Stop 15: Moab, UT (Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, Dead Horse Point State Park)

I want to mention that Briar provide us with a link to a newspaper story that presented a very accurate picture of the Zion Canyon landslide. I've added a link to the Springdale, UT posting but I'll but it here too.

We had a very scenic but uneventful drive to Moab from Torrey but have no pictures to show for it (moving pictures rarely turn out and the turnouts rarely coincide with the views that you'd like to capture). We're in Moab for 4 nights and originally planned to give Arches a full day, Canyonlands a full day and Monument Valley a full day. A solid day of rain combined with a 280 mile round trip have put Monument Valley on the cutting room floor.

First, a couple of shots from our campground:

Colorado's La Sal Mountains to the Southeast (we were able to see them in the far distance from Torrey, as well)

Sandstone monoliths to the Northeast.

Kristen and Baby with Moab's high red cliffs to the West.

Our first full day: Arches National Park

Arches offers many fantastic sights. I'll provide names when I know them.

The road into Arches is a very steep grade with many switchbacks. Once you crest the summit, you're in. This is the view along one of the switchbacks.

We've always thought that the formation in the center looks like a bust of Nefertiti (No idea what it's really called)

Park Avenue.

The Three Gossips.

The Courthouse Towers (we think).

The Tower of Babel (we think).

There apparently used to be 2 arches here. That shelf on the left, bridged across to that tower in mid-picture. The bump between the 2 was the base of the post between the 2 arches.

Balanced Rock.

Balanced Rock up close.

View from Balanced Rock looking across at the Windows Section of the park.

Double Arch.

North Window.

Kristen on the way up to North Window.

Looking through North Window (most of these Windows (arches) have precipitous drops on the far side.

North Window.

Looking across at Turret Arch (from North Window).

South Window.

Turret Arch.

Teeny, tiny Kristen in front of Turret Arch.

Me and my new hat, standing in Turret Arch.

Looking through Turret Arch.

Also looking through Turret Arch. Double Arch is in the distance and the parking lot is midway between the 2.

Looking up at Turret Arch from the back side.

North and South Windows from Turret Arch.

Approaching Double Arch. This whole chain of rocks is called Parade of Elephants (you'll soon see why).

Approaching Double Arch (which is out of frame to the right). This whole chain of rocks is called Parade of Elephants (you'll soon see why).

Approaching Double Arch. This whole chain of rocks is called Parade of Elephants (you'll soon see why).

Approaching Double Arch (which is out of frame to the left). This whole chain of rocks is called Parade of Elephants (you'll soon see why).

Here's why! We noticed a lot of configurations that kind of resembled elephants. Then we saw this one.

Double Arch.

Kristen and Double Arch.

Climbing up to Double Arch. Coming back down is trickier because the people climbing up seem to like to sit down and rest in the only hand and footholds.

The view through Double Arch.

Looking through the ceiling of Double Arch.

Looking back at North Window from Double Arch.

Garden of Eden (or, as I call it, Gadda da Vida).

We spotted these climbers in Gadda da Vida.

Delicate Arch. This must be Utah's favorite arch. It's on all of their license plates.

Delicate Arch and its neighbors.

We've been seeing tons of beautiful flowers for many days. I decided to take a few pictures of them on the way to the Delicate Arch Viewpoint:

These flowers stay white until they are pollinated by ants. Then they turn pink.

Our second full day: Rain and staying local

As forecast, the rain started at about 8pm and just dumped all night long. It did let up for a couple of hours and then it started up again at about dawn. There were quite a few tent campers near us and we weren't surprised that there was quite a bit of commotion when the storm first started. This morning, we were surprised to see that many of them were gone and their tents were in the dumpster.

During a mid morning break in the storm, we took a walk around the campground and grabbed a couple of shots:

After our walk, we headed for downtown Moab to get some lunch. I guess that we'd pushed our luck too far. It was hailing by the time that we got there. We had our umbrellas so we made it safely into the restaurant. While we ate, it rained so hard that the streets were flooding.

After lunch, we looked at the few shops that we could get to without crossing the street and then made our way back to our truck and, in it, to our trailer.

In the late afternoon, we headed to the far end of town. After visiting a rock shop that Kristen had wanted to see, we went for a short walk along the Colorado River.

Looking upstream from the bike/pedestrian bridge that crosses near the main highway.

Looking downstream from the bike/pedestrian bridge. That other bridge is the main highway.

 Then we drove about 5 miles upstream beside the Colorado River and took the 2 following pictures.

Finally, we stopped and had an excellent Mexican dinner.

Our third full day: Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyonlands National Park

No rain on day 3 but it was a bit nippy. Depending on where we were, the temperatures varied between 37 and 40 degrees. We had snow flurries while we were eating our picnic lunch (in the truck of course).

The turnoff to Dead Horse Point State Park is just outside the entrance to the Island in the Sky portion of Canyonlands (more about that later). The point is 2000' above the Colorado River and offers some amazing views. Apparently, the point got it's name because cowboys used to corral wild horses by herding them out onto the point where they had no place to go. Some of them jumped off the edge (kind of reminds me of the lyrics to the old Byrds song, Chestnut Mare).

View from the Dead Horse Point visitors center.

View from the Dead Horse Point visitors center. The shiny patch is some sort of solar evaporation pond that they use to process potash.

View from the Dead Horse Point visitors center. A peek at the Colorado River.

View from the Dead Horse Point visitors center.

View from Dead Horse Point. That's the Colorado River.

View from Dead Horse Point. More Colorado River.

View from Dead Horse Point.

View from Dead Horse Point.

View from Dead Horse Point. That bend in the Colorado River is called Gooseneck.

View from Dead Horse Point.

View from Dead Horse Point.

Our next stop was Canyonlands National Park. Canyonlands consists of 3 separate plateaus that are high above the junction of the Green and Colorado Rivers. The Colorado flows Southwest through the park. The Green flows Southeast and flows into the Colorado in the middle of the park. There are no roads into the canyons The Northernmost plateau is between the 2 rivers (before they merge) and is called Island in the Sky. The plateau to the East of the Colorado is called The Needles. The plateau to the West of the Green (and the Colorado after the rivers merge) is called The Maze. There are no roads into The Maze. The only road into The Needles is very short and is about 70 miles South of Moab. Island in the Sky is close to Moab and has lots of amazing views. That's where we went.

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands NP. The drop on the far side of the arch is 1500'.

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands NP.

Mesa Arch in Canyonlands NP. Last time we were here they had a ranger posted to keep idiots from killing themselves. Budget cuts?

Canyonlands National Park.

Canyonlands National Park. The Green River.

Canyonlands National Park.

Canyonlands National Park. The Colorado is down in there somewhere.

Canyonlands National Park.

Canyonlands National Park.

Canyonlands National Park.

Canyonlands National Park.

Tomorrow, we have a long drive to Vernal, Utah (Dinosaur National Monument and Flaming Gorge). There's been a lot of snow up that way so we've invested in a set of chains (that will guarantee that we won't need them).

-JC-