Moab Area

My first thoughts in these rocky, canyon areas, with huge rocks clinking to the edges is an old Harry Chaplin song, called The Rock. I’m sure you can find it on Youtube.

Moab is an interesting city, kind of rough and tumble. Many outdoors-related businesses—rafting, canyoneering, four wheeling, mountain biking, etc. There was a thriving main drag with shops and businesses. It’s about four miles from the entrance to Arches National Park. Jim was able to get us a spot in the park at Devil’s Garden campground. It’s at the very end of the main road about 18 miles from the entrance, and a lovely 18 miles it was. Our elevation was 5000 feet, so it was cool. There was no water, so we came with a full tank. Also no electricity, our solar panels worked like a charm. Finally, no showers….we did the best we could. The park limits entry, so if you’re not staying in the park, you need to book a time to visit. It didn’t affect us, except the roads were not crowded and most spots had places to park.

We had two nights in the park, arrived late and settled in, made dinner and took a walk around the campground. There was a ranger led program near our first arch, so we sat and listened to him talk about the park. Next morning we set out to see the sights. I’m a pretty good hiker, but know my limits, so we didn’t do the 2.5 mile hike to Delicate Arch, rated moderate to difficult. We got a good view from another walk. We did visit The Windows, and opted for the longer hike behind the arches. It turns out that the next day a German tourist fell and died on that same walk.

Each of the areas in the park are so different, all amazing. It clouded over and began to rain mid-afternoon, so we headed back to our camper. We decided to drive into Moab, get dinner and watch game one of Celtics second round. The good news was that it was a five pm game here. The bad news was, they lost. We did find a shower at a campground in town, so that was also good news.

Our next day we had to check out by 10 am, so we hooked up the camper and stopped at three or four arches we didn’t get to the day before. Luckily, we were able to find space to park at each with our little camper. We had time to kill before 3 pm check-in up on the mesa above Moab. We went grocery shopping and grabbed a bite to eat and headed up.

Jim was lucky to get us three nights at Dead Horse Point State Park. I thought Arches was my favorite campground of the trip, but no, this is. It’s located on a point on the mesa, just three miles from the entrance to Canyonlands National Park. It ends in a point with the Colorado River sending through the land. You get great views of canyonlands and the mountains. There is a rim trail that goes all around the point and park. We walked a good deal of it. We went out to Canyonlands the next day. It’s a huge park, in four sections. We just spent time at Islands in the Sky. The other sections are hours away, so maybe next time. There were many overlooks and an arch, some hiking. The confluence of the Colorado and Green rivers is here. The whole mesa was at about 6000 feet, about 2000 feet higher than Moab. We decided to head back into Moab for Celtics game two. That was a mistake.

Today, our last day here was the clearest and warmest. Jim figured out our return trip and I read a book in the morning. After lunch we took a hike from our campground along the west rim, stopped at the visitors center to get an ice cream and continued along the east rim. We walked four and a half miles, and got two geocaches! Margaritas, a quiet dinner and a ride to the point to catch the sunset, and a fire. On the road tomorrow, Friday, to catch up with an old friend for the weekend, do laundry and take showers!!! This campground and the one in Grand Junction don’t have showers. As our camper is small and light, we have a small water tank and grey tank for waste water, so not enough to take showers in the camper.