However, we did climb to the outlook across the Gorge from Delicate Arch and to Skyline Arch.
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| Delicate Arch from a distance |
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| Skyline Arch |
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| Windows Arch [You can see another window, hidden behind this one- if you climb up!] |
On our way back, along the main street of Moab, we saw
people lined up, grouped on sidewalks and sitting in lawn chairs. We stopped to
ask what was happening, only to learn that this weekend was to be an “April Action
Car Show” in the Park on Saturday. Friday night was the “Rod Run”. This meant
that the old cars and trucks drove up and down Main St. tooting their horns and
waving and calling to passers-by, [along with any regular traffic] and people
on the side lines waved, cheered and clapped! There were also all kinds of
ATV’s joining in.
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| Here is one of the "Off-Road" vehicles, but in Moab, they travel on the road! |
In fact at the RV Park, I think we were the only site that
didn’t have an ATV, a dirt bike or a jeep! At least we have a truck! Saturday
dawned, after a full night of rain, cloudy and cool. We took a late morning
walk through the car show.
John found a couple of his all-time favourites- a
DeLorean
and a 1966 yellow Corvette.
 |
| Teenage John's Dream Car!- still a favourite. |
We drove up to Dead Horse Point State Park to check it out.
This State Park is on a secondary highway, off the main N/S highway. We got out to look at two beautiful buttes, named after two Ironclads, ships used in the Civil War.
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| Merrimac [L] and Monitor [R]- Civil War ships |
However a
thunder and hail storm came through,
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| Hail by Indian Rice Grass |
so we pulled off and waited it out. We drove
along a high plateau and when the rain stopped, we got out at the Colorado
Plateau Outlook
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| Overlooking the plateau and the La Sal Mountains |
and walked over the pot-holed rock, like mini tide pools.
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| Pot holes filled by rainwater |
The
rain did not let up, so we drove back to the trailer. Luckily the hail missed
Moab, so Run-Around-Sue was only wet.
The next day we decided to do something different. There is
a driving loop over the La Sal Mountains which was beautiful. We drove along
the Colorado River
 |
| Looking back along the road- Arches NP to the right |
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| Driving beside the bike trail along the muddy Colorado River |
to the lush green Castle Valley.
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| High cliffs to the West |
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| Monument Valley to the East, La Sal Mountains to the North |
 |
| Closer to the Mountain |
It is nestled beneath the
mountains at the bottom of a high cliff. As you climb the mountain and look
back, the valley is beautiful, surrounded by the red cliffs and the red rocks of Arches.
 |
| The road through Castle Valley |
In front there are the
snow-capped mountains. We wound our way right up to the snow-line from
lush green to desert,
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| Further up the Mountain... |
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| Around the Mountain |
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| The valley between |
aspen
to fir and cliffs, and back down into the second valley
 |
| The mountain plateau at the top |
 |
| Coming down... |
on
the other side.
 |
| The other side of the mountain - we just drove up and around those mountains |
The road takes us back to the main highway, just south of the
RV park.
Our next drive was along Potash Road,
 |
| Potash Road , west off the highway |
beside the Colorado
River, to see the petroglyphs and pictographs.
 |
| We only saw Petroglyphs |
 |
| Trapezoidal Anthropomorphs |
 |
| To me, this looks like hunting in a forest ??? |
On the way, we saw people way up
on the rocks- the rock climbers were out and testing their skills.
 |
| a little too high for me... |
Cycling,
both road and mountain biking, rock climbing, and off-roading in ATV’s or jeeps
are popular pursuits in and around Moab. There are many miles of trails. It is
common in Canyonlands or Arches to see groups of cyclists on the roads.
We drove to see the Canyonlands National Park. The
Canyonlands are divided into four sections by the Green and Colorado Rivers –Island in the Sky to the north, The Needles to the south, The Maze to the west, and the Green and Colorado Rivers themselves. We drove to Island in the Sky, a little further north of Arches and the
Colorado River, and west on Utah Hwy 313, off the main US highway 191. It is
spectacular too! I am running out of adjectives, so I will keep repeating… You
climb a winding road through the canyon to 5800 ft.,
 |
| Looking back at the road up! |
then meander along the mesa
of pasture and meadows.
Mormon tea and Indian Rice Grass, and free-roaming
cattle
are everywhere. At the end of the 30km drive from Hwy 191, we reached
Grand View Point. The 34-mile scenic trip tours the whole mesa top. Wondrous
canyons await you at every ‘lookover’-
 |
| One of the "lookovers"- the blue dot is John! |
rounded in some places, yellows, greens
and reds, deep gorges where the Colorado and Green Rivers cut deep into the
plains below the cliffs. You can get right down to the Valley floor, but I won't be going any time soon- like never....
 |
| From opposite the Visitors' Centre |
 |
| The view of the road down from opposite the Visitors' Centre-what I saw |
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| Then John went for his bike ride and looked further down... |
There was a beautiful Mesa Arch, through which we could see the La Sal Mountains.
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| The trail to Mesa Arch |
 |
| Through the Arch |
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| Mesa Arch- a 500ft drop on the other side! |
At the furthest part of the road is Green River Overlook.
and just around the corner, another magnificent view.
The next day was special- we were up at 6 to go to Arches
to see Landscape Arch before the crowds. We were on the trail by 8!
 |
| The beginning of the trail |
There were
only about half a dozen cars and just a few people around. The walk in is a
fairly easy hike on a wide gravelled trail. This arch is special as it is one
of the longest natural spans in the world, and part of it fell off in 1991, so
you can no longer walk right up to and under the arch, but have to stay about
100 yards away down the hill.
There is a further hike, The Devil’s Garden to go
beyond it to several other arches, but the information said it was strenuous,
and narrow cliffs in parts- not for me, but John carried on.
I started back,
then noticed a trail marked ‘Primitive’, but leading around a cliff on a gentle
grade, so decided to see what was there.
It was beautiful-primitive only
because it had not been widened and gravelled. I walked for over an hour,
around behind Landscape Arch,
 |
| Landscape Arch from the back |
to Fin Canyon,
and did not come to many scrambling parts, and no narrow cliffs, but decided that I had better head back as John had no idea where I was. On the way back, there were two other arches just off the main path.
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| Pine Tree Arch |
 |
Tunnel Arch
|
John wanted to get the sunset picture from Delicate Arch. We had hiked to the Upper Viewpoint, but there was a hike which brought you over a 200 yard fin to the Arch itself. It was not a hike I could do, but off he went, and came back with fabulous pictures.
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| The last 200 yards |
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| The iconic Delicate Arch- the two dots are people |
 |
| The first 200 yards back... |
We drove out to Dead Horse Point State Park. The story goes
that in the 1800’s cowboys found wild mustangs running free in the area and
devised many ways to capture them. Dead Horse Point was the perfect place to
trap them, by herding a band of horses out onto the point, and constructing a
simple fence of juniper bushes across the ‘neck’ of the point making a natural
corral. The cowboys then could separate the healthy, marketable mustangs from
the “broomtails”. Legend tells of one group of “broomtails” which were
forgotten and left, where they died of thirst, within sight of the Colorado
River 2000 ft. below. We drove out to the Visitors' Centre and to the Point and looked in awe at the plains
and canyon below.
 |
| From the Point |
Several days later, we hiked the Rim Trail out to the
point,
 |
| An interesting, easy hike |
 |
| Claret Cup Hedgehog cactus in bloom |
 |
| The trail across the canyon floor |
so got a different perspective on the canyon. We had a clear view of the
evaporation ponds. Water is pumped down
from the Colorado River through the potash deposit. The dissolved potash slurry
is then pumped to the surface and evaporated leaving the potash to be
harvested.
 |
| Dead Horse Canyon |
The next day we left the RV Campground and moved to Horsethief Campground out by Dead Horse Point State Park. It is absolutely beautiful- no services, but large sites, well separated from each other with incredible views of the plains.
 |
| Run Around Sue getting lots of Amps from the Sun |
 |
| View from the back of the trailer |
John got out his new bike and road through Canyonlands
National Park.
 |
| The road below... [click to read this] |
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| One more view of cyclists on the switchbacks! |
I had a few hours to do my nails, work on the blog pictures and
read! He was able to go partway into the canyons and get s different view of
the canyons and trails. When he came back we walked over to another Airstream
around the corner and enjoyed the dog Cohi, interesting travel conversation and
wine. They were leaving the next day, so came over to say good-bye before they
left.
We decided to extend for another night. We drove to Arches to see Windows
and Double Arch. The parking was jammed, so we drove towards Windows and walked
up the short trail to the beautiful Double Arch.
 |
| I have decided that this is my favourite! |
We packed up early the next morning and headed for Capitol
Reef National Park. First we had to find
a place to dump and to fill the water tank, as Capitol Reef’s campground had no
services either. This was easier said
than done- we were told there was a dump station at the campground on 191, but
no, they took it out. We went into to the other side of Moab to a station we
knew, but they were having their pavement sprayed and we couldn’t get to the
dump station. We finally found the 3rd and last one, but had to wait for a
class A to finish draining and flushing his system and then figure out how to
get out! We were finally on the road over two hours after we left the campsite.
The road to Capitol Reef winds up to the main highway,
through a variety of landscapes from prairie, desert, Grey Mountains,
 |
Grey Mountains- with Desert Mallow wildflowers- quite different
from the reds and rusts we had been seeing |
 |
| Winding highway |
through
canyons and long straight stretches grassy fields then sandy dunes.
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| One group of formations by the road, in the middle of flat desert |
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| Back into desert |
 |
| Nearing Capitol Reef, we begin to see some colour |
Into the
Park, we passed huge cliffs and canyon walls with dark grey dunes and fins
 |
| Greys with some greens and yellows |
 |
| and rows of dark grey fins |
 |
| mud-like rock from a lava flow |
in front, as
the cliff walls rose, there was dark grey part way up the canyon walls. We
drove to the Campsite in the Fruita Area about 3:30, to find 2 RV’s in front of
us, waiting for the Camp Host. When he returned, there were two camp sites left,
so we went to a BLM site just outside the park for the night - the price we
paid for the delay of the morning.
 |
| A beautiful BLM site |
We returned the next morning and found a
beautiful site with sunshine for our solar panel.
 |
| We woke up each morning to the sight of a beautiful red cliff |
This is a beautiful,
well-maintained campground, with a pair of the most friendly hosts we have met
since Mystic Springs last year. We opened our door to the gorgeous red wall of
the canyon.
 |
| Looking down the slickrock divide - in the valley between the buckle sides |
 |
| The rock layers revealed |
Capitol Reef National Park is a giant buckle or wrinkle in
the earth’s crust, called the Waterpocket Fold, a geologic monocline, stretching
100 miles across south-central Utah. It was created 65 million years ago by the
same forces which later created the Colorado Plateau.
We were concerned because we had noticed that the step was tearing away from the frame of the Airstream, so we went into Torrey [where we could get internet and cell service] to call Can-Am for some advice. There is an Airstream dealer in Boise Utah- 249 miles out of the way- or in Penticton, BC, if it is a warranty issue, but a RV dealer and welder in Calgary if we just need a welding job. While we waited for a call back, we wandered around Torrey.
 |
| Torrey Log Church and Schoolhouse |
Back at the campground,
 |
| Driving east back to Capitol Reef NP |
we took a short walk along the Freemont River
trail before
it began to rain. The next morning, we decided to walk the 2km trail to the Capitol
Reef National Park Visitors’ Center. It is a pretty walk. First we went into
the small museum and kitchen in the Gifford House, the home of one of the first
Mormon families, which sold the most delicious small pies and cinnamon buns.
 |
| Gifford House |
The path crosses by the Forge
 |
| The first tractor |
across from a lovely day use park, where we were
greeted by a herd of deer grazing on the grass beside the Mail Tree.
 |
| Just hanging out! |
 |
| The Mail Tree |
 |
| Fruita Orchards |
The trail
then winds by the road and hills with big volcanic boulders.
 |
| Boulders strewn over the hills |
By the time we had
perused the Visitors’ Center and watched the film, it started to rain. John
went back to get the truck, and we drove into Torrey to check with Can-Am and
check the internet. We met a couple who had cycled over the mountain from
Bryce. It had taken them three days, through rain and snow. By the time we got back, it had stopped
raining, so we drove down the Scenic Drive to the Grand Wash,
 |
| The Back Road |
 |
| The beginning of the Grand Wash |
 |
| The entrance to an abandoned uranium mine |
then to the beginning
of the Capitol Gorge Road. Unfortunately due to the rain, it was closed, so we
could go no further.
Since the next day was to be sunny, we extended our stay
for another day. We went to the Petroglyphs first.
From 600AD to 1300AD native
people of the Freemont Culture made their home in Capitol Reef.
We stopped to look at the schoolhouse
 |
| The Fruita one-room school. |
and one of the first homes.
 |
| Behunin House |
Then we decided
to hike up to the Hickman Bridge.
 |
| Hickman Bridge Trailhead |
The route was to be a 400ft change in elevation. However, what they did not tell us that is was 400 ft. NET GAIN!! The climb to the first plateau was 400 ft. alone, then a beautiful trail of up and down,
even along a sandy wash,
 |
| A small natural Bridge |
 |
| Capitol Dome |
 |
| Hickman Bridge |
before the final climb to the 133ft. bridge- which is
like an arch, but it was carved by the river, through a cliff wall.
Before we went back to the campground, we decided to walk
along the Grand Wash Trail.
 |
| The Trail |
 |
| Narrow between high cliffs, and winding |
 |
| A sense of the height of the canyon walls |
This is a winding trail along the sandy river bed,
between high canyon walls.
The time had come to leave. We decided that we should have
an airstream dealer look at the steps, so we were headed for Penticton BC. We
did not have time to go to Bryce and Zion National Parks, as we had to leave
the US. So, these were to be saved for next year!
We began our trek back to Canada. The first day we almost
turned back as it began to snow shortly after we left Torrey and temperatures
dropped to 1C. Luckily, though as we climbed up to the Pass, the sleet stopped
so we continued on.
Our quick trip back to Canada included a stop at Temple
Hill RV Resort
in Manti, Utah,
 |
| The Temple in Manti |
 |
| Through all the rain, the sprinklers stayed on! |
Willard Bay State Park in Utah,
 |
| Willard Bay |
the beautiful Stoddard
Creek National Forest camp site in Idaho, Nugget RV Park, a delightful family
owned park in St.Regis, Montana, and a Municipal park in Omak.
 |
| Omak Municipal Park |
Finally back in Canada, we arrived in Penticton BC to
discover that the Airstream expert at Midtown RV was also a licenced welder. We
were set! The steps were fixed and, as a bonus, the cable TV problems solved!
