3 mile moderate round trip hike, you may come away with some cool shots to make it worth it. It will be tough to get panoramic shots without people in them.
What Is The Story Behind This Photo Of Corona Arch?
During the winter of 2013 I decided to spend a lot of time in the town of Moab. I’d been through Moab a number of times in the past. It was a visit to Moab in 2010 that kicked started my love affair with the US National Parks.
By 2013 I’d seen a lot more photos of the Moab area national parks than when I went to 2010. I was much more into photography and had a longer list of sights and I wanted to see and things I wanted to photograph. These included sunrise at Mesa Arch, sunset at Delicate Arch, Fisher Towers reflecting in the Colorado River and Turret Arch framed by Window Arch among others. Corona Arch was in the mix too.
Since it was winter I wanted a solid roof over my head. Since I was going to be there for an extended period of time I wanted to find a pretty inexpensive place but wasn’t too particular about how nice it was. Access to a kitchen and wifi would be great. The Lazy Lizard Hostel was the choice. At that time I got a private room for something like $100/week and probably less than that. I kept renewing it over and over and over.
Many mornings that looked somewhat clear were spent driving the roughly 80 miles round trip to Mesa Arch for sunrise. Sometimes it would be 20 degrees below zero up there. That kept the crowds to a minimum which was nice but it was colder than a witches tit in a brass bra. I made a lot of trips to Arches to shoot Turret Arch through Window arch as well.
After I’d been to both of those a number of times it was time to go to Corona Arch for sunrise a few times. The mornings were cold in town and over at Corona Arch but nowhere near as cold as up at Mesa Arch.
On what looked like it would be a clear morning I got up at the crack of dawn after working on processing the backlog of photos all night. Working on just a few hours of sleep I dragged myself out of bed and into the cold. It was the first sunrise photo I’d have to do much of any hiking to get to. With some water, a flashlight, some food and too much photo gear in the backpack I bundled up and headed out. It took about an hour to get to the trailhead and a brisk 25 minute hike to get up to Corona Arch. I had the place all to myself for a brief few moments.
I’d gone up once before on this trip just to scout it out and make sure there were no surprises to be encountered on a hike up for sunrise. The trail was pretty mellow and the hike up was pretty easy.
As soon as Corona Arch came into view I setup the camera and started shooting. At the sun climbed up in the sky, the bright red glow started to drip down over Corona Arch. For this photo I hiked to the other side of the Arch and photographed toward the sun. The goal was to get the sun right on the edge of the underside of the arch. If you can get the sun right on the edge of a rock formation, tree or other object it can help to get a sunburst in the photo.
I stayed up around Corona Arch for a few hours till the sun was fairly high in the sky and then returned to the private room at the Lazy Lizard to take a nap, review and process photos and grab something for lunch.
In What Formats Is This Photo Print Of Corona Arch Available?
This and other Corona Arch photo prints are available in sizes up to 40×60 inches on paper, canvas, metal, acrylic and metal. If you’ll be handing the print in an area with diffused light any type of print can look great. Metal and glossy finished associate with metal, acrylic and glossy paper and canvas prints will look best in diffused lighting since they much more reflective than the matte finishes on matte paper or canvas prints.
If you’d like something less expensive and more like home decor, shower curtains, Sherpa fleece blankets, throw pillows and towels make great choices.
For items that you’d be likely to use on a day to day basis, heavy duty canvas tote bags are outstanding for grocery shopping, a variety of apparel is available. If you’d like to protect that fancy new cel phone, a Corona Arch phone case can protect your phone and give it a great new look too!
Finally, if you or someone you are buying for likes puzzles, this photo print is available on 500 and 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles.
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