Travelogue

Lolo stalking the fallen Dyerville GiantAfter about 3 and a half hours of driving towards Bandon, we decided to stop and stretch our legs amongst the giant California redwood trees of Northern California.

The fact that there are still so many groves of these incredible trees to enjoy, which happen to be the largest and tallest on earth, was not a given. After the gold rush, many miners that failed to strike it rich with gold turned to harvesting these giant redwoods. By the early 1900s, these priceless forests were badly threatened by years of unrestricted clear cut logging.

However, today, thanks to the foresight and work of the state of California and the Save the Redwoods League, hundreds of groves have been acquired and protected for our enjoyment. In 1968, Redwood National Park was created for the purpose of cooperative forest management with three other state parks: Jedediah Smith, Del Norte, and Prairie Creek. Today Redwood National and State Parks encompasses 133,000 acres and protects 45% of all remaining coast redwood old-growth forests.

Although you don’t even have to leave your car to enjoy these majestic groves along the scenic Redwood Highway, to truly experience them, you need to get out of the car and walk amongst them.

There are so many choices of groves to visit. We chose to drive the 30-mile-auto-tour route known as the Avenue of Giants, which pretty much parallels US 101, stopping to stroll the ½-mile loop through the Founders Grove.

There are two “special trees” along this loop. The Founders Tree, which is a memorial to the Save-the-Redwoods-League, and the Dyerville Giant, which was once the tallest tree in this region, clocking in at 370 feet. Unfortunately, the Giant fell back in 1991.

Refreshed, we continued on US 101 into Oregon. The only noteworthy thing that occurred along the drive is that we thought we saw an orange construction cone in the lane in front of us. The weird thing was the construction cone appeared to be moving - that’s because it was. This faux construction cone was actually a tiny capsule-like motorized vehicle, which definitely did not belong on a highway. At a traffic light, the top opened and a shirtless young man popped up to look around before enclosing himself back in his very strange vehicle and continuing on his merry way. I am glad I am not his mother.

Travelogue

As I mentioned in the previous stop, we decided while lunching in Hurricane to drive the estimated 6 ½ hours to Andrew and Celeste's (our son and daughter-in-law) house Bishop. However, as I also mentioned, that lovely lunchtime breeze was gaining some steam and no longer so lovely.

For our entire drive, we had to deal with gusting winds up to 50 mph, strong enough to move trailers and trucks in and out of their lanes. Not exactly relaxing.

We took some roads we hadn’t been on before that were pretty cool as we skirted the northern boundary of Death Valley and climbed up and down over the White Mountains. Finally around 8:30, well over our original ETA, we arrived.

Our other son Tommy and his fiancée Erin would be arriving the following night. Nothing makes me happier than having the whole gang together, and now that we are all vaccinated, it is happening more and more frequently.

I’m not going to go into any great detail about our family time together, but for my own purposes and desire to remember where the heck I have been this year, I added this as a stop on our Utah trip.

This is what we did over those 4 days:

• Herb and Andrew spend the entire first day with some father-son bonding over home maintenance
• Tommy and Erin arrive
• We all go to the Buttermilks to watch the boys and their wives/fiancées boulder
• Afterwards I go for a short run on the lovely Bishop Creek canal near their house
• Drinks at dinner at the Owens Valley Distillery in Bishop
• We all go to Pine Creek Canyon to watch them sport climb
• I go for a 5-mile run along the Bishop Canal
• Tommy and Erin leave to go back home
• The remaining four of us go the the Mountain Rambler Brewery for dinner
• We drive home to Sonoma County

And that's a wrap. Great trip but it will be good to be back in Sonoma Valley too.

Travelogue

Not a bad view at Kiva KoffeehouseAfter Herb removed me kicking and screaming from the lovely Boulder Mountain Lodge, we continued our journey with the plan of driving the Cottonwood Canyon Road through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument to Kanab.

Our drive along very scenic highway 12 brought us to another highly recommended stop - the Kiva Koffeehouse in Escalante, a beautiful building that blended into the surrounding landscape with fabulous views from its outdoor dining area.

We were not the only ones that had this idea. The line was quite long and the wait for our food was even longer. However, we had no reason to complain, as we had managed to nab two chairs overlooking the red and white striated sandstone rock formations that we had grown so accustomed to over the past week.

Grosvenor Arch along the Cottonwood Canyon RoadThe final result was a great cup of coffee (mine an indulgent mocha with chocolate) and two salads with chicken to go - perhaps our dinner later tonight.

From there we continued along Route 12 to the town of Cannonville, where we turned off, passing right by Kodachrome Basin State Park (surprise surprise - no vacancy in the campground) to the start of the Cottonwood Canyon Road, a 46-mile drive on a well-graded dirt road, ending at Route 89 between the towns of Big Water and Kanab.

Compared to what we had been driving on, the road was very easy - much less bouncing and climbing. No need for me to get out of the truck to guide Herb over rock ledges.

Grosvenor Arch along the Cottonwood Canyon Road10 miles into the drive, we took the turnoff for the one-mile spur road to Grosvenor Arch, a unique sandstone double arch, 90 feet across, and 152 feet above the ground. An easy asphalt path led right up to the arch, but we ventured a little further to get right under it.

In 1949, the arch was named after Gilbert Hovey Grosvenor, president of the National Geographic Society and the first-time editor of the National Geographic magazine.

About 3 ½ miles south of the turnoff for Grosvenor Arch, we came to an area with colorful badlands to the east, referred to as Candyland because of its white and red rocks and pinnacles. It was pretty much high noon right now, so the stark lighting was not doing it the justice it deserved.

Approaching the Wahweap HoodoosTo the west was the Coxcomb, an elongated series of upwardly-pointed ridges that ran parallel to our drive.

The thing that ruined the drive a bit for us after being out in such remote places for the past week, were the very prominent power lines that ran along the entire drive, making it very difficult not to include them in a photo.

Rather than camp along the drive and do the recommended hike to Yellow Rock, we decided to go the whole way and try to find the Wahweap Hoodoos, which we had seen photos of in our Photography Guide.

Wahweap HoodoosThe directions were quite complicated, but fortunately we had the Gaia app, which pretty much has every remote road, hiking trail, attraction, etc. There were two ways to get there. One was a longer, rougher drive, but only required a 1-mile hike to the main hoodoo area, and the other one was a shorter, easier drive, but it required a 4 ½ mile (each way) hike to best hoodoos.

The Big FellaWe were very comfortable handling the more difficult road, so we chose the shorter hike direction. Gaia was great. I could follow our progress along the way on my phone, seeing every dirt turnoff we passed. That combined with the written directions in our photography guide brought us to the fence along the Wahweap Wash, with a sign instructing us now to drive in the wash.

The skies were getting ominous and we could see dark clouds and virga in the distance. I have been dying to use the word virga since we learned it a few days back from a park volunteer at the Great Gallery. It means rain that evaporates before reaching the ground.

I had seen photos of the Wahweap Hoodoos, but nothing had prepared me for the surreal otherworldliness. We felt like we had taken a wrong turn and landed on another planet - or better yet, a Dr. Seuss book.

Wahweap HoodoosThey seemed to spring out of nowhere after making a slight right into an alcove about a mile down a rather prosaic wash. There were about a dozen white hoodoos, but one in particular dominated the scene, rising about 30 feet in the air, topped by its little brown cap.

We’ve seen lots of strange rock formations in the west, but these topped the cake. Plus, it was the whitest rock I have ever seen, except maybe for the tufa castles in mono lake.

These particular hoodoos (also called spires, columns, pillars, and even goblins) were formed from a relatively soft, bright white entrada sandstone with a harder layer of dakota sandstone protecting them from erosion. Over millions of years, weathering has created these amazing formations. The brown caps of stone atop the towers are the harder, less easily erodable dakota sandstone. Hoodoos such as this are mainly found in dry, hot areas.

Interesting formation near our campsiteGeology is amazing, giving even Michelangelo a run for his money in creating wonders out of stone.

Those ominous clouds were getting closer and darker, so I kept trying to hurry Herb along, which he hates. I definitely think he wanted to spend more time there.

Time to find camping for the night, so we drove back a few miles from whence we came, but this time we turned left on the White Sands Jeep Trail, a very rough 4WD road which we learned about in our photography guide. After 1.3 very rocky, bumpy miles we came to a promontory that looked out over a small canyon that had some impressive, colorful hoodoos just under the rim. We had found our home for the night.

More Wahweap HoodoosAlthough it didn’t rain, it became extremely windy, to the point where we had to remain in the car, making brief forays out along the canyon rim to visit the little hoodoos.

The next morning, I felt really bad having rushed Herb away from the Wahweap Hoodoos, so we drove back for one more visit. Although they are supposedly best photographed in morning light, I think the drama of yesterday’s dark storm clouds created a better mood and background for these alien-like formations.

From the Wahweap Hoodoos we drove back along BLM roads to the Cottonwood Canyon Road and then out to Highway 89. I have a predilection towards culture and human history with a really nice natural backdrop, so I suggested to Herb that we go to Old Paria where Western movies used to be filmed. Our photography guide showed an awesome photo of an old western building used in the movies with multicolored butte in the background.

Along the scenic road to the Old Paria movie setUnfortunately, I didn’t read the fine print that building did not exist anymore. However, the drive along the dirt BLM 585 road, which traces the colorful red, white, and purple Chinle formation badlands was worth it. Also, for future reference we found some great dispersed camping sites.

There was, however, an interesting old cemetery with 20 graves of early settlers who tried to eke out a living in this desolate, yet beautiful, area.

From here we weren’t sure what to do. We were supposed to be in Bishop tomorrow night for my son’s birthday, which was about an 8 hour drive away.. We could take our time getting there or go the distance today.

Old Paria CemeteryWe figured we would just start driving that way and see what we felt like.

We were really getting into this eating lunch out thing, so we stopped in the town of Hurricane at the Main Street Cafe, which turned out to be a truly wonderful dining experience. The food was delicious, but it was really the ambience that felt so right. There was a lovely breeze on the outdoor patio, which was surrounded by green lawn and trees, something I didn’t realize how much I missed until now. It reminded me a bit of Key West, which is crazy, as the towns couldn’t be more different.

It was only 6 ½ hours to Bishop, so we decided to go for it. The problem was that that lovely breeze we had enjoyed so much at lunch wasn’t so lovely anymore.

Travelogue

Along the Notom Bullfrog RoadThe Notom Bullfrog Road was a surprise bonus for us. We had never heard of it before, and only did when we Googled how to get to the Strike Valley Overlook and the start of the scenic Burr Trail

Notom Bullfrog Road runs south through the lovely Strike Valley along the eastern boundary of Capitol Reef National Park, between the Henry Mountains and the Waterpocket Fold, all the way to the Bullfrog Marina on Lake Powell. We would only be going as far as the turnoff for the Burr Trail switchbacks.

Google Maps had estimated that we would only be able to travel 20 mph on this road, but it was so well graded that we did it in half the time. The scenery along the way was so unique and beautiful that we stopped several times along the way. The ranches set against the base of the Waterpocket Fold provided a lovely juxtaposition of man-made and natural beauty.

Burr Trail switchbacksAt 34 miles, we turned right towards Strike Valley and began our climb up the Burr Trail switchbacks, which although dirt, were doable in a 2WD car. However, they did climb 1,000 feet in a mile, so they were still pretty exciting. We stopped several times to gaze down at the tiny vehicles winding their way up the twists and turns of the switchbacks.

A short distance after the completion of the switchbacks, we came to the 3-mile spur road to the Strike Valley Overlook, where we planned to start the long 9.4 mile Upper Muley Twist hike tomorrow morning. The guide books said the road was extremely rough, so we decided to not scout it out today, but just do it once when necessary.

Some rock scrambling along the Upper Muley Twist hikeSince dispersed camping is not allowed in the national parks, we drove a few miles further until we hit asphalt, which told us we were now out of the Park, and camping was allowed. It wasn’t long before we found a nice spot in a pinyon forest, already decorated for us with several creative cairns around the firepit.

We had been going at a ridiculously fast pace so far on this, so we thought some down time would serve us well. It was nice to spend the afternoon without an agenda, just relaxing, reading, and building some cairns of our own.

The next morning we drove the short distance back to the turnoff for the Strike Valley Overlook, stopping first at the 2WD parking lot to walk out for a view over the valley. For those that don’t have 4WD, you have to start the Upper Muley Twist from here, adding 2.5 miles each direction.

Atop the Waterpocket Fold along the Upper Muley Twist hikeFortunately, we have a 4WD, because I had no desire to add 5 miles to an already long hike. The books were right though. The next 2 miles were very rough and definitely required high clearance. We were the only car in the parking lot.

From the parking lot, we set out north along a wash through Upper Muley Twist Canyon that paralleled the Waterpocket Fold. The initial part of the hike was quite easy, but we knew that wouldn’t last. There were several places along the wash branches off, but we always stayed to the right, as described in the trail guide.

At 1.5 miles we came to an unnamed arch on the left, about 200 feet above the wash, the first of half a dozen arches that we would pass that day.

Herb enjoying the view of the Strike ValleyJust 0.2 miles further, we arrived at Saddle Arch, located above a large crack on the canyon wall. This is an important landmark, because it is where the loop portion of the trail begins. An old wood sign points to the right for the Rim Route, but we followed the advice of the hiking guide to do the loop in a clockwise direction and continued straight up the canyon where we would eventually ascend to the rim.

As we continued up the wash, the colors of the canyon kept getting better and better. We kept our eye out to the west for more arches, and counted at least three more of them.

More views of the Strike Valley from atop the Waterpocket FoldAt around 3.2 miles, the canyon constricted dramatically and we arrived at a pouroff. Here we had a choice: squeezing our way through a narrow slot, or taking the recommended well-cairned bypass route on a ledge to our right.

After wandering a few feet into the narrow slot and finding it not to our liking, we chose the bypass route and climbed a slickrock slope up to a shelf about 150 feet above the wash. We followed the cairns for about a mile before it descended back down and joined the wash again.

We continued up the wash, and at 4.9 miles we reached an old wood sign marking the beginning of the Rim Route. From here, we left Upper Muley Twist Canyon and ascended a series of switchbacks through the Navajo sandstone to the ridge atop the Waterpocket Fold.

More Strike ValleyWe followed the prolific and well-placed cairns southeast along the top of the Fold. The views along the way were breathtaking - colorful Strike Valley to the east, the white sandstone domes of Capitol Reef to the north, and the red Wingate sandstone canyon walls, which we had just passed through, to the West. We could even see some of the arches we passed while walking up the wash.

After a few more miles of sensory overload and wondering which way to look, as it was all so incredible, at 7.3 miles we finally came to the very welcomed wood sign pointing us back to the Canyon Route, from which we came. After descending steeply over ledges and across slickrock, we were once again back in the Upper Muley Twist Canyon.

More scrambling along the Upper Muley Twist hikeFrom here we retraced our steps back along the wash to the trailhead. We had only passed three parties that day, and all of them were backpacking, which made us pretty proud to have accomplished this strenuous hike in a single day. The final stats were 10.7 miles with a 1,050 foot elevation gain. Doesn’t sound like that much, but much of that elevation gain (and eventually loss) required a lot of rock scrambling.

What a terrific hike!

After maneuvering back over the rocky Strike Valley Overlook spur road and heading west, we were soon once again on the asphalt of the Burr Trail. We had already done the most exciting part of it when we came up the Burr Trail Switchbacks yesterday, but there was still much great scenery to be had on the remaining 30 miles to the town of Boulder.

Along the ridge of the Waterpocket FoldThe Burr Trail used to be an old Mormon track used to bring livestock from the high-altitudes of Boulder to the warmer grazing areas of the Waterpocket Fold. The country is still wild and remote, but in the 1980s, the old trail was paved right up to the boundary of Capitol Reef. Today it is strictly used for recreational purposes, and there is nary a sign of a Mormon or a cattle herd to be seen.

There certainly were a lot of people out recreating and the trailhead parking lots were full to overflowing. We had already done more hiking than we needed that day, so we were perfectly satisfied watching the beautiful scenery go by from our car.

Back down in the Canyon along the Upper Muley Twist hikeThe nicest section of the drive was the last 10 miles or so through Long Canyon, which passed through sheer red sandstone cliffs covered with desert varnish. We stopped at a pullout that looked out over the canyon. It was lovely.

However, we were tired from our big hike that morning, dirty from five days of camping in the back of our 4Runner, and anxious about where we would find a decent hotel room for the night. We had had no cell coverage for days and the only thing we knew about Boulder, the next town we would be coming to, was that we should really try to eat at the Hell’s Backbone Grill.

As soon as we hit the end of the Burr Trail, we got a bit of cell coverage and I immediately jumped on my phone to try to find nearby hotels. While I was busy typing madly into my phone, Herb said, “that place says Vacancy,” and pointed at the rustic Boulder Mountain Lodge with a restaurant on the premises. That restaurant was the Hell’s Backbone Grill. We had struck gold.

Burr TrailThe woman in the office seemed hesitant at first when we asked if there was a room available. We had clearly seen the Vacancy sign and was wondering if we weren’t passing muster for some reason - I could think of a few. However, her dilemma was that someone had called earlier to inquire about a room and she thought they might still be coming. No money had been put down though, and we were there with credit card in hand. She finally agreed to give us the last room. I think I would have cried if she didn’t.

I thought I couldn’t be any happier, until she asked us if we wanted to book a time in the hot tub, which was now restricted to one couple at a time because of Covid. It was already 6:00 and we wanted to have dinner first, so we booked the 9:00 to 9:30 slot.

Along the Burr TrailThe place was beautiful. After a well-needed shower, I sat out on our back patio with a glass of wine, looking out over a lovely pond. Eventually, the man one patio over asked me if I was with the bicycle group. When I told him no, and that we had just wandered in off the Burr Trail and seen the Vacancy sign, he almost fell off his chair. He told me that this place was usually booked a year in advance and that I had been extremely lucky to have gotten a room. Whew!

He also advised me to call the restaurant if I was interested in having dinner because they are usually booked up. However, they did give preference to lodge guests, which I was now in the elite company of. I called them and asked for a 7:30 seating and they told me they would call me when my table was ready.

Boy were we happy to find this placeWe were seated at our table promptly at 7:30. It was very hard to believe that we were in Utah, in the town of Boulder (population of 226), one of the most remote towns in America.

This restaurant, which was started by two women from NYC over two decades ago, has been featured in The New Yorker, O: the Oprah Magazine, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sunset Magazine, Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Organic Gardening, Outside Traveler, Outside, Travel and Leisure, Washington Post, Men’s Journal, More, SLUG Magazine and National Geographic Traveler.

I could go on and on about all the awards and accolades they have rightly earned. The restaurants follow the Buddhist principles of commitment to sustainability, environmental ethics, and community responsibility. Much of their produce is grown on their six acre farm and their meat comes from local ranchers.

Dinner at the Hell's Backbone GrillNeedless to say, the food was delicious, the service impeccable, and the ambience lovely. I couldn’t stop feeling like we had just won the lottery.

Our perfect day concluded with a half hour of soaking our aching muscles (from our big hike) in the hot tub. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Tonight was certainly a contrast to our last 5 nights camping out in some very remote and beautiful places. However, Life is full of contrasts, and it is those contrasts that make things special. The totally different experiences of those nights in the wild and our cushy night tonight of fine dining followed by a hot tub enhanced our experience of each of them. However, I think a 6th night in the truck might have pushed me over the edge.

Travelogue

Along the Cathedral Valley LoopWhile browsing through my go-to book of beautiful places in southern Utah (“Photographing the Southwest”), I came across an area in Capitol Reef National Park that I had never heard of before: the Cathedral Valley. Perhaps that's because it’s a 4WD road, and the last time we were in Utah in 2005, we were traveling in a motorhome.

The CV Loop requires a 4WD high clearance vehicle, and it is recommended to drive the loop clockwise, so that you get the Fremont River crossing over with first to make sure it is feasible.

Remnants of a human presence in Cathedral ValleyAs suggested, we stopped at the Capitol Reef Visitor Center to ask about road conditions, river height, and to purchase the “Self-Guided auto-tour of Cathedral Valley.”

Once that was accomplished, we headed back east along Utah 24 for 11.7 miles to Mile Post 91, to the place where we would have to cross the Fremont River. The river looked pretty shallow, but we got out and walked it anyway to make sure. I walked to the other side of the river and filmed Herb drive the recommended 100 feet along the right shoreline and then across. Piece of cake!

Bentonite HillsOnce across the river, we continued on Hartnet Road as it climbed past the colorful hills of the Waterpocket Fold. 200 million years ago, this area consisted of flat layers of sediment formed at near sea level. Then about 50 to 70 million years ago, tectonic forces uplifted them, forming a 90-mile massive wrinkle in the Earth’s crust, now known as the Waterpocket Fold, North America’s largest monocline.

We hadn’t had a shower in 3 days, so we drove up a wash for a mile or so, set up our helio shower, and washed 3 days of dust and dirt off of us. Now that we were clean and presentable, we continued on

Lower South Desert OverlookAt about 6 miles into our drive, we came upon an old truck that was once used to drill a well to provide water for their cattle. It would be the only man-made object we would see along the entire drive - except for the pit toilet in the campground.

At about 9 miles from the river ford, we entered the beautiful, multi-colored Bentonite Hills, a series of rounded mounds with bands of brown, red, purple, gray, and green. Fortunately, today was a beautiful sunny day, because when it rains, the Bentonite clay absorbs the water and becomes very slick, making it very difficult to drive on.

Upper Cathedral Valley14 miles from River Ford, a side road leads to the Lower South Desert Overlook, where a short walk brought us to a scenic view of the lower South Desert, a large valley that runs parallel to the Waterpocket Fold.

The whole time we were driving, we kept thinking about where we might want to camp for the night. Within the bounds of Capitol Reef National Park, camping is restricted to the one first-come, first-served primitive campground near Upper Cathedral Valley, which has only 6 campsites. We had no idea if anything would be available when we arrived there later this afternoon.

Upper Cathedral ValleyOur other, and Herb’s much preferred, choice was camping on BLM land that borders the park. For now, we just continued on our way. At about 29 miles from River Ford we had a decision to make. Should we continue straight which would bring us out of the park and into the Fishlake National Forest, where we could camp, or should we turn right and try our luck at the Cathedral Valley Campground.

We decided to try our luck, because we knew that there was other BLM land further on, if the campground was full. Well, the campground was definitely full, and a gentleman in the last campsite told us that we were the 7th car in the last half hour unsuccessfully looking for a site.

Our BLM campsite just outside the ParkThe photographer who wrote the book where I first discovered the Cathedral Valley Loop, said that he had never seen another soul in the campground. Well, he must not have been traveling post Covid vaccinations, because everyone and their uncle had now discovered the beauty of spending time in the great outdoors.

In our futile attempt to get a campsite, we had passed the turnoff for the spur road to the Upper Cathedral Valley overlook, which was supposed to be one of the highlights of the drive, so we drove back the short distance and walked out to the edge of the plateau. All I can say is “Wow!” The view of the monoliths and high walls of the Upper Cathedral Valley below us were breathtaking.

Temples of the Sun and MoonIt was getting late, so the lighting was good, but that also meant we had to find a place to camp soon. We were pretty tired - hard to believe that we had done the 7.5-mile hike to the Great Gallery just that morning. I checked the map and saw that it would be another 13 miles or so before we left the park boundary and entered BLM land again.

We skipped the turnoff for the Gypsum Sinkhole, which would have been interesting, but it was close to getting dark. We wanted to get as close as possible to the turnoff for the Temples of the Sun and Moon in Lower Cathedral Valley, so we could get there early tomorrow to catch the morning light. We found a pretty decent spot about 2 miles shy of that to stop for the night.

Temple of the SunFortunately, we had had a big lunch at Duke’s Slickrock Grill, which felt like a week ago, so we just made sandwiches for dinner.

The next morning we arose early to drive the two or three miles to the turnoff for the spur road to the Temples of the Sun and Moon, Cathedral Valley’s most impressive monoliths. As we approached, we could have kicked ourselves, as we came across what was an obvious BLM campsite, right at the edge of the national park boundary, very near to the two temples. I think someone had camped there though, because when we pulled into the parking lot, there were two photographers with tripods already leaving. We had just missed the best light of sunrise. We really have to learn to get an earlier start in the morning. We do sunsets much better than sunrises.

Temple of the MoonHowever, it was still pretty phenomenal. We first pulled into the turnout for Glass Mountain from which you can take a photograph with both monoliths in it. After that we drove down to their base level where we could get up to them close and personal. They are huge. The Temple of the Sun rises 422 feet and the Temple of the Moon 265 feet from the valley floor.

Unlike the monoliths we saw in the Upper Cathedral Valley, these have lost their protective gray caps of Curtis Formation sandstone. This means that they are eroding pretty rapidly, in geological terms anyway. Up close, the face of them looks a bit like flowing mud. That’s because in some way, it actually is. When there is a heavy enough rainstorm, the surface actually turns into mud and oozes down, hardening again when things dry.

Near the end of the Cathedral Valley LoopAlthough the two Temples are the highlights of the drive, there were still plenty more beautiful rock formations as we continued along. I wish I understood geology better to understand how these beautiful mounds of white, bluish gray, and red bands had formed.

Soon enough we were back to the asphalt of Utah 24. Since we would be heading next to the Burr Trail with no grocery store along the way, we drove back to the Visitor Center to fill up our water jugs to get us through the next few days.

Travelogue

Hike down into Horseshoe Canyon to the Grand GalleryAfter completing three phenomenal days driving the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands, we started heading towards our next destination - the Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon, a detached section of Canyonlands National Park, and the site of the single greatest display of prehistoric rock art in North America, dating back to the Fremont period around 1000 BC.

When we reached the town of Green River, we stopped for lunch at Ray’s Tavern, which was pretty hopping with locals, which is usually a good sign. The Burgers and fries were good, but I have now learned to never order coffee in a tavern for lunch. I think I was probably the only one that had ordered a cup in hours - and the coffee tasted like it. Otherwise, the meal was fine, and it was good to be back, if only for a short while, in civilization again.

Horseshoe GalleryAfter leaving Green River, we headed south on Utah 24 to a turnoff on the left about a ½ mile south of Goblin Valley State Park. From there we drove on a dirt road for 25 miles to a roofed signpost with a junction, where we bore left for another 5 miles. We then turned right and drove another 2 miles to a parking lot and a primitive campground near the top of the mesa.

There were a few cars scattered about, some day hikers and some campers. We chose a good spot at the edge of the mesa looking out at the colorful Horseshoe Canyon below.

The next morning we set off on our hike to the Great Gallery. The air was delightfully cool as we wandered along rock ledges and sand about a mile and a half down to the canyon floor. From there we continued walking up the sandy canyon, surrounded on both sides by red Navajo sandstone cliffs.

About 2 miles into the hike, we took a short spur trail on the left to the High Gallery, the first of four walls with pictographs. This particular panel had several human figures and handprints.

Lolo approaches the Great GalleryA few minutes further, we came to a right spur trail, which led us to the Horseshoe Shelter pictograph panel, which had more drawings, including several ghost-like figures.

At 2.5 miles, we reached the Alcove Galley, which we had some difficulty finding at first. Finally we found the rather faint on the right wall, at the base of the alcove.

A little over a mile later, (out 3.7 miles from the trailhead), we arrived at the crown jewel of Horseshoe Canyon - the Great Gallery, a large and well-preserved panel of intricately beautiful human and animal figures, about 15 feet above us, stretching over 120 feet along the smooth slickrock wall. There were over 75 pictographs in shades of dark red, brown, and white.

They were painted somewhere between 2,000 and 8,000 years ago (there is still a controversy as to their age) by Desert Archaic Indians that are the ancestors of the Ancestral Puebloans.

The Holy Ghost on the Great GalleryMost of the pictographs were life-size, ghostlike figures with large tapered torsos, and no arms or legs. They appeared weightless and floating.

My personal favorite was a 7-foot tall figure, with huge, round, empty eye sockets, known as the Holy Ghost. Like the six smaller figures around him, he too had no arms or legs. His great size definitely seemed to define him as an important figure.

Although the meanings of these drawings will never be definitively known, one theory is that the figures are depictions of shamans (religious or mystical leaders) in drug-induced spiritual states on a spiritual journey of transformation from the human world to the realm of the spirit.

The hike out of Horseshoe CanyonIt was a spiritual experience just gazing up at them, enhanced by having to work to get to them, hiking through what was once their home.

The hike out was much hotter and since this was a hike down into a canyon, the return was mostly up. All in all, the hike was about 7.5 miles with a 1,330-foot elevation gain - but very well worth it!

After leaving Horseshoe Canyon, we drove to the small town of Hanksville where we stopped to have lunch at Duke’s Slickrock Grill. We were really getting into this midday big meal thing.

From there we continued on to Capitol Reef National Park where to do the Cathedral Valley Loop.

Travelogue

Driving along the White Rim TrailDriving the White Rim Trail has been on Herb’s bucket list since he first gazed down on its switchbacks from the canyon rim of Dead Horse Point State Park back in 2005. It’s supposed to be a phenomenal adventure - 100 miles circling around the Island in the Sky mesa, along cliff edges and past canyons carved out by the Colorado and Green Rivers.

Besides having a high clearance 4WD and some off-roading experience, you also have to have a permit from Canyonlands National Park. If you plan to do it over multiple days, you need to have an overnight backcountry permit. These can be obtained on Recreation.gov.

Monument Basin and the "white caps" of the White Rim TrailNormally, planning a trip along the White Rim Trail has to be done months in advance, but I lucked out finding a cancellation, first for one night at Gooseberry (30 miles in), and then later a second cancellation for Murphy Camp about 20 miles further. We were definitely happier about having 3 days to do the drive than 2. You just have to be pretty persistent about revisiting the Recreation.gov each day and seeing if anything has become available.

The direction you drive the trail in is really dependent on your campground reservations. We wanted to drive it clockwise, so we were very happy that we were able to reserve campgrounds that accommodated that.

It doesn’t get too crowded along the trail, because there are only twenty campsites - each of which allows 3 vehicles and 15 people - for a max of 60 vehicles and 300 people. However, that is if each campsite is at full capacity. We, for example, had a campsite, and we were only 1 vehicle with 2 people. Let’s just say that you feel pretty out there and alone.

Day 1 - Shafer Trail Switchbacks, Side Trip to Lathrop Canyon, and Gooseberry A Campground

Shafer Trail SwitchbacksThe first part of the journey was a bit of a repeat for us, as we had already driven down the switchbacks a few days ago to get to Potash Road. Zigzagging down the dramatic switchbacks 1,500 feet to the junction of the White Rim Trail and Potash Road was still exciting, even the second time around.

However, this time, rather than bearing left onto Potash Road, we went right and began our journey on the White Rim Trail. From this point on, a permit was required - although no one ever checked.

The White Rim Road was originally constructed in the 1950s by the Atomic Energy Commission to gain access to the uranium deposits in the area. However, the mines didn’t produce much uranium and were soon abandoned. Today it is just used for recreational purposes.

Musselman ArchThe road got its name from the white sandstone which comprises the rim right below the Island in the Sky mesa.

Around 9 miles into the drive we arrived ato Musselman Arch, which is a six feet wide and five feet thick 187 feet long span, 300 feet above the basin below. Walking out on it makes for a very cool photo, so I made Herb do that.

About 8 miles further, we came to the turnoff for the 4-mile (each way) side trip to Lathrop Canyon, and since we only had another 12 miles to get to our campsite for tonight, we decided to take it.

Lathrop CanyonThis was actually the most challenging part of our drive, but it did bring us down to a lovely picnic area on the Colorado River. Fortunately, our timing was perfect for grabbing the only picnic table in the shade. Of course, I had to get my bathing suit on and swim in the river. It was a little tough getting in and out, but there was a nice rock to climb onto a short distance out.

After coming back out of Lathrop Canyon, we passed the large Airport Tower rock formation where there were four campsites.

Along the next portion of the drive, the road got pretty close to the cliff ledges, but fortunately I didn’t know at the time that we were actually driving on a huge overhang with nothing but space below.

Our Gooseberry campsiteAbout 30 miles from the start of the Shafer Trail Switchbacks (38 if you count the side trip to Lathrop Canyon), we arrived at our campsite at Gooseberry A. Since the campsites are meant to accommodate up to 3 vehicles and 15 people, they are very spacious and private. We even had a nice shade tree to park our chairs under.

Later that afternoon, two motorcycles stopped by, coming from the opposite direction we were doing the Rim in. and asked if they could buy some gas from us. Apparently, at some point during their drive, they realized they wouldn’t make the full loop and turned around. Unfortunately, we don’t carry an extra external gas can and syphoning gas out of our truck doesn’t work. So, they continued on, hopefully finding a Jeep with some external gas. Enough gas and water is something you really have to plan on before embarking on this drive.

Otherwise, the evening passed peacefully. No more cars went by and we felt like we owned the place.

Day 2 - Hike to Island in the Sky, Monument Basin, side trip to White Crack Camp, Ascending Murphy Hogback, and Murphy B Campground

The hike down from Island in the SkyThe next morning, before leaving, we decided to hike the Gooseberry Trail, which started near our campsite and climbed over 1,500 feet up to an overlook at Island in the Sky. In retrospect, I’m not sure why we put so much effort into getting to a spot that 2WD cars drive to, but I guess it’s about the journey.

The first mile and a half of the hike was pretty flat as it followed a wash through Gooseberry Canyon. After that, for the next mile or so it began to climb quite steeply, requiring some rock scrambling and skirting a bit closer to steep drop offs than I like.

We were pretty exhausted by the time we got back to our campsite. Good thing we had less than 20 miles to drive today.

Monument BasinJust after Gooseberry we came to a very cool area called Monument Basin, where there were dozens of spires of red sandstone, capped with more resistant to erosion white tops. These white tops are the “white rim” of the White Rim Trail.

These formations are usually photographed from high above from the Grand View and White Rim Overlooks, but it was much more fun to wander near them more intimately.

After Monument Basin, we took the 1.4 mile spur road to the White Crack Camp, where there is just a single campsite. I would love to have gotten this campsite. Besides having it all to yourself, there is a spectacular view in every direction. - views of the Needles District to the south, the Maze District to the west, and Junction Butte and Grand View Point in the Island in the Sky to the north. It was absolutely lovely, so we stopped here for a picnic lunch.

David and Goliath battle on the sandstone cliffsContinuing along our drive, the next challenge was Murphy Hogback, a steep, rocky climb, one where 4WD and high clearance is definitely required. Our campsite at Murphy B was at the top of the climb.

As with Gooseberry, it was a huge site from which we could wander around. The nearest campsite was quite a distance away on the other side of the road. It was filled with a group of mountain bikers and their support vehicles. I forgot to mention that there are probably even more mountain bikers riding the rim than vehicles. It’s quite an epic adventure that most riders do in 3 to 5 days. The record, however, is under 6 hours. I can’t even imagine how that is possible.

During the Golden Hour, we took a walk out to the rim where we could look down on the road we had climbed earlier. I also had a lot of fun photographing the shadows on the canyon walls across the way. One looked a bit like the grim reaper, but I settled into the image of David about to slay Goliath.

Then it was dinner and another lovely sunset.

Day 3- Descending Murphy Hogback, Black Crack, Holeman Slot, Hardscrabble Hill, Mineral Bottom Switchbacks, and back to civilization

Lolo trying not to fall in ""Black Crack"The next morning we descended the back side of Murphy Hogback. Now when we looked down the canyons at the river below, we were looking at the Green River.

About 7.5 miles from Murphy Camp, we parked in a pullout and walked south about 0.1 mile to the edge of “The Black Crack,” a 3-foot-wide fissure in the sandstone that went down at least 65 feet. It was definitely wide enough to swallow a human being, so we made sure to keep our distance.

Next stop, after another 5 miles of driving, was the Holeman Slot Canyon, formed by a stream cutting into the White Rim sandstone. We went to its entrance and looked down at the smooth slopey sandstone that twisted like a corkscrew through narrow passageways. I don’t know what I was thinking when I got on my butt and slid down this smooth sandstone about 8 feet right into a puddle. I was like a cat that climbs up a tree and can’t get down, but in reverse. Fortunately, Herb followed me down and found an easier way out, or else I would still be in there.

Driving along the White Rim TrailTen miles more and we were at Hardscrabble Hill, which was much more challenging than Murphy’s Hogback in that besides being 5 miles of extremely rocky ups and downs, it is so narrow that there are no turnouts for vehicles to pass each other - meaning that if you meet another vehicle, someone is going to have to do some hairy driving in reverse.

At the top of the hill, I got out to film Herb driving over the lip of the ledges and down the steep, narrow trail. I even captured the sound of the bottom of our truck scraping over one of those ledges.

Almost doneThe rest of the drive followed the Green River closely. There were several campgrounds and picnic areas along the river, but I know from past experience that it can get really buggy near the river.

After about 30 miles from Murphy Camp we came to the Canyonlands Park boundary and began our climb up the Mineral Bottom switchbacks. Then the road got easier and after 15 miles we were back on the asphalt of Highway 313.

We had done it!

Our time in Moab was complete, so we headed north to Green River, where we stopped for lunch at Ray’s Tavern, before continuing onto our next destination - Horseshoe Canyon and the Great Gallery (see next stop).

Travelogue

Day 1 - Shafer Trail Switchbacks / Potash Road

Just before the Shafer Trail SwitchbacksOur main reason for coming to Moab, besides its being an awesome place, was that we had been fortunate enough to get Overnight Backcountry Permits for two consecutive nights along the highly coveted White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park, a 100-mile rocky, twisting road down from the rim along switchbacks to the Colorado River, which is done by both 4WD vehicles and mountain bikes. We, of course, were doing it in our 4Runner.

I will explain our travels along the White Rim Trail in the next stop, but for now we had four nights to spend in and around Moab before hitting the White Rim Trail.

Shafer Trail SwitchbacksSince we had stayed in a hotel last night, we decided that tonight we would try to disperse camp somewhere on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. This is something we could never do in the Lazy Daze, but now that we are doing much of our travels in our 4WD 4Runner, the camping opportunities are endless.

Most people don’t know that the BLM maintains and manages over 73,000 miles of roads compared to the measly 47,000 miles in the Interstate Highway System. With that many miles, it’s easy to find an incredibly scenic spot and have it all to yourselves.

Along the Potash RoadWe have several guides to 4WD Trails that we use to select dirt back roads that are scenic, but won’t require us to do ridiculous feats of rock crawling. The Shafer Trail Switchbacks to Potash Road to Moab checked all the boxes for what we were looking for.

After checking in at the Canyonlands Visitor Center to find out about dispersed camping options along the way (and getting contradictory answers from two different rangers), we started our journey from the rim of the canyon zigzagging down the exciting and dramatic switchbacks 1,500 feet to the junction of the White Rim Trail and Potash Road. It actually looks a lot scarier from above than it actually is.

At our campsite at Thelma and Louise Point on the Potash RoadFor now, we would take the Potash Road to Moab, but later this week, we would have to descend these switchbacks again to take our 3 day trip along the White Rim Trail. An overnight backcountry permit is required for that, but the Shafer Trail and Potash Road can be done without one.

The Shafer Trail / Potash Road trail began as a cattle trail in 1917, but when uranium ore was discovered in the late 1940s, the old cattle routes became truck routes to bring ore to Moab.

View from our campsite along the Potash RoadOnce done with the switchbacks, we were on flatter ground tracing the Colorado River and looking up at Dead Horse Point State Park. The road was fairly rough, but very doable in our 4Runner. The scenery was incredible.

It was hard to believe that just this morning we had been cruising along at 80 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats, and now here we were bouncing along the Colorado River with canyon rims towering above us.

Colorado River from Pyramid ButteThat also meant that we were pretty exhausted and wanted to find a place to settle down and camp for the night. Dispersed camping is not allowed in national parks, so we had to get beyond the boundaries of Canyonland and into BLM land before we could start looking for a campsite for the night.

Herb had done a lot of research before leaving on this trip using Google Earth and Gaia to scout out potential camping spots. His work definitely paid off. That night we camped all by ourselves on a bluff overlooking the Colorado River in the location where the final scene of the movie Thelma and Louise was filmed - the one where they drive their car off the cliff.

The next morning we continued along Potash Road, taking a side trip to Pyramid Butte and another awesome overlook of the river, where we watched several boats cruise by below us.

Herb playing in the potashNot long after that we came to the potash evaporation ponds, owned and operated by the Intrepid Potash company. Potash is a potassium rich salt which is used to make fertilizer and as a component of feed supplement to enhance cows’ milk production.

The way it works is miners pump water from the Colorado River about 4,000 feet underground to reach the potash ore. The water dissolves the soluble potash into a brine, which is then pumped into underground caverns. Once it is fully dissolved, the potash brine is pumped to one of the evaporation ponds.

Here’s where it gets interesting. The water in the ponds is dyed a bright blue to help it absorb sunlight and heat, thereby reducing the time it takes for it to crystallize and be removed for processing.

We have arrivedSo these were the psychedelic blue ponds we had seen in the distance as we drove along the Potash Road. The stark contrast of the dazzling electric blue water against the surrounding red desert was pretty amazing.

There was also quite a bit of the white powdery potash on the ground near the ponds. And here we thought we had left the salt flats back in Bonneville.

Soon we were back on the pavement of Utah 279, which winded its way along the Colorado River to our right, and rock walls filled with climbers on our left. There was even a wall with petroglyphs along the way.

Since we would be doing a lot of camping in the truck later in the week, we decided to set up a Moab base camp for the next few nights at the Expedition Lodge in Moab.

Day 2 - Arrival in Moab and the Fisher Towers hike

Fisher TowersIt felt good to be back in Moab, one of my favorite towns of the West. There's just something special about this place, especially if you love the outdoors. The scenery is incredible, the recreational opportunities are endless, and the town itself is full of life, not to mention some great shops and restaurants. Moab has a personality of its own. We had been to Moab several times before, but it’s the kind of place that you can come back to time and time again and always find something new to do.

Climber atop the corkscrew summit of the Ancient Art formationHowever, Moab had changed a bit since our last visit in 2005 - many more hotels and crowds. Perhaps part of the reason for the crowds was pent-up demand for travel because of Covid easing, and the fact that so many people had come to appreciate outdoor activities when indoor ones had been restricted. We would definitely have to get off the beaten track a bit.

As I mentioned in the overview, Herb and I have been transitioning our mode of travel away from the motorhome towards camping in more remote areas in the 4Runner. However, since there are only so many nights I can take without some basic creature comforts, we try to alternate with stays in nice hotels.

Along the Fisher Towers hikeSince later this week we would be camping out two nights on the White Rim Trail and probably a few nights afterwards, we decided to spoil ourselves and use the Expedition Lodge in Moab as a base camp for the next 3 days and to day excursions from there.

Another change in our usual routine is eating out more often. When convenient, we like to get the big meal out of the way during lunch so that we are freer to wander around and take photos during the evening golden hour.

So, after checking into our hotel, which they very nicely let us do early, we looked at Tripadvisor for nearby restaurant recommendations and chose Arches Thai, which had excellent reviews.

Onion Creek Canyon and the La Sal MountainsAfter lunch, and a brief nap, we set out for our activity of the day - the Fisher Towers hike, which I had selected during my pre-trip research as a must do. Our younger son Tommy, who like his brother is an avid rock climber, climbed this tower a few years back with his girlfriend. We, however, would be admiring it from below.

To get to the trailhead, we drove north on 191 to Highway 128, which we followed for 21 miles along the Colorado River to the turnoff for Fisher Towers Road on the right. The 2.2-mile dirt road to the trailhead is in good condition for passenger cars.

The hike back along the Fisher Towers trailWe were worried about finding parking at the trailhead for this very popular hike, but it was 4:00 already, so we had no trouble finding a spot.

The trailhead is at the base of the towers, so we didn’t have to hike very far before being rewarded with these amazingly stunning hardened-mud monoliths, which look more like ornate baroque architecture than geological formations.

After 1 mile, we reached the base of the 900-foot high Titan, the tallest of the towers. This is the turn around point for many hikers, as it is the most dramatic, but there was still so much more good stuff to come.

Stormy skies on the hike backBy far my favorite rock formation was the corkscrew summit of the Ancient Art formation. This was the climb that my son and his girlfriend had done, and I remember seeing photos of them finishing that climb, on what really did look like a corkscrew. There was a climber on it now.

After about 45 minutes, we reached a metal ladder which we used to climb down into a gully from which we then climbed out of via a short set of rock ledges.

From there, we ascended to a level saddle on a peninsula that brought us to an overlook above Onion Creek Canyon with sweeping vistas across the Colorado River Canyon and into the La Sal Mountains. It was absolutely lovely.

Golden hour along Onion Creek RoadFrom there we retraced our way 2.5 miles back to the trailhead. I never mind out-and-back trails because the views coming back are always different. In this case, the lighting had completely changed, so everything looked different - not the brilliant red of golden hour that we were still too early for, but some pretty dramatic storm clouds over the towers.

Rather than head directly back from Moab, I convinced Herb to stick around for the golden hour, when the rocks light up a brilliant red. To do that, we drove a short distance down Onion Creek Road, which was just a few miles down the road from the Fisher Towers Road. We made sandwiches for dinner and watched as the nearby formations put on a bit of a show. I kept wondering what was happening now at the Fisher Towers, but you never know.

Now back to the Expedition Lodge to rest up for the next day’s adventure.

Day 3 - Mountain Biking the single-track trails of Dead Horse Point State Park and Off-roading through Onion Creek

Mountain Biking the single-track trails at Dead Horse Point State ParkI love mountain biking and Moab is pretty much the definitive mountain biking capital of the United States, with hundreds of miles of epic trails and slickrock to ride, including its world famous Slickrock Bike Trail.

However, we are now pushing 65 years old, and although we are in good shape, I think the time for riding those trails has long passed.

While researching the trip, I came very close to giving up on finding a mountain biking option, both for fear of killing ourselves and also the logistics of getting a rental bike to an appropriate trailhead.

View along our mountain bike rideThen, while searching for easy mountain bike trails in Moab, I came up with the ultimate solution - the Intrepid Trail System at Dead Horse Point State Park, which has 17 miles of singletrack trails with beginner to intermediate trails. My joy was complete when I further discovered Bighorn Mountain Bikes, a rental facility located within the Park right at the trailhead. I was very, very excited.

May is high season in Moab, so just to ensure that we wouldn’t be disappointed, we called two days ahead of time to reserve our bike rentals.

Overlook along the mountain bike trailWe got there around 9:30, anxious to take full advantage of our day. The bikes had to be returned by 3:00. It was a perfect weather day, not too windy and about 10 degrees cooler than in Moab, since we were about 1,500 feet higher.

The guy that was running the shop was very helpful, both in terms of setting us up with very good mountain bikes and with making recommendations as to the trails we should start out on.

We soon found out that Moab’s view of a beginner trail is different from ours. Fortunately, we are pretty experienced mountain bikers, so although some of the trails might have been a little challenging, they were certainly doable - and lots of fun!

Grand View Point, Dead Horse Point State ParkThe trails on the east side of the main park road were easier than those on the west, so we started off on the Great Pyramid, a beginner/intermediate trail that took us to the lovely Pyramid Canyon Overlook, where we dragged our bikes to the rim’s edge for a photo opp. It was sort of like standing on the rim of a mini Grand Canyon.

I think the intermediate parts were the rock ledges that we had to navigate. The scariest ones for me were when there were a series of them, like steps. If it got too challenging, I just got off and walked the bike through them.

Setting out on the Onion Creek RoadBack on our bikes, we continued on the Great Pyramid Trail to the Desert View Overlook, another awesome spot where we once again dragged our bikes.

Rather than continue on to the Visitor Center, we headed north on the Raven Roll trail, which was rated Beginner - no big ledges to climb here.

When we got back to the Great Pyramid junction, we took a right so that we could do the Big Chief Loop in the recommended counter-clockwise direction. This trail was rated Intermediate/Beginner as opposed to the Beginner/Intermediate Great Pyramid trail, which I guess meant that it was a little harder. However, now we were warmed up and ready to handle a bit more challenging situations.

This trail brought us to the Big Chief Overlook, another amazing view, where we took a break and ate our lunch and took in the scenery.

Along the Onion Creek RoadRather than head directly back to return our bikes, we came to the Crossroads (Intermediate/Beginner) trail 8.8 miles into our ride and decided to take it. It was called Crossroads because it crossed the main park road and brought us towards the more difficult trails on the west side of the road.

That trail was so much fun, roller coasting along a sandy trail through sagebrush and pinyon trees. No big views of canyons and rivers, but just a fun ride. I’m not sure why this was rated Intermediate at all, as it was probably the easiest trail we had been on.

Along the Onion Creek RoadWe went about a mile and a half out and then back again, before taking the right on Raven Roll which led us back to Bighorn Mountain Bikes.

Our total distance for the day was 12 ½ miles with a 750-foot elevation gain.

It was absolutely awesome. Definitely a trip highlight for us.

After we returned our bikes, we drove our car to the Dead Horse Point Overlook, which is the main attraction at the State Park because of its incredible views. From the overlook parking lot, we walked a short distance in both directions to take in the breathtaking views of an oxbow in the Colorado River and the adjacent canyon country.

Along the Onion Creek RoadWe could even see the Potash Road which we had driven on two days ago and Thelma and Louise Point where we had camped. So, I guess this was the view we were looking up at.

That evening, rather than just relaxing in our hotel room, we decided to drive back up HIghway 128 along the Colorado River to drive the off-road portion of Onion Creek Road up through the Canyon. We certainly were running this vacation at a pretty frenetic pace, and it was only Day 4. Hopefully, we could keep this up without crashing and burning.

Dinner with a viewAlthough we had been on Onion Creek Road last night, we hadn’t driven the off-road portion which starts near the Onion Creek Campground. The road follows the creek, crossing and recrossing it about two dozen times. Fortunately, the water was low enough to not be an issue.

After a couple of miles, the canyon got quite narrow, surrounded by red sandstone walls and tall spires. After about 7 miles the canyon opened up to a lovely valley, the same one that we had looked out on from the end of our Fisher Towers hike.

The dinner viewAt this point, we turned around and retraced our steps back out through the narrow canyons, crossing the stream another two dozen times.

The light was getting good, so Herb and I pulled over on the main on-road portion of Onion Creek Road to make dinner - weisswurst and roasted vegetables that we had made and vacuum sealed before leaving (very very handy for a healthy meal).

I would say that it was a pretty full day, and we had one more before starting the real reason for us being in Moab - driving the 100-mile White Rim Trail.

Time to get back to base camp at the Expedition Lodge.

Day 4 - Grandstaff Trail hIke to Morning Glory Natural Bridge and Arches National Park

Setting off on the Grandstaff Trail hIke to Morning Glory Natural BridgeThis was our last full day in Moab before hitting the White Rim Trail. Originally, I thought I would like to spend a day in Arches National Park, but because of the big surge in tourists in Moab, the lineup of cars to get in each morning extended all the way back to Highway 191. Crazy!

Instead we chose the Grandstaff Canyon hike to Morning Glory Bridge. The trailhead is three miles east on HIghway 128.

Along the Grandstaff Trail to the Morning Glory Natural BridgeIt was a wonderfully cool morning, the perfect day for a hike. This is a very popular hike, so we were pleased to find that there was plenty of parking at the trailhead.

We set off on the trail, which briefly led us over slickrock before becoming a sandy path that ran through lush vegetation (mostly cottonwoods, Gambel oaks, and poison ivy) along a lovely perennial creek. About a mile into the hike, we had to cross the stream, for what would be the first of about ten crossings.

The beautiful steep canyon walls of Navajo sandstone provided us with shade throughout most of the morning.

Rappeller descending from top of Morning Glory Natural BridgeAt about 1.3 miles, there is a brushy tributary canyon to the right, but we continued on along the sandy main trail towards the Morning Glory Natural Bridge.

At 1.9 miles we came to a junction, where we left the main canyon and took a right into the tributary canyon at the end of which lay the Morning Glory Natural Bridge. The trail climbed a bit and soon the Bridge came into view.

Since it crosses the back of the canyon and is narrowly separated from the rock wall behind it, it was difficult to appreciate until we stood directly beneath its very impressive 243-foot-long span. In fact, it's the 6th longest rock span in the U.S.

Rappeller descending from top of Morning Glory Natural BridgeWhen we approached the bridge, we noticed some people rappelling down from the top of it. I spoke to one of them, who informed me that they were on a guided trip in which they were bussed to a trailhead, hiked to the top of the arch, rappelled down it, and now would hike out on the path that we had just hiked in on. In Moab, there are guided tours for everything.

Although Morning Glory looked very much like an arch, it is more correctly a natural bridge. The major difference is that arches are formed by weathering and erosion, while natural bridges are formed by water. While most bridges are formed by streams, Morning Glory is a bit unique in that it was carved at the base of a waterfall. That is why it is so close (15 feet) to the cliff behind it over which the waterfall once cascaded.

The waterfall doesn’t flow much these days, but there is a seep spring near the bridge which feeds Morning Glory pool.

From there, we turned around and retraced our steps 2.5 miles back to the trailhead. It was much hotter and more crowded on our way back - two reasons to get started early on a hike.

Poison Spider Mesa Dinosaur TracksBack in Moab, we stopped for lunch at the Moab Brewery, a place we had visited on past visits to Moab. It has good food, great beers, an upbeat atmosphere, and friendly service. They brew their beers right on site and most of them are quite good. I personally enjoyed the Juicy Johnnie IPA while Herb had a Hefeweizen.

We had an afternoon to kill, so we decided to take the advice of our favorite trip planning book - Photographing the Southwest, as it has never failed to take us to beautiful places. This was a questionable one, however, in that it required us to drive a short portion of the Poison Spider Mesa 4WD road, one of the most challenging trails in Moab. The author assured us that the first 2 miles weren’t that bad and that it would bring us to an amazing set of rocks and fins known as “Behind the Rocks.”

Poison Spider Mesa PetroglyphsWell, after crawling along over rocks of all shapes and sizes at about 3 mph on the first mile, we said it just wasn’t worth it. It’s not as if we had had a shortage of beautiful rocks and fins.

We would just have to settle for the dinosaur tracks and petroglyphs that could be reached via a 0.3-mile hike from the Poison Spider Mesa parking lot. The petroglyphs, which were similar in style to the others we had seen along the Colorado River around Moab, were easy to find

The dinosaur tracks were a little more challenging, but still pretty obvious. Herb, who has a much greater love for dinosaurs than me, was extremely pleased when he found them.

Fiery Furnaces - Arches NPThe tracks represent up to 10 different individual animals. The rocks containing the tracks fell from the cliffs above us, spitting along the bedding plane where they were preserved.

The larger tracks were from a dinosaur called Eubrontes, which was just over 5.6 feet tall at the hip. The smaller ones were that of a Grallator, which was just 1.5 feet tall, similar in size to a modern-day turkey. Not exactly T-Rex. Still it was quite cool.

Sand Dune ArchOn the way back to the hotel, we passed the entrance to Arches National Park at around 5:30 and noticed that there was no long line of cars like we had seen on other afternoons, so we decided to drive in. We had no real agenda, as we had been here many times before, but we felt it was definitely worth a drive through again.

We drove directly to the Fiery Furnace section, where a group of huge red sandstone fins form a maze of narrow canyons and dead-end passageways. It is so confusing, that visitors are only allowed in the maze on a ranger-led tour. We had been on one of these tours back in 2005, and it was pretty awesome. For now, we satisfied ourselves with looking at the exterior of them from the overlook.

Balance Rock with a Lenticular "fish" cloudBased on our photo guide, we did discover a new place that we had never known about - the Sand Dune Arch, a hidden arch, just a mile and a half before the end of the park road.

From the Sand Dune Arch trailhead, we followed a path for a short distance toward a section of sandstone fins. At the junction, we turned right onto a sandy path which brought us between two rows of sandstone fins to a beautiful arch flanked by the fins. Beneath the arch is its namesake sand dune.

On the drive out of the park, we noticed a lenticular (flying saucer like) cloud hovering over Balanced Rock. It looked like a giant fish. I told Herb to pull over as soon as he could, and I proceeded to run up and down the road like a maniac trying to position the cloud so that it would appear to be sitting atop Balanced Rock, like a cap.

North Window ArchOur last stop on the park drive was a side trip to the Windows section where there are a series of easy to reach, impressive arches. We were starting to lose the light, so I made a mad dash from the car up to the North Window, hoping to capture the iconic shot of the Turret Arch framed within the arch’s opening. Too late. Also, I forgot that it is a bit precarious positioning oneself on a rock behind North Arch to capture this shot.

Well, Arches National Park had definitely been an unexpected bonus to an already action-packed day.

Tomorrow we would start the 100-mile drive along the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park.

Travelogue

Lolo looking very please at the Salt Flats CafeOur first real destination this trip was Moab, Utah, but 17 hours of driving is just too much in one day. However, rather than have the first day be a total waste, we decided to shoot for reaching the Bonneville Flats in the town of Wendover, Utah, just over the border from Nevada, so close that we could still see the neon lights from the casinos.

We had been here once before in 2015 during our migration West when we moved from New Jersey to California. Seemed so long ago. Now we were true westerners.

Plus, we knew of a great Mexican restaurant called the Salt Flats Cafe, with ample portions of delicious food at a very reasonable price. It was nothing fancy. In fact, it was located in a Sinclair station truck stop back near the entrance to the Flats.

I was still a little nervous about eating indoors in a restaurant, but we were fully vaccinated and it was quite empty at this late hour right before their closing. The food and service did not disappoint.

Evening at the Bonneville Salt FlatsHerb ordered the Pancho Special which featured a chile verde burrito, steak tostada, steak enchilada, rice and beans - all for $7.95. This was the exact meal he had ordered 6 years ago, except then it cost $6.95. Herb tends to stick with a good thing when he finds it. I’d like to think that that is why we have been happily married for 35 years.

The ambience is great as well - rustic, casual, with photos of Salt Flats racers covering the walls. The colorful chairs with Mexican motifs were really cool as well.

Morning on the Bonneville SpeedwayAfter dinner, we took a drive to take a peek at the Bonneville Speedway, which is on the National Register of Historic Landmarks because of its contribution to land speed racing, which has been going on here each year in August since 1914. It was on this 12-mile long salt flat that the 300, 400, 500, and 600 mile-per-hour land speed barriers were broken.

It was dark, we were tired, and the last thing we wanted to do today was drive some more, so we went back to the hotel.

The next morning, we returned to the Speedway and drove out onto the salt. The last time we were here there was a shallow layer of water covering much of the flats, so cars were not allowed on. In fact, the races were even canceled two years in a row because of too much water.

Lolo vs. 4Runner on the SpeedwayToday the flats were dry and a brilliant white - after all, they are 90% table salt. Near the center of the flats, the salt crust is almost 5 feet thick, but it tapers off to about 1 inch along the edges.

Herb got up to about 80 mph that day - not quite the land speed record, but still fun.

It was only after we got off the flats that we saw that the running boards and back bumper of the truck were completely encrusted in a thick coating of salt, which wouldn’t come off no matter how hard we tried.

Oh well, now onto the red rocks of Moab.