As Bridget Jones might say, we just took a "mini-break" up to Moab, Utah. We drove up on Wednesday - a 7 hour drive from Santa Fe, up the Colorado plateau, through very pretty northern New Mexico scenery, through a bit of southwest Colorado and on into Utah. We took a bit of a shortcut from our usual route to Colorado and drove west from Abiquiu, former home of Georgia O'Keeffe, and around Pedernal, the black mesa in the Jemez Mountains, which she often painted, before heading northwest again.



We took an hour sidetrack to the Needles Overlook about 1/2 hour before Moab - unfortunately the wind had picked up at that point and any views of the "Needles" near Canyonlands National Park were obscured by the swirling sands.

The wind only got stronger as we dodged tumbleweeds while driving towards our hotel, the Sorrel River Ranch, which is 17 miles northeast of Moab, down an incredibly scenic red rock canyon road that winds along the Colorado River. The "Ranch" is lovely - our room overlooked a bend in the river with a wide balcony for gazing at the scenery and watching kayakers and rafts go by.



Thursday we explored Arches National park, 5 miles north of Moab, a geological wonderland of sculptured rock scenery created as a result of the forces of water, ice, extremes of temperature, underground salt movement and erosion. The arches (over 2000 of them) range in size from 3 ft. wide openings to the longest, Landscape Arch, which is over 300 ft. long from base to base.



Arches is a national park you could see in a day by car or spend much longer in exploring by foot.



We drove all the park roads and stopped at many of the scenic spots, did some short loop hikes and parked at Devils Garden at the end of the park for a 4 mile hike out to the Double O arch where we had our picnic lunch.





Friday we explored part of Canyonlands National Park. In contrast to Arches which is quite compact, Canyonlands is huge and has 3 separate districts, the Island in the Sky, the Needles and the Maze. The Island in the Sky is about 35 miles from Moab by road. It is a large mesa carved out by the meeting of the Colorado and Green Rivers, connected to the “mainland” by a narrow 40 ft wide “neck”. The park roads loop around to many viewpoints with trails heading off from them – some down the next level, the “white rim”, about 1200 ft. below the mesa top. From the “white rim” it is another 1000 ft or so down to the rivers. We checked out a number of the scenic overlooks, walked a bit of the Grand Point trail at the end of the mesa where we also took in a ranger geology talk.



Later we hiked to 2 lookouts over the Overlook Dome and had our snacks way out there. We toyed with the idea of descending down one of the 4 wheel drive trails to the bottom and then back to Moab but at the information center they suggested we take a look at the switchbacks before we attempted it in our Subaru. Totally scary looking



– we passed and took the regular roads back to Moab.

Later we explored the Fisher Towers, just a bit north of our resort.



Moab is an interesting town – probably ¾ of the cars are carrying mountain bikes, hauling ATVs, rafts, and other outdoors paraphernalia. There are lots of jeeps and jacked up trucks and other off-road ready vehicles. Its always interesting visiting Utah and learning a little more about their quirky laws. Interestingly the “ranch” recently expanded the main building, adding a bar, although in Utah you can't actually serve a drink over a bar... you must order a little food if you want a drink at the bar, then it is OK to drink in the bar, but the drink cannot be passed across the bar. There are also many "rules" involved in bartending in Utah - no more than 1 oz. of liquor in a mixed drink, no more than 5 oz. of wine at a time; 3.2 beer seems to be OK most places. Some drinks must be totally ruled out, i.e. long island ice tea?

Saturday morning we took a 4 hour hummer tour with Highpoint Hummer. The first two hours it was just Brad & me - our crack driver headed west to the Poison Spider Mesa trail which climbs over sand, cobbles, and rock ledges and features fabulous views all around.






After that we stopped back in town to pick up 7 more people and headed east to the Slickrock Trail, which is one of the most famous mountain bike and off road trails, a crazy 12 mile loop over domes and waves of slickrock sandstone, with some inclines as much as 45 degrees over narrow ledges. Our young hummer driver could handle it though! I can’t imagine driving or biking it myself, but it was quite the adventure.







We even pulled a jeep out that was stuck in "Lake Michigan".





We’ll have to save a visit to the Needles part of the park for next time – the entrance road is probably 45 minutes of Moab and then another 20 minutes or so to reach the information center and hiking areas. The Maze appears to be a backpackers destination – way out there!

awesome pictures, Leslie!

Leslie,
Great photos and trip report! Just today, I watched a show on the Travel Channel highlighting the Arches!!!!! Simply fascinating area!

Wow! Loved the photos and commentary, Leslie. Alan would have taken those switchbacks in his jeep. I would have waited for him to go down, come back around and pick me up at the top! Thanks so much for telling us about your trip. We'll be adding it to our list.

I'm done editing now - whew - those trails are crazy Donna - you can't really tell from the pictures what the incline and drop offs are.

Alan would still do it. He drove the Poison Spider trail in Moab a 9 out of a 10 rating. He told me it would have been a white knuckle ride for me the whole day. I was smart - I stayed home.

Absolutely terrific, Leslie & Brad!

Those pictures were truly STUNNING. What a wonderful place to visit ---- another to add to the list. We have not done anything in the US for so long and there are some wonderful sights right here in the USA. Years ago we drove some of these areas but nothing was as beautiful as those shots you just posted.

Fantastic trip reporting and photos, Leslie and Brad!

We've never been to Moab. We have, however, been through Zion National Park several times and love it. A friend of ours is a Park Ranger there.

Looks like you guys had an awesome mini break!

Leslie...what a great report and photos! There are too many amazing places to visit- so much to do, so little time!

Thanks for bring it to us!

Excellent! Leslie - what a great report, of course you have spoiled us with your wonderful reporting!

We've planned a trip up there next year. Actually, next year we're doing some photography journeys. That is always a top destination for the shutter set. So is Yellowstone and Yosemite.

Out and about with Leslie and Brad :) Fantastic pictures! Are you a member of the "shutter set"? What a scenic wonder that part of the west is. :app:

Leslie, thanks for sharing your great report and awesome pictures.

Nancy

Leslie - oh my! What a fantastic mini-break. The pictures are a real treat.

Cheers, Anne

Leslie and Brad, what fabulous pictures--it looks like you had a great time! Do you ever stay home?

Beautiful!!!!!!!!

I just uploaded all of Brad's pictures to the Picasa web site:

Moab pictures

Leslie,
I have one word for Brad's photos!

....... AWE.......SOME!!!!!! .......

Leslie, what can I say that everyone hasn't already said, the pix really are fantastic!!! I have added Moab to my list of todos as well.

Leslie,

The photos are incredible! Brad's photos are among my most favorite, along with Ken's!

Leslie -

Did Brad use the Canon S80 for those? I love the photos that he took - of coure you have to have a good eye and great scenery - all the elements are certainly there! thank you for sharing these!

WOW Brad and Ken hard to beat!!!!!!!

Kathy - yes he took these with his Canon S80. I'm pretty sure he predominantly just puts it on automatic. I've encouraged him to take a class and learn more - he sometimes reads some of the LCT board, especaily when I'm doing a trip write up, so I'm sure he appreciates the compliments.

The S80 is a favorite point and shoot camera of the professionals. It has a lot of settings that you can use as a step toward getting an dSLR. It does let you set on manual or does things like Macro photography. I used it in Alaska and London to walk around when I wasn't shooting with my pro camera.

Leslie,

Brad's natural abilities have resulted in so many photographic masterpieces! His photos continue to amaze.

Maybe he should consider teaching a photography class!

Can you tell I'm a fan???