Epic Cross Country Road Trip August 26-27

 

Day 26: Thursday

We set the alarm for 6:30 so we can be at the Canyonlands Tour place easily by 7:45.  We get there, get all the releases signed and are ready to go.  We find out that it just the 2 of us so we don’t have to squeeze a person in the middle of the backseat.  Our driver/guide is Matt who is driving a Lexus 4 wheel drive vehicle named Doll house.  We head out of town, cross the Colorado River and stop fairly soon.  There are petroglyphs that we would have missed.  We think we’ve seen them all and he points out more.  They were done by the Freemont people.  He points out how some areas are more refined and are from a later date.  It seems that their meaning is still many guess work. 

After following the river a short distance, we turn on to a dirt road.  This is when it gets amazing.  We go from the bottom of the canyon to the top, down another canyon.

  Oh, this is where they filmed Thelma and Louis going off the cliff at the end of the movie.  They put weight in the trunk to make it float the way they wanted it to.  They used a helicopter to remove the car from the bottom of the cliff.  At one stop, after we’ve oohed and ahhed at the grand vista, Matt points out fossils  of small ocean life embedded in the boulders. Another stop is of an arch/bridge.  We are at the top of the arch and it has been carved out below us.  A different perspective.

  Between stops, Matt entertains us with local folklore, the movies that have been filmed in the area (Many John Wayne ones).  Many outlaws fled to this area, hid and lived.  After several hours on the backroads, we climb out of the canyon on a very narrow road that was originally built by a mining company.  Oh, I’m so glad Matt is the one driving.  Especially when we meet a jeep coming the other way!  The jeep backed up to a place that was somewhat wider and we really made it past with quite a few inches to spare.  At the top we join the highway through the park that is called “Island in the Sky,”  We will come back tomorrow and drive that ourselves. 

When we get back, it’s lunch time.  The food truck “Quesadilla Mobilla” was recommended to us.  We got them to go and took them back to our house to eat.  Enough that we had them for dinner too. 

After lunch was rest time before heading back out for another sunset.  We get a warning that a big thunder storm is headed our way.  Decide to delay going back to Arches until that passes over us.  Here’ we get a little rain but nothing major.  We go up to an area called Devil’s Garden.  The sky is really incredible with a very definite line of storm and still blue sky.  Even though the sign says registered campers only, we really want to see the campground so confidently drive in.  We see campers pulling things out and draping them over car doors to help them dry out.  Apparently the storm really came through there.  This is probably the most beautiful campground I’ve ever seen.  It is at the top of a bluff with beautiful  red formations all around.  It even has its own arch!  We find a place to park and start walking around.  OMG! It’s a RAINBOW!  Picture, Picture, Picture…..There is also lightenng but I don’t have a prayer of catching one of those in a photo.  We talk to a couple of campers.  You have to reserve these sights like moments after they become available to reserve.  A few of the campers packed up and left as the storm approached.  We struck up a conversation with a group of people who had been going on a tour with the same company we had.  They got a call from the boss to get out of the canyon FAST as there were flash flood warnings in the area.  They said the ride out was pretty harrowing. 

We also talked to the volunteer camp hosts.  They are  retired volunteers and told us how we could do the same and how wonderful it is.  I was just about convinced until they talked about 40 hour weeks.  Wait a minute.  That sounds like work. 

The sunset was nice.  Not as nice as yesterdays but still nice and gee, it had a rainbow.  They are all different and beautiful in their own way. 

There is going to be a ranger talk starting in about 30 minutes about the moon and dark skies.  We decide to stay.  We had planned to go to an area where someone was giving an astronomy talk but with all the clouds we didn’t think that would really happen.  It was a nice presentation of our connection with the moon, world over and through millennia.  Not deep or that scientific but nice. 

On the way back down out of the park, we stopped at the clear spot where the astronomy talk was going to be.  There were a few other cars parked but no talk.  The skies had cleared a bit and we were able to pick out several constellations and the Milky Way.  Lots of stars between the clouds.

Another wonderful day filled with beauty.

Day 27:  Friday

It’s our last full day in Moab.  Nick has a zoom call for a UUA committee that he’s on at 11:30 so we need to plan to be somewhere with either phone service or wi-fi at that time. We pick up sandwiches at Subway for a picnic in the park.   The plan is to go to Canonlands Island in the Sky, have lunch there and hope for phone service.  We stop at the Visitors Center and they have Wifi there.  It is about 10:30 so we decide to go to Mesa Arch which is about a ¼ mile walk from the parking lot.  Should be able to do this and get back to the visitors center in time for the call. 

We are definitely at the highpoint and looking down into the canyons where we were driving yesterday on the off road trip.  We walk to the arch.  This is the first place we’ve been where it felt a little crowded.  We snap a few pictures and Nick is ready to head back.  I feel rushed but understand his hurry. 

We get back to the visitors center about 11:33 so not bad.  Nick finds a secluded place where the signal is sort of OK.  I spend the hour sorting through pictures and throwing out some of the duplicate ones.  When Nick is done with his call, we eat our sandwiches and head back out. 

We decide to drive to the far point which is Grand View Point Overlook  and then stop at other places on the way back as time and energy allow. 

At the Overlook there is a trail that follows right along the rim for about a mile.  I get rather carried away and walk about ¾ mile before turning back.  Nick turns back pretty quickly and waits for me in the cool of the car. 

We stop  at Buck Canyon Overlook.  Just a short walk to look over the rim.  Then there is candlestick Tower.  One tower all by itself. 

The next stop is Upheaval Dome.  They think this is a place that was hit by a meteor.  We had planned to walk the mile trail to get there but I had run out of water and energy so we passed on it.  I guess I’ll just have to go to the internet and look at pictures.

Back to our little house in Moab to rest until our next adventure which is an evening boat ride down the Colorado with dinner and a sound and light show..  There is a laundromat as part of the little development.  Time to do laundry for the next leg of the trip.

The boat ride is with a company called Canyonlands by night and day.  A big operation that caters to bus groups.  There is a big dining hall set up for hundreds of people.  We are let in in small groups and told where to sit.  At first I thought it was COVID precautions but actually it was to pack people in, even though there was lots of unused space.  There was a small salad bar and a buffet line with people serving.  First time with a buffet….   A little nervous but I think it was okay.  The food was good, especially the spiced barbeque beef.  We strike up conversations with the people around us.  Two groups from Indiana, a woman who grew up in Canton, GA.  A couple from Virginia, one of who was born in Hungary. 

We have assigned seats for the boat ride and board by row number.  The river is low so they want to make sure the boat is balanced and that most of the people are towards the front of the boat.  It is 8 seats across with an aisle down the middle.  About 15 rows.  Really don’t know what we’re getting into.  An elderly gentleman with a cowboy hat.  He provides continual chatter and commentary.  Some of it is clever, some interesting. He warns us that the jokes get worse the further up the river we get. 

He has a small lazer pointer which he uses to point out features that if you use your imagination can see faces, a fish, a crocodile….  I’m thinking this is a pretty lame sound and light show.  About an hour in, we’re as far up the river as we go.  This is when the real Sound and Light show starts.  On the rocks, they tell some of the history of the area with the Morman migration.  It is set to music and is really quite nice.  There was one part with singing that may have been a recording of the tabernacle choir.  LOTS of voices and very good.  It is very dark and our eyes have gotten used to the dark.  The stars are wonderful!  We float down the river listening to calm classical music.  Sometimes flute, sometimes piano, sometimes strings.  We can see the Milkey Way, the dippers, Casiopea,  Sagitarious, Capricorn.  I am relaxed, happy and grateful for the opportunity to experience it.