Road Trip 2012 Part Two - Moab, UT

On Wednesday, we packed up camp at Capitol Reef and took US-24 east through Cathedral Valley.  It was a bumpy ride on the high clearance road. 

Before heading out, we hiked the south overlook and visited the gypsum sink hole.  We then met highway 70 and drove through Green River towards Moab. 

 

 

 

After checking in at Kokopelli In Towner, Moab, we hit Arches National Park.  There, we spent time trekking around or otherwise viewing the Windows, Turret Arch, and the petrified sand dunes. 

 

 

Dinner and home "brewed" root beer at the Moab Brewery that night was very good!

 

 

 

Balanced Rock

 

 

 

sorry, tilt your head :)

 

 

 

The next day, we "white" water rafted the Colorado (I can't seem to find those pics, will have to add them later).  The rapids were a little too mellow for our liking; we were ready for some higher level adventure.  All the same, we had fun swimming in the Colorado and Mary got to kayak and float feet first down a few rapids.  Being the water baby she is, this was right up her alley.

Thursday afternoon, we took a walk around Moab and then drove 279 to Island in the Sky (Canyonlands National Park), quite possibly the most beautiful scenery so far.  There, we visited Mesa Arch (wow!), and walked Grand View Point trail.

 

 

Mary, the cairn builder

It was at that point that Andrew spoke of a wonderful, adventurous road named Shafer Trail.  This road promised to lead us back to Moab jiffy-quick with the promise of fun, bumpy surfaces and off-the-beaten-track scenery.  It sounded awesome!  Let's go!

What neither of us realized was that this 2 hour (5?, not sure, time stood still) drive would bring us closer to a God that neither of us really believed in.  I can honestly say I have never feared for my life (and that of my 8 yr old, quietly watching movies on the iPod in the rear seat) more than whilst driving down this trail.  Narrow, twisting, winding path that seemed to go on forever with a sheer cliff face not more than two feet from the tires.  I wish I had been able to take better photographs to illustrate the terror, but we were also very fortunate to have had fading daylight to add to our "adventure".  Later, we googled the trail and found several posts, one involving a "wife" who flatly refused to go on, got out of the vehicle, and took the trail as a pedestrian, and another "wife" who spent the journey praying to all known deities.

 

The trail starts here, winds down the cliff face, then emerges where you see it slithering off into the distance

Lucky for us, the unexpected didn't end there.  We got lost heading to Potash road and learned that a flashlight is as much use as a frogs leg when the "road" and surrounding terrain are made of the same material, and the only guide is a set of small cairns which have already been run over several times and look like any other pile of rocks in the dark.  Backtracking and a keen eye for survival led us safely back to roads with painted lines.

Friday, we drove up La Sals mountain range, through Fins and Things 4x4 trail

 

 

 

hmm

Meh, just a scratch.

 

 

 

 

Dino print

 

We drove up through Sandy Flats to Fisher Point overlook, then back down on Castleton Valley Rd.  Back to Arches we went, for a hike to Delicate Arch.

 

 

 

 

Tiny Andrew, tinier Mary

 

 

 

 

Knowing it is a sheer drop on the other side makes keeping your balance that much harder in strong winds.

 

 

 

Following Delicate Arch, we headed to Fiery Furnace viewpoint and watched the rain bounce off the red rocks, leaving shimmering surfaces.

 



 

 

Saturday, we hiked Natural Bridge trail and I spent most of the time there convincing myself that it was very unlikely it would fall.

 

 

and then I began to focus on the cracks

 

 

After this 4.5 mile hike, Mary was done for the day, so we went geocaching while Andrew took a longer afternoon hike on Hidden valley trail.

 

 

This was also the day Mary completed her second Junior Ranger badge. 

 

I really enjoyed Moab, there's so much to do and see, we could come back here every year and never get bored.