From Moab to Richfield, Utah

San Rafael scenic view area westbound on I-70.

                                           

Today was a day of travel from Moab, Utah, to our new home base of Richfield, Utah.  We are staying at a KOA in Richfield and it's a good campground with lots of trees and with excellent free wifi.  Tomorrow we will go on a day trip in the car to Capitol Reef National Park, the final Grand Circle national park that we are touring.  We chose to stay in Richfield to tour the park because this was the town with the lowest elevation we could find that was somewhat near Capitol Reef.  Richfield turned out to be a nice small town with a mid-western feel.  It's at an elevation of 5280 feet and mountains loom all around the town.

The drive to Richfield took us west on I-70, where we discovered some more spectacular scenery, right along the freeway.  In fact they had both rest areas (which were open, unlike Arizona's) and scenic view areas, most of which had restrooms also.  In many cases, they were only ten miles apart. 

Spectacular Utah rocks along I-70 westbound.

San Rafael Reef scenic view.

Black Dragon Canyon scenic view. 

Here the freeway reached an elevation of 7270, and climbing through the Wasatch Mountains, we reached almost 8000 feet.

Across the freeway, this was the eastbound scenic view.

As we drove further west along I-70, the scenery changed to multi-colored hills.

To quote a t-shirt seen in a national park gift shop, UTAH ROCKS!

Canyonlands National Park--Needles District, Utah

    Wooden Shoe Arch in Canyonland Needles area

We went on a drive in the car to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park.  Canyonlands is divided into three districts, Island in the Sky, where we went on Wednesday, the Maze, which is inaccessible by car, and Needles, which we visited today.  It's less accessible than Island in the Sky, but was worth a visit. 

As usual, interesting rock formations appeared before we even entered the park.

After going to the park's visitor center and watching the movie, we ate our picnic lunch and then set off to see the park and to go on some of the easy hikes.  First we went on the Cave Springs trail.  We saw the area under a cliff which cowboys used to use as a shelter for themselves and for their horses.  Then we reached an area which contained Anasazi petroglyphs.

Cowboy relics along Cave Springs trail

One of several petroglyphs

Some people are much more daring than we are!

We did not climb up to the top of this rock, which was reachable by climbing two ladders.  I don't have too much trouble going up, but coming back down is another matter.  Better to be safe than sorry!

Then it was on to Potholes Point trail.  Potholes are depressions that fill with water when it rains (which it did last night) and small creatures can be seen in the pothole.  The rocks are known as slickrock and are walkable, but you have to watch your footing so that you don't twist your ankle. 

One pothole with water, one partly dry

View from the Potholes slickrock

After driving all the roads in the park, which didn't take too long since there aren't too many paved roads, we went on our final hike (walk) of the day, the Roadside Ruin trail.  This was a short nature trail, with the additional bonus of seeing an Anasazi (oh, excuse me, Ancestral Puebloan) granary where they stored corn, grain, etc.  That was interesting to see.

Granary

More desert wildflowers

A Day at Arches National Park, Utah

Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch is the most famous of the arches and Utah's trademark.  There are three trails to see this arch and we did the two easiest, one of which was still steep and slow-going.  We encountered no-see-um bugs and humidity on this trail, but the view of Delicate Arch was worth the trouble.

Dave at the Fiery Furnace overlook.

Fins near Sand Dune Arch

One of the passageways into Sand Dune Arch.  This was a short trail, but very sandy, like walking at the beach, but we didn't see any water!

Sand Dune Arch was spectacular. 

This arch is not visible unless you take the sandy trail.

Families playing in the sand at Sand Dune Arch seemed to be having lots of fun.

Broken Arch

We reached this arch after a long trail through the desert, with a fairly steep ascent at the end.  Again, the view was worth the walk!

Skyline Arch

This arch was visible from the road.

Cars parked at Devil's Garden.  The park was very busy today!

North Windows Arch

South Windows Arch

These two are part of the "spectacles" arch that we saw on our first day at the park.

Double Arch

This one and Sand Dune Arch were my favorites.  Well, I liked Broken Arch, too, and Delicate Arch.  Oh, they are all my favorites!

Click on Dave's blog to read more about our day at Arches National Park. 

Dead Horse Point State Park, Utah

Dead Horse Point

Dave wrote about the history of Dead Horse State Park on his blog yesterday.  Click here to read it.  Basically, years ago, cowboys rounded up wild horses and corralled them, but didn't get back to rescue them, so the horses died of thirst.  We visited the state park on our way to Canyonlands.  The two parks are very close to each other.  We checked out the campground at Dead Horse Point, which looked like a very nice, typical state park campground with some spacious sites.  They had electric hookups for $20 per night. 

On our way to the state and national parks, we saw the Monitor and Merrimac rocks.

Another interesting rock formation near the Monitor and Merrimac rocks.

After we followed sixteen rental Jeeps into Dead Horse State Park, we went to the visitor's center, and then on the 1/4 mile nature trail.  As Dave wrote in his blog, that trail led us to the Point Trail, and silly us, we started walking on it, thinking it was a 1/2 mile trail.  No, it was three or more miles, and then all the way back!  And the footing was not good on this trail.  Again, it started out easy but then got much harder.  We didn't have our walking poles with us because we didn't realize we were going for a hike.  We didn't hike all the way out to the Point, but later drove out there in the car.

While at the Point, we saw the neck of the Colorado River. 

One thing we saw along the path during our hike was cairns that people had placed along the way, partly to mark the trail and partly of their own making. 

One of the cairns we saw.

Hole in a rock.

A lonely red wildflower.

Today Dave played golf and I explored the town of Moab.  I discovered a park next to the Mill Creek Parkway multi-use path, so I went for a walk on the path.  Later this afternoon, Dave and I drove to this park with our bicycles, and rode them on the path. 

One of several bridges over Mill Creek.

Percussion instruments in the park.  What a great idea!

Canyonlands National Park, Utah

I would like to welcome two new blog followers, Sam and Donna, who have a blog called 5th Wheel Vagabonds, and Jerry and Suzy, who have a blog called Our Life on Wheels.  Both of these couples are RVers and have graciously decided to tune into my blog.  Thanks, folks, and welcome!

31 years ago today, Dave and I were married in Riverside, California.  We celebrated our anniversary by taking a day trip to Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park.  The weather wasn't the best, with clouds and a bit of rain off and on, and very cool weather, especially by the end of the afternoon.  After our day in the park, we celebrated by going out for dinner at a nice restaurant located near the RV park, Buck's Grill.

After stopping at Island in the Sky Visitor Center, we drove to the Mesa Arch trail.  This was labeled an easy walk of only 1/2 mile with 100 feet of elevation.  Well, it wasn't easy for us.  This time we knew enough to take our trekking walking sticks, so that helped.  The footing on these "walks" is much more like a hike, with an uneven stony, sandy, dirt path.  This was a crowded walk, and I couldn't get pictures without other people in them.

The trail to Mesa Arch

The view of Mesa Arch was worth the effort!

View through Mesa Arch

Green River Overlook

Grand View Point overlook

At Grand View Point, we saw a Jeep getting a tow.  This was funny, because on our way into Dead Horse State Park, we trailed behind 16 Jeeps that were entering the park to go off-roading.

Our wildlfe sighting for the day.  We saw cattle crossing the road on our way into the park and on our way out of the park.

Beautiful wildflowers--are these lupine?

Tomorrow I will post the pictures from our visit to Dead Horse State Park.  We went on a "walk" there, too.

Moab, Utah and Arches National Park

Wilson Arch off Hwy 191, 15 miles south of Moab, UT

We bade farewell to Bluff, Utah, and Cadillac Ranch RV Park.  The drive to Moab was only 102 miles, but it was windy, so driving the motorhome was tiring for Dave.  We arrived at Portal RV Resort in Moab and checked into one of their deluxe south end sites, but we are less than happy with the speed of their wifi.  Other than that it's a nice park with huge, paved sites (40 by 80 feet), and it's located only a couple of miles from Arches National Park.

We weren't tempted to stop at this tourist trap!

After lunch in the motorhome, we headed for the national park's visitor center.

Sandstone fins which could someday become arches.

The Courthouse

Tower of Babel and The Organ

Three Gossips and Sheep Rock

The only arch in the park that we saw this afternoon.   Look carefully at the top of the picture to

see the arch.  Click on any photo to enlarge.

Wildflowers at Arches National Park