Moab Desert

I uploaded these photos after our June trip to Moab with the hopes that Mike would journal the stories. He has not so you are once again stuck with my ramblings.

A few days before Memorial weekend Mike and I headed up to Glenwood Springs where he worked and I played. The weather was rainy but bearable and I took some photos of the area.

We came up here last year in July and the picture below was black and charred due to a recent fire.

The fire was started by an underground coal seam that has been burring for 100+ years. There are coal seams all over the world that are currently burning underground an causing toxic fumes to escape. The fire spread quickly down the mountain and jumped the Colorado River (120ft) causing acres upon acres to burn.

A year later it is rejuvenating itself and the mountain again has life.

So after a few days in Glenwood where I bought a bunch of local history and Louis L'Amour books we headed to Utah. Our 3 hour drive was filled with rain. Just what we had hoped for as we were camping in our itty bitty 2 person tent.

We arrived about 9PM, checked into the camp ground and made our way to our site. There was a van parked in our lot and we kindly asked him to vacate so we could setup. The camp site was full and we did not want to have to move ourselves later if we were to get evicted for being in the wrong site. He had a van and all his stuff was inside so it was not a big deal. He grabbed his cooler and moved to the empty site next to us.

The rains had stopped long enough that we could stake out our site and decide where to pitch the tent. The site had a picnic table with a small shelter above it so we moved out the table and put our tent there. Mike always picks out the bests place for the tent. We had an extra tarp so we secured that to the shelter to help eliminate the rain entering.

We setup the air mattresses which were too big for the tent so we had to sleep at an angle. The tent was dry and warm and we sat in the chairs for a beer before bed. The skies opened once again and the area was soaked. Into bed we climbed and pretended to sleep through the pitter patter of the rain hitting the tarp.

Looks cozy huh!!! This is the next morning and you can see the clouds in the background. This tent has been used in Australia (in the rain), Egypt, and Canada (in the rain). When Mike and I tent together...rain. When we tent separate...no rain....Mmmmm want to go camping with us???

The place was all reddish sand and very comfortable.

Our site was across for the trash dump...yippee....no bears...I hope.

These clouds were with us the whole trip. Feel bad for the jeep with no roof.

So we ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast and wash them down with a can of diet coke...ahh vacation!

We head to Arches National Park for a day of hiking and site seeing. The walk was beautiful and we encountered a variety of flora.

John Wesley Wolfe, a veteran of the Civil War, built the homestead known as Wolfe Ranch around 1898. It is located on Salt Wash, at the beginning of the Delicate Arch Trail. Wolfe and his family lived there a decade or more, then moved back to Ohio. The cabin remains, an echo of what must have been a remarkable experience.






I love tumbleweed.







These cairns (Gaelic term) tell us what direction to follow on the trail. I liked this one because it was an arch. The weather was perfect for me to hike as it was cool and slightly rainy which kept other people away.


You can see here the millions of layers of erosion and deposition. The water carves into the rock and creates these beautiful formations. There are over 2000 catalogued arches and each month more are formed while others crumble.




This is Delicate Arch one of the most visited arches in the park. It was about a 3.5 mile hike with an elevation gain of about 480 feet through breath taking views. Can you see Mike under the arch? I think you all know me well enough to realize that I was not going to go near the foot wide path to get closer to the arch...hence a not so good photo of hubby but I am still here and did not topple off the mountain.




A well feed raven waits for its supper.

Another hike to see Double Arches
Cool dead tree, I am camouflaged.
Various terrain

It was a great day hiking and we are off to the camp site. As soon as we leave the park the torrential rains start again. The average rainfall for Moan in May is less than a half inch. The weekend we were there they got 2 inches. That does not sound like a lot but believe me it is.

We sat outside watching the storm for a while and Mike counted between the lightening and thunder to gage how close the storm was. It was a count of about 20 when he started 4 miles a way and within 15 minutes it was a mile. He kept telling me we should get in the car and I kept laughing at him. "My mother says we should be in the car." He jumps in the car and I hold out a bit longer.
There is no count between the lightening and the thunder now. Not sure if you can see this well but that is a huge puddle.

I should have listened to him when he got in the car. As I run around the car to get in I accidentally locked the car door and could not reach the key. So I was nice and dry until I attempted safety. Finally I get in and I am soaking wet. Mike hands me a beer. The heat I am generating steams the inside of the car.

55 minutes later the rain is gone and the sun is shining. We go for a walk to see the damage the storm caused. This is the site above ours.

Our neighbors tent was filled with water. One tent was floating away as we walked around. Other people where hanging their sleeping bags and pillows to dry. Our tent was completely dry! Mike decided after this storm to make little ruts around the tent to divert future rain waters, which we needed.
Gorgeous rainbow.

We ate a very quick supper, cleaned up, and ducked into the tent before the rains came all over again.

The next day we decided to go south and hoped to avoid the rain. We headed for Canyonlands National Park, Island in the Sky. It was a wee bit of a drive and we had not gotten gas so we had to stop on the border of the park. We saw a small mom and pop store and paid $5.00 a gallon to get us in and around the park. Ouch! It was well worth it though.

We did the White Rim Trail which lead us to the confluence (flowing together) of the Green River and the Colorado River. The Colorado River is about 1450 miles long and runs from Colorado to Grand Canyon to California. The Green River is about 730 miles long and runs from Wyoming partly into Colorado and then into Utah.

It was a 13.5 mile round trip hike that had a lot of ups and downs. We got lost the first mile so it was a 15 mile trip for us. Last time Mike lets me lead. We had bought walking sticks for this trip and I am really glad we did. They are very helpful and highly recommend them. It was an elevation gain of about 1,600 feet and took us about 8 hours with a 30 minute stop at the confluence.

The sun was shining the whole time and was one of our best hikes. No blisters!! I did run out of water and had to steal Mike's. I drank him dry too but we only had a mile left to go.

We returned to the car and had a little picnic. We then went back to the campsite to find we had missed all the rain. We headed out to supper and crashed around 9PM. The campground did not permit campfires so there was not much else to do but sleep when you go back to your site.

Great weekend despite the rain. We had an early breakfast and then drove the 6.5 hours home.