Moab Part 6

Note - The blog post for  Moab is in lots of parts,  some have been posted on the same day.  Be sure not to miss one.

Monday, August 3^rd we hiked up Negro Bill Canyon to Morning Glory Arch.  The hike is along the creek which you cross 10 times along the way.  The placement of the arch made it hard to photograph but it was impressive.  We arrived in time to see a tour group repelling down the arch.  They were fun to watch and all had big smiles on their faces.  That is not for me, so I will take their word for it.

Looking up the Canyon

10 crossing up and 10 crossing back, it took concentration on some but neither of us fell in...we saw a girl that had fallen in, oops!

Left end of the arch...note the people on the top

He was one of the guys on the top...going down

Same guy different angle

Almost on the ground

Morning Glory Arch

Wayne in front of the arch

Wayne on the trail headed back

In the afternoon on our quest to see all the petroglyphs in the area, we checked out the ones they labeled as Golf Course.  They were across the street from on the holes on the golf course, which was lush and green.  The houses were all quite impressive too. All around the city of Moab there are metal sculptures of Kokopelli doing various things, they had four in front of the golf course community entrance. I like them.

Deer seems to be a common petroglyph

  Just for fun we drove up to the entrance to the Slick Rock Mountain Bike Trail.  The map even looked scary to me!  Great view of the area, we could see out RV!  We asked at the bike shop if they could recommend a mountain bike trail that was easy for old folks who had never mountain biked.  They said for an easy trail and great views to go to Dead Horse State Park.  We bought the map to study it further.

Moab Part 5

Note:  Moab is in several parts, be sure not to miss the other parts.

Sunday, August 2 continued..

After lunch we decided to drive over to Newspaper Rock which is a HUGE wall of petroglyphs.  They are one of the best displays in the area.

Lots of petroglyphs, this is only a small section

And...as long as we were so close,only 20 miles away, which is really close in Utah miles,  we decided to drive over to the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park.  We only had about 3 hours to drive around and enjoy this beautiful park.  It was worth driving over.  We will add it to our list for a longer visit next time we are in this area.  Three hours gave us time to take LOTS of pictures !

This guy was hoping we had not read the "Do not feed the Wildlife" signs

Moab Part 4

Note:  Moab is in several parts, be sure not to miss the other parts.

Saturday, August 1 – We found our second most favorite arch today.  Wayne had read several places that the hike to Bowtie and Corona Arches was one that should not be missed.  They were right.  They are on Bureau of Land Management Property.  The hike out is just over a mile over slick rock and up a ladder and some slopes, but well worth it.  Bowtie Arch was nice and had great color, but Corona Arch was really pretty from both sides.  On the hike Wayne noticed that I was slipping on the rocks when he was not.  We both had on hiking boots.  We compared the bottom of the boots.  His had more “grips” on the bottom.  Mine are great for dirt or mud or snow but not good on slick rock.  Thankfully we were in Moab where there is a LOT of slick rock hiking.  So the afternoon was spent shopping, I found a pair of hiking shoes that fit at the local Gearhead store.  It really does make a difference!!! 

Jill climbing up the ladder

Bowtie Arch

Front of Corona Arch

Corona Arch from the back

Sunday, August 2 we decided to go biking.  There is a wonderful paved biking path that runs along Hwy 191 which is the main street in Moab.  It is north of town and goes for about 7 miles passing the entrance to Arches National Park.  At the Colorado River the trail branches and goes east along Hwy 128 for 2 ½ miles.  They are also adding more trail to the west.  We parked where the trail branches at a nice paved parking lot. We rode the 2 ½ miles along the river which is a beautiful ride!  We then crossed the bridge over the Colorado and rode up to Arches and turned around and rode towards town to the end of the trail.  Our total ride was 12.1 miles.  It is a wonderful trail that has little elevation change.  Next time we are in Moab we look forward to riding the new section.

Along the Colorado...note the nice trail I am standing on!

See the next blog post for our Sunday afternoon adventure.

Moab, UT Part 3

Note:  because of slow internet I am breaking up Moab into lots of parts...this is Part 3.  Some parts are being loaded on the same day so be sure not to miss any of them.

Thursday, July 30^th we took an all day river rafting trip.  I was scared to take the camera or my phone because I did not want to get them wet, so the only pictures I have are of the company sign and our guide.  The trip was 14 miles down the Colorado River with a stop for lunch about half way.  The river is lower this time of year so it was a fairly calm ride.  We went over at least four class one rapids.  They allowed us to get in the river in two different places to swim.  It was great to cool off.  Wayne calculated we were swimming/floating in the current faster than our former boat, Born to Cruise could travel at full hull speed!  The scenery along the way was pretty and included Fisher Towers which was the backdrop for many old western movies.  Our guide was informative and told us some local facts, history, wives tales and pointed out landmarks.  It was a fun day.  We will go rafting again sometime but on our next trip we will take a trip with bigger rapids.

Friday, July 31.  Our favorite place in Arches National Park last year was Delicate Arch.  We decided we needed to see it again and take more pictures!  We went early to avoid the heat and the crowds.  It was again well worth the mile and a half moderately difficult hike to get there.  We both got our pictures under the arch.  We also took a side trail to photograph the arch from another angle and ended up with an almost 5 mile hike.  Those who only go to the overlook miss so much.  Our afternoon was spent walking around town and buying some t-shirts.  We will have the nicest t-shirts of anyone at the gym!

Wayne was standing here to get the picture below

Jill under Delicate Arch

Wayne under Delicate Arch

Delicte Arch from the path on the other side

Moab, UT Part 2

Please note multiple blogs posts were done on the same day, be sure you don't miss one !

Shafer Road is ranked as an easy four wheel drive dirt road that goes from Moab to Canyonlands National Park.  This was our first big four wheeling adventure.  The Jeep served us well and Wayne did a great job driving it.  Shafer Road is 18.2 miles and winds behind the Potash Plant and down the canyon, with views of the Colorado River and the beautiful mesas and canyon walls along the way.  We had a picnic lunch at Fossil Point which is where they filmed the scene for the movie Thelma and Louise where they go off the cliff into the Colorado River.  Shafer road ends with a climb that goes up a 1400 foot cliff with no guard rail and LOTS of switch backs and best of all some amazing views!    As long as we were in Canyonlands, we stopped at the visitor center and went to a few of the overlooks.  One overlook had a really great view of Shafer Road.  We also walked to Mesa Arch.  It was a fun day…I think Wayne has been bitten by the four wheel drive bug…at least for the easy trails. Wayne had to pay attention to his driving so I took LOTS of pictures so he could relive the trip later.  If you would like to see details of the drive, let me know when I see you and I will share it with you.   For this blog post I will just give you a few.  Funny story, last year when Wayne saw Shafer Road looking down from Canyonlands he said it was the scariest road he had ever seen, and this year we drove it!  (I had a terrible time with the internet...these are not in order but they will give you an idea of the road)

This is where Thelma and Louise jumped off the mountain

The Road looking down from the top

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands

Moab, UT Part 1

Note:  We have poor internet at the RV Parks for loading pictures, so we are at the visitor center.  I will be loading three blog posts today.

Sunday, July 26^th we were supposed to move to Monticello, UT.  After staying in the tiny town of Bluff we were not real excited about Monticello.  Wayne did some searching and found that we could get a discounted rate at Spanish Trail in Moab where we had stayed last year.  Half price, which is always good.  We canceled Monticello and headed for Moab.  We had enjoyed our time in Moab last year but knew there were many things we had missed.  So now we would have 10 days to hike, bike and explore.

After checking into Spanish Trail RV Park we headed to the visitors center and then walked around town. 

Monday, July 27^th.  Happy 5^th Birthday to Will and Charlotte and Happy 60^th Birthday to Jill !  Wayne bought me a turquoise bracelet that I really liked in Santa Fe as my early Birthday present and we signed up to do rafting trip.  To try to beat the heat, we decided to do our hiking or biking in the morning and do other things in the afternoons.  Our hike today was in Arches National Park to see Double Arch, Windows Arch and Turret Arch which are all based from the same parking lot.  Double Arch is very popular since many people have seen it in the Indian Jones movie, so it was crowded.  We took the long hike around Windows Arch.  During the time of day that we were there, the pictures were better from the back.

Double Arch

The back side of Windows Arch

We had a birthday lunch at Eklecticafe which is a fun little café that offers vegan options.  At the Visitor Center, Wayne had picked up a brochure on petroglyphs in the area.  We thought it would be fun to see them all. We went to the site on Kane Creek Road.  We stopped at the grocery store and picked up Vegan ice cream for a Birthday treat.  It was a nice birthday!!!

Some of the petroglyphs

Tuesday, July 28^th we once again went to Arches National Park.  We hiked to Landscape Arch.  When we were there last year the overlook for Delicate Arch was closed because of flooding on the access road.  We drove in and were very disappointed with what you could see from the viewpoint.  We walked the Park Avenue Trail then went to the RV for lunch.  After lunch we went into town to look at the shops and explore.

Landscape Arch

Park Avenue

Wayne on Park Avenue

Wednesday, July 29^th.On our quest to see all the petroglyphs in the area we stopped at the site on Potash Road on our way to drive Shafer Road.    There were some good ones.  We also stopped to see two fossilized dinosaur tracks.

Good Petroglyphs

River View near Petroglyphs

 Then we drove Shafer Road.  See Moab Part 2 for Shafer Road.