After a good night’s sleep (no surprise after so little sleep the night before) we were ready for the day. Unfortunately, this was one of the few hotels we booked on this trip not to include breakfast, and finding our first choice unexpectedly closed caused a short-term breakfast crisis.
That solved, we were off to Canyonlands National Park about 35 miles outside of Moab. The scenery on the way, and even on the road within the park early on, gives no hint of what will suddenly appear. A few scenic overlooks later, we were awestruck. At least first thing in the morning, we had no crowds to contend with. Our first hike was the first of the trip where we found ourselves alone on the trail.
That first hike was a short one to Mesa Arch. There were lots of signs by various plants and trees along the way, providing good information on the species and how it is adapted to the desert climate. Unfortunately, this sort of information seldom sticks, and when I come to the next bush I can’t recall whether it’s a juniper or a joshua. The arch itself was pretty cool, as well.
Fearing that the hordes would soon be descending upon the park after sleeping late in Moab, we decided to drive to the far end of the park road to take in one of the most popular hikes in the park before it became overwhelmed.
The Grand View Point Trail is described as “stunning” in the brochures. That’s pretty accurate. It’s an out and back, four miles total, and pretty flat. But it’s along the rim of the confluence of two canyons, with sheer cliffs of 1400 feet on either side. Fortunately, the trail is back from the edge a good 20-30 feet in most spots, and very well marked. But it’s still pretty eerie to look out knowing you are that far up with no railing, safety harness, or parachute!
At the point, one has to scramble up some pretty steep rock to get the whole panorama. I made it, but Mary elected the safer, and at our age probably more reasonable alternative of looking first one way and then turning around to look the other.
We drove back to an area known as “Upheaval Dome” and had our lunch in the picnic area near the parking lot. Geologists aren’t quite certain what the “upheaval” was that created this feature, but the prevailing theory is that it is an ancient meteor impact crater. In any case, it’s a pretty deep hole some 2 miles in diameter.
We set out for the First Overlook, which despite some climbing upward on steps was a pretty easy three-quarters of a mile. We planned to continue on to the Second Outlook, but the trail was largely across wide expanses of slickrock supposedly marked with little piles of stones, called cairns. But every little kid who can find three or more good, flat rocks can make a cairn, and many find it great fun to do so — whether along the trail or elsewhere. So we found the trail very poorly marked and eventually gave up and turned back, although we were fairly close.
By this time our options for fairly short hikes in Canyonlands were exhausted, and we weren’t prepared to take on a long, back country excursion. So we elected to drive back to Arches National Park (not out of the way, we had to drive right past it anyway) and complete the one hike that we hadn’t had the energy for the previous day.
The Park Avenue Trail is rated “moderate” in difficulty because of a few spots of rough terrain, but mostly for the steep descent into the canyon and the steep climb back out again. It’s an out and back trail, two miles total hiking. Views of the canyon walls on either side are quite striking. There were more people at Arches, so we no longer had the trail to ourselves, as at Canyonlands, but it was worth going back for.
Dinner was at a Thai restaurant just a block from our hotel, so we did a bit more walking. The place had rave reviews on Trip Advisor, but the people writing the reviews were overly generous. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t Thailand.
That solved, we were off to Canyonlands National Park about 35 miles outside of Moab. The scenery on the way, and even on the road within the park early on, gives no hint of what will suddenly appear. A few scenic overlooks later, we were awestruck. At least first thing in the morning, we had no crowds to contend with. Our first hike was the first of the trip where we found ourselves alone on the trail.
That first hike was a short one to Mesa Arch. There were lots of signs by various plants and trees along the way, providing good information on the species and how it is adapted to the desert climate. Unfortunately, this sort of information seldom sticks, and when I come to the next bush I can’t recall whether it’s a juniper or a joshua. The arch itself was pretty cool, as well.
At the point, one has to scramble up some pretty steep rock to get the whole panorama. I made it, but Mary elected the safer, and at our age probably more reasonable alternative of looking first one way and then turning around to look the other.
We set out for the First Overlook, which despite some climbing upward on steps was a pretty easy three-quarters of a mile. We planned to continue on to the Second Outlook, but the trail was largely across wide expanses of slickrock supposedly marked with little piles of stones, called cairns. But every little kid who can find three or more good, flat rocks can make a cairn, and many find it great fun to do so — whether along the trail or elsewhere. So we found the trail very poorly marked and eventually gave up and turned back, although we were fairly close.
By this time our options for fairly short hikes in Canyonlands were exhausted, and we weren’t prepared to take on a long, back country excursion. So we elected to drive back to Arches National Park (not out of the way, we had to drive right past it anyway) and complete the one hike that we hadn’t had the energy for the previous day.
The Park Avenue Trail is rated “moderate” in difficulty because of a few spots of rough terrain, but mostly for the steep descent into the canyon and the steep climb back out again. It’s an out and back trail, two miles total hiking. Views of the canyon walls on either side are quite striking. There were more people at Arches, so we no longer had the trail to ourselves, as at Canyonlands, but it was worth going back for.
Dinner was at a Thai restaurant just a block from our hotel, so we did a bit more walking. The place had rave reviews on Trip Advisor, but the people writing the reviews were overly generous. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t Thailand.
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