Yellow Benchmark

With several days of inclement weather, earlier in the week, it seemed like a good time to visit some of the sandier areas near Coral Pink Sand Dunes – moisture makes the roads more compact and easier to drive.  Tom came up with a good plan to get a benchmark that was located on Harris Point and then, on our way out, we could bag another called Yellow Benchmark.  It was all going so well - until we encountered a slippery clay section of road and we decided to turn back – Tom pressed on.

We returned to Monument Knoll (just off a paved road) and began hiking towards Yellow Benchmark.  This ended up being a good backup plan as we were able to get in a five-mile (r/t) hike.  After locating the benchmark, we took a half-hour lunch break and this gave Tom enough time to get back from Harris Point and meet up with us on top.  Not exactly the day we planned, but all-in-all a good one!

We began our hike just south of Monument Knoll, a hike we did in December 2020

Within minutes we spooked up some deer

Interesting enough, later, Kent would find this mule deer antler 

Yellow Benchmark is on top of this ridge

Just a cool rock!

Yellow Benchmark was placed here in 1954

Chipper is ready for snacks & we are ready for lunch!

Off to the northwest we could see the cliffs of Zion
(This is a zoomed in view) 

After lunch Tom, Lola & Ezy arrived . . .
Tom wanted to find the two USGS Reference Markers so that he could update this benchmark
(We were interested, too, as they were copper nails & washers . . .
something we hadn't seen before and kind of rare!)

Apparently, hiking isn't enough to wear down Ezy & Chipper . . .
These silly boys like to play hard! 

Tom showed us an old axe blaze in this tree where we were hoping to find one of the two
USGS Reference Markers (the other has since disappeared) . . .
Kent spotted the washer in the dirt . . . the copper nail, it held in place, was nowhere to be found

Here's an example, from Geocaching.com, of how it should have looked

We reunited the RM & the tree for others to enjoy

Time to head back!
Hiking is like life . . . sometimes our plans change . . . but that isn't a bad thing!  

 

Cobra Arch & Peak 5365

We first heard of Cobra Arch, about a year ago, while reading Michael R. Kelsey's book "Hiking and Exploring the Paria River".  For those who follow our posts, you're aware we've spent a fair amount of time, this winter, in the Paria River drainage.  It seems for every adventure we've been able to complete, on our "to-do-list", we've added two more in their place.  It was time to cross another one off!

Tom had borrowed Kelsey's book and was also interested in seeing this uniquely shaped arch.  We were able to locate a small peak, for Tom, just before we headed off the West Clark Bench into what's known as The Dive (where the arch is located) . . . so we were good to go!  We had a great day visiting this seldom seen arch and peak in the Paria Canyon - Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness area.

We're off to a sandy start . . . the Middle Route Trailhead is well marked 

We took a a little detour to summit Peak 5365 before heading for Cobra Arch
This is a team effort . . . a peak for Tom and an arch for us!

The views from the summit really surprised us!
(Click on the picture for a larger panoramic view)

On just about every hike the geology amazes us . . . colorful river rocks!

Rather than rejoin the trail, we figured we'd make a loop by just heading down a wash
directly to the arch . . . Oh boy! 

There it is . . . Cobra Arch!  The big question is, "How do we get down there?"
We traversed the West Clark Bench for an hour searching for a way down

Cobra Arch looks like an elephant from our zoomed in vantage point . . .
 but you'll see it really is a cobra

We finally found a route that looked doable to take us down to what is known as "The Dive"
You can barely see Kent, near the center, on his way down

It was steeper than it initially looked . . . do you see Kent?
When we exited the cliff we found we were right back on the main trail!

Colorful cross-bedded sandstone cliffs consists of the Carmel formation cliff bands,
 topped with red Page sandstone and creamy white Navajo sandstone  

Finally out of the sand dunes!

Cobra Arch!   

It's definitely a cobra!

Cobra Arch rises 30 ft up from its base and spans 35 feet

Tom enjoying the arch with his buddies Lola & Ezy

We had lunch and took a few pictures with the arch

Allison isn't afraid of heights . . . but Kent is! 

What a view . . . totally worth all the sand in our shoes!

Time to head back

We passed over clusters of red sandstone domes with turtleback weathering  

Sandstone layered hoodoos

More sand! Gotta love the sand!

Heading out of The Dive & back up the West Clark Bench
(It was much easier getting back up using the cairned path)

Ahhh...it's the last time we have to empty the sand from our shoes!

Click here for Tom's Peakbagger post of our nine-mile (r/t) hike - complete with topo map and GPS tracks.  For a more traditional route (great directions and maps to the arch), check out Favorite Hikes in and around Zion National Park.  For those who would be interested in a circuitous route, see this post by Earthline: The American West.