Well here we are in Moab for 4 nights, the home of Arches National Park (the park we most wanted to see) and Canyonlands National Park. There is no chance of a drive-by, a glimpse or a sneaky peak here … this is the best we could do!
We are staying at the very comfortable Inca Inn with friendly staff ready with helpful suggestions to make the most of our stay.
We spent time on our first morning changing some travel plans – finding alternatives to Mesa Verde NP, our anniversary boat trip on the Colorado at Glen Canyon and our 3 nights stay at Bright Angel Lodge inside The Grand Canyon NP … watch this space for trail changes! Chris emailed the President, but is yet to receive a reply.
That done, we spent the rest of the day at Dead Horse Point State Park, hiking round the east and west rim for around 5 miles. Legend says the point was used by cowboys to corral wild mustangs, the unwanted animals being left to die of thirst within view of the Colorado river. The weather was a little misty and overcast so photos not the best and the little chipmunks didn’t stay still long enough for a pic!
During our hike, we met Sandra and Doug from Maine having a breather and also Mike who travels for a month at a time and has a solar panel to power his camping creature comforts like his fridge and freezer and a variety of gadgets … cool!
Day 2 we hiked just over 4 miles round trip to see Fisher Towers, an amazing rock formation popular with climbers. It was the most demanding hike so far with an elevation gain of 670ft, and the highest peak being the Titan, a thousand feet above, but it also rates as one of our best ever hikes.
The end of the trail gave us one view towards Castle Rock, a landscape in many westerns, and the another up the Colorado River.
Afterwards we stopped at Red Cliffs Lodge to see The Moab Movies Museum with memorabilia and information about the many films made in the area and there are not many places you can get a picture taken with John Wayne. There is also Castle Creek Winery, which has various vineyards within a 90 mile radius. We had already sampled some during our time in Utah, but went for a tasting just in case there was one we had missed.
Day 3 we awoke to the first overcast day of our trip, but the sky cleared as we hiked to Corona Arch. On the way, we crossed a railway line which only has a couple of trains a week carrying potash for making into fertiliser … and Yuki and her friends stopped for a snap!
Corona Arch is 140 by 105 feet and several people have said it is at least as impressive as the arches in the National Park. So here it is from each side, even with people to show scale …
Most of the trails we’ve been walking are marked by cairns and here is part of our route back … as well as a dinosaur footprint we saw nearby.
We also saw nearby Bow Tie Arch and Jug Handle Arch, but these weren’t as impressive.
On the way back we stopped off to see some rock art, but in fact it was possibly not as good as what we had already seen except these, a bear with two hunters and a birthing scene.
We’ve had some great meals in Moab, pizza at Zax, wraps and local beer at Moab Brewery and two visits to Bucks Grill, as the first was so good – first on the patio and the second in the Vista Lounge listening to the mellow tones of the David Steward Trio. We tried their beet carpaccio, vegetable relleno, elk stew and buffalo meatloaf, all delicious. The Moab Menu Guide lists all eateries in town and their menus … an excellent idea!
On our last morning in Moab, we awoke to pouring rain, so at least we had a clean car, and it stopped as we drove. We stopped at The Hole in the Rock, which was amazing. It started as a diner hollowed out of the rock which became famous during the Uranium rush of the 1950’s.
We took a $6 tour of the 14 room home of 50,000 sqft that Albert Christensen and his wife Gladys created which has been preserved as a museum, but unfortunately we couldn’t take pics.
Albert had been a Uranium miner and excavated, with the assistance of dynamite, a phenominal 50,000 cuft of sandstone between 1945 and 1957 to make it. They have all sorts of memorabilia scattered around too.
Next was Wilson Arch, named after a local pioneer, where Hugo posed for us … upside down!
The rain had fallen as snow on the La Sal mountains.
Last stop was for the petroglyphs at Newspaper Rock, which in Navajo is called Rock That Tells a Story, but even experts don’t really know what the huge selection of figures really mean.
Next stop Cortez … into our 3rd state … Colorado.
We reached Torrey, checked into the Austin Chuckwagon Motel and had a fabulous meal at Cafe Diablo, where we made friends with Glen and Susan from California. We then walked back, which was tough as the temperature had fallen to zero over dinner!
On our way down, we met Dan, who had parked his truck and was getting ready to go hunting on the first day of the elk hunting season in his hi-vis jacket to ensure he wasn’t the target for another hunter, and carrying his 300 Winchester Grand Magnum rifle.
He was hoping for a 200lb elk. The hunting permit system is complicated, involving a state draw and it appears Dan has only a 12 day season to bag his elk, he is only allowed one animal in this time, and if successful, may have to wait a couple of years before he can apply again … which is probably ok as 200lb of elk meat will last him that long!
We saw several formations from the road such as Twin Rocks, Chimney Rock and the Castle …
Next stop was Goblin Valley State Park which was first called Mushroom Valley which seems rather more appropriate. We were free to wander round the valley as we pleased, in and out of the formations … every view a photo opportunity! incidentally, the yellow flowering bush that keeps popping up in pics is rabbitbrush.
On leaving Springdale, we stopped off in Grafton, a ghost town, once a Mormon settlement which had been inhabited from 1859 until the last people left in 1945. There was a cemetery where people buried included two girls killed by a broken swing, men killed by Navajo raiders as well as a whole family who died of diphtheria. There was also a church and several houses which had been used as a film set in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
The Federal Shutdown has rather affected the itinerary! The National Parks are closed until further notice, as are all trails and hiking routes, with apparently a $150 fine for being found in a National Park, although not sure who will see you when all non-essential staff are on furlough! We will have to wait and see whether everything will be back to normal in a few days or not, but one way of looking at it is that we don’t know what we are missing! In the meantime though, there is plenty to see without the National Parks, even though they were meant to be the focus of our trip. State Parks are open, and many are linked with great scenic routes, so we will just have to make the most of things.
Off Travelling Together 