Our spot in RV park - Big red rock behind us and across the road from us
Arrived in Moab on May 28, Memorial day here in the US. Only took us 1.25 hours to get here from Blanding so it was a short travel day. Arrived at the Spanish Trail RV park, right at the south end of Moab and got set up. Almost everyone staying here has either a motorcycle, ATV or is towing a jeep. RUBICONs seem to be the model of choice for the off roaders. It continues to be hot, in fact, the entire week we were here it was in the 90s and I’m sure a few afternoons, temps hit 100F when we were hiking down in some of the local canyons.
The number one tourist attraction in the area is Arches National Park. It’s located a few minutes north of Moab so just a short drive from where we were. First day we went, we arrived at 10am. You see most of the arches by doing the drive around the park. There are all kinds of pull offs with view points and at the most popular arches, there are short hikes up to them. But man it was busy! We had hoped to hike up to the Delicate Arch which is the most famous, most photographed of all the arches here but no way. The parking lots at the trail head were full so we had to drive another mile down the road to the end where we able to view it from a distance at the overlook. But we took a walk further up the slick rock and made our own hike. Better than hiking with a crowd.
Found out there was one other long hike in the park we could do but again, the trail head parking was full. Zoo like, so we decided we’d come back early the next morning to avoid the crowds.
That was a great idea, we got back to the Devils garden trail head at 7:45 am and managed to do the entire 3.5 hour hike around in relative solitude so it was much more enjoyable. It was a really fun hike, moderately challenging overall but very challenging in a few spots. At one place in the trail we had to scramble up the side of slick rock where slipping would have meant quite a fall...scary. And we got to walk across the top of a rock fin! Pictures will explain.
Took a day off from hiking and washed the trailer. Most RV parks do not allow you to do this, but here, in the middle of the desert they did. Go figure?? The $20 fee is used to help pay for the extra water you’re using which I can understand and appreciate. Finally got to try out the little pressure washer we picked up in Texas a few months ago and it worked great. It’s about time we got off the rest of the salt and sand that got stuck to us when we were on the gulf coast as well as the red dirt that’s coated it since we arrived in the desert. Looked so much better but it was still hard work, especially in that baking heat!
Next day we drove to Canyonlands National park - Island in the Sky district and stopped at Dead Horse point state park on the way. Both parks come highly recommended but we weren’t super impressed with what we saw. To be fair, at this point, we’re canyoned out and just a little tired of red rock and red dirt. While we’ve seen some spectacular views, nothing has come close to awe inspiring of scenery of the Grand Canyon...we’ve been spoiled.
Dead horse point state park album
Canyonlands - Island in the Sky album
We weren’t sure where to go next. Thought we might go west and back south to visit Zion and Bryce National Parks but neither of us feel like it anymore. Time for a scenery change so we’ve decided to head north and save those 2 parks for a future trip.
NO MORE RED DIRT, we’re SICK of IT!!!!
