The Arches and Canyonlands National Parks

Thursday, June 3rd The Arches and Canyonlands National Parks

Bill: Yesterday as we drove to Moab, UT from Colorado, we took another scenic drive, namely Route 128. Unlike the mistress of the GPS, I tend to choose roads marked scenic on the map as we drive along. After all I have the controls while she can only "recalculate" as I force her to rethink her suggested route. Anyway Route 128 scenery starts out very mundane and you wonder if the map maker was wrong, until you reach the last third of the road. It was spectacular. The road winds along the Colorado River and there is nothing on either side of you and the river but tall red rock sandstone cliffs I estimated to be at least 200 feet high in some areas. The cliffs hang over you as if to say, I'm in control of your destination, drive very carefully and you'll get there.

Anyway back to Moab, UT and the parks. Moab is situated between two mountain ranges of red rock. It is a tourist type town much like Sedona, but not as upscale. It gets hot there. It was in the mid nineties both days we were there and was expected to reach 105° on the weekend.

Eleanor: With the temperature expected to go into the nineties, we went to Arches early in the morning. It was very pleasant until our last walk. We were able to drive from place to place and could see some formations from the car while others required walks of varying distances. There were massive formations standing alone like photo #1, and others were linked together in a massive "great wall" as we drove along. We had the energy in the morning to walk through loose sand to get to the structure in photo #2. It was just like walking at the beach and we found several families sitting in the sand while the children played. It was shady here as the arch was between large walls of stone. We had a rather long walk up several steps and along a path to see "The Turret" (photo #3) We never did figure out how it got its name. Our last walk left us hot and tired by the time we finished a mile out and back to see Broken Arch (#4). This walk was in full sun. Good thing we had water and suntan lotion. It was 12:30 and we had spent four hours taking in the sights, so it was time to head into Moab and have lunch at a microbrewery restaurant. Bill was ready for a couple of cold beers!

This was the first day that Bill took a nap (was it the beers?) but we both agreed that we'd rest during the heat of the day before going to Canyonlands National Park. (photo #5) Canyonlands is divided into sections. The easiest to get around in is "island in the sky", which is located about five miles up the road from Arches. This would have been a great idea except when we opened our motel door, we realized that it had clouded up considerably and there wouldn't be good light to see the canyons at their best. We went anyway and we were very impressed by what we saw in person, but our photos don't capture the true beauty. There are vast vistas and big drop-offs, and many formations of all shapes and sizes.