More Moab Hikes

Summer has arrived here. Yesterday it got to 100, today maybe a couple degrees higher, but supposed to be cooling off as the week goes on. Since it was so hot yesterday, we decided to drive the 60 mile La Sal Mountain Loop, a nice, paved road. We got up to 8,800 ft. at the Oowah campground, where it was only in the low 80’s. There are a few trails there, so we hiked the 1.2 mile climb to Clarks Lake. It was wooded and pleasant and when we got to the lake there were lots of snow piles still around it. Not sure what elevation we got to but judging by  how hard it was to breathe it must have been over 9,000 ft.

The lake was not very pretty but there was a nice stream with lots of small waterfalls.

 

After lunch in the cool shade, we started driving back down the mountain. We had views of Moab, Arches, and Canyonlands way off in the distance.

The drive comes out on scenic Rte 128, also called The River Rd, and heads back to Moab. The entire 18 miles goes along the Colorado River. We saw lots of rafters and kayakers, and by then our car was reading 102.

This morning we took a hot hike to Corona Arch, west of Arches National Park on the road to the potash plant.This is a 1.5 mile hike over lots of slickrock, with a couple sections of climbs with cables to hold onto, and then a small ladder to go up before reaching the base of the arch. It was a fairly easy and fun hike except that the temperature was rising quickly. There are actually two arches there. the one on the left is Bowtie Arch and Corona is on the right.

 

This is a striking area of red rock. We were surprised at how many people were there considering it was in the 90’s.

Bowtie Arch

 

Corona Arch, which has a 140 X 105 ft opening. It is pretty impressive.

  

Tomorrow we’re planning another visit to Canyonlands. We have yet to run out of things to do in this area. And to us the heat isn’t so bad since the humidity rarely gets over 20%. Quite a big difference from Florida..

Moab Jeep Adventure

We left Moab a little after 8 yesterday morning ( a record for Jim) and made our way north past Arches to the Gemini Bridges road/trail. In our guidebook it was listed as moderate. Not having much experience in getting off road other than a few times with friends in their Jeeps on roads that were not really that bad, we weren’t sure what to expect.

It was a drive of about 14 miles, with spectacular views. We were a bit apprehensive at first because there were some steep climbs in the first couple miles, but once Jim realized the Jeep could make it, we relaxed as much as you can when you’re being bounced around that much. We stopped and hiked to the Gemini Bridges, two side by side rock bridges you can walk over.  

This plaque was on a rock. Beau evidently went off the edge here.

Quite a drop off.

We continued on over slickrock, marveling that we could actually drive over stuff like this. We finally came to a paved road, Hwy 313, which enters Canyonlands National Park’s Island in the Sky District. Just after the park entrance there is another dirt road, the Shafer Trail. The guidebook said this was easy, so we were thinking dirt road with a few rocks and ruts. It turned out to be every bit as technical (for us) as the other trail, but the scenery was incredible. We kept seeing our road at the bottom of the canyon, and knew it was going to be a long trip down. Of course we stopped many times for pictures. Jim couldn’t do much sightseeing while trying to navigate, and I wouldn’t let him since were were on a ledge the whole way down. I didn’t want anyone putting up a plaque with our names on it!

   

We finally got to the steep switchbacks and made it down safely, although our trip was far from over.

Since we had plenty of time left, we turned off on the White Rim trail to see Musselman Arch. It was even more rocky and technical, but worth it. This is from the trail we hiked to the Gooseneck of the Colorado. Pretty stunning scenery.

 

Then we found another overlook we could drive to (barely) and ate lunch. We were the only ones there until we were pulling away. Jim would have gone closer to the edge but I wouldn’t let him.

 

We made it to Musselman Arch, which was quite unusual.

Then it was back to the Shafer trail, and more technical descending. Fortunately we didn’t run into too many other Jeeps along our route. We did see a few mountain bikers, including these two pulling their camping gear in trailers, who were coming up a really steep section in the mid afternoon heat. Young and stupid, I guess!

We finally ended up on a plateau under Dead Horse Point State Park, where Thelma and Louise were filmed meeting their demise.

Then on our way back to Moab we passed the potash plant, where these huge “lakes” of mineral water are a beautiful color blue. We saw them last year from Dead Horse point, and they looked like swimming pools from that far above. I found out they add blue dye to the water to make it evaporate faster, leaving the potash crystals.

We had a fun but tiring day, nothing a beer and a good night’s sleep didn’t cure. In fact, Jim almost got out and kissed the pavement when we finally got off the dirt roads. We probably won’t buy a Jeep, but we would like a higher clearance vehicle to get off on some dirt roads a little easier.

Then last night we had a nice dinner with Bob and Kathy from Florida who are on a 7 month trip out west. They’ve done lots of traveling in the US and Canada, and got us thinking about a Canada trip. Of course there is still a lot of the US we want to see. Guess we’ll get to all these places one day.

More Moab

Yesterday we moved to the OK RV Park, less than 6 miles from Ken’s Lake. We were fortunate to get a shady, private site for 4 nights but we will have to move on Sunday. We already have another site held but we’re hoping the reservation cancels before then. The cats are enjoying the air conditioning.

Took a couple more hikes in the area, yesterday in Hunter’s Canyon, off Kane Creek Road, which runs along the Colorado River. There are a few interesting dwellings built into the rocks along the road. They even have electric, phone and gas lines running to them.

The trail was not well marked but we hiked a couple miles down the lovely canyon. There was still some water in the stream, and several ponds. What was most amazing is we never saw another person on the trail the entire time, and this hike was listed in a free Moab guidebook. We aren’t complaining., though.

 

This morning we went into Arches National Park to see what we missed last year. On the way we stopped for breakfast at the EklectiCafe, where we had the best whole wheat banana nut pancakes. Sat outside in their shaded courtyard and were amused by the mooching birds that even tried to land on tables where people were still eating,

After a stop at the Arches visitor center, we realized we had hiked to almost all of the arches last year, so we drove a short distance to the Park Avenue trail, just a mile hike down a canyon surrounded by huge rock formations.  

It was a nice walk, but it was getting hot and the back seat of the car was filled with dirty laundry, so we did that on the way home, fixed an early dinner, and went back into town to pick up our rental Jeep Wrangler. We then took it to Ken’s Lake, where there are lots of dirt roads, to get a feel for how it drove. We are planning to follow the rental company’s recommended scenic 100 mile loop on some dirt roads in Canyonlands National Park tomorrow. It could be a long day.

Yesterday while driving through Moab we saw a Lazy Daze Anniversary Edition exactly like ours in an RV park right in town. No one was home, but the license plate was from Florida, and we knew it had to belong to a couple we met in Jacksonville at our first Lazy Daze get together in 2007. We left them a note, they called last night, and we are planning to meet for dinner tomorrow if we survive our Jeep ride. What a small world!

Ken’s Lake, Moab, UT

We arrived here on Memorial Day, and most of the weekenders were long gone. We made a stop in Monticello at Mountain View RV park, where we were able to dump and fill our fresh water for $5. On our 50 mile drive from Devil’s Canyon, the majority of vehicles on the road were RVs that appeared to be evacuating from Moab. More than we’ve ever seen on one stretch of road.

Ken’s Lake is a very nice BLM campground about 10 miles southeast of Moab. We initially pulled into a lake view site, but soon realized the afternoon sun was going to bake the refrigerator side of the rig, so we moved to a site where we were angled differently but have beautiful views of the La Sal mountains and red rock.

    

There are several hiking trails here, and the past 2 days we’ve taken the trails on both sides of a stream leading to Faux Falls. They looked pretty real to us, but are named that because it is actually man-made. It was created when upper Mill Creek was diverted to bring water to the lake in 1981. Makes for a nice oasis in the desert.

     

We took a drive into Moab yesterday to get our mail and pick up a few things. There wasn’t much activity going on, and a woman in one of the shops said they had a very busy Memorial Day weekend, but June was normally a pretty slow month. Fine with us, as we have lots of places we want to see in the area and the less crowded the better.

As much as we like this campground, we are moving up the road to a Passport America RV park since the nice mid 80’s days we’ve had are predicted to get into  the low 100’s by Saturday. We are paying $12/night here with no hookups, whereas we will have full hookups for under $16 there, but will lose our lovely view. Can’t leave the kitties home alone with no AC, though! .