There's something about the area around Moab that keeps us coming back. We've lost count of the number of times we've been here, has to be at least 7 times. We are always awe struck by the color of the landscape with it's different shades of reds and browns, it's rock formations and it's towering cliffs. We also always seem to find some new spots to explore. The other day we took a bike ride along the Colorado River. An easy flat ride on a less traveled state highway. As this is bike country, cars that pass us give us a wide berth. While enjoying the scenery, I noticed a canyon that we had never noticed before and we decided to check it out after our ride.
No one around, hardly any footprints, a running stream, and 500+ cliffs enclosing a green oasis. It doesn't get much better than that.
Under a canopy of mature Cottonwood Trees we walked along, sometimes in the small stream. After about a mile or so, the trees thinned out and the canyon became dry and hot. The stream had disappeared so we turned around and headed back to the road. On the way back it appeared that it had snowed as evidenced by the white around the stream and falling of the snow.
SNOW IN THE DESERT
The Cottonwood Trees were shedding their seed pods, turning the landscape white.
Every time we come to Moab, we hike up to Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. Not a long hike, about 3 miles round trip. It is up hill, but usually worth the effort. This trip we decided to hike up for the sunset. We tried this once before on a previous visit, but our hopes a some good photograph were dashed by a huge thunderstorm that hit just after we reached the arch. Here is a photo taken at the time of the approaching storm.
You can read the blog entry about this storm by clicking HERE.
On this trip we were more successful in getting some photos of the arch at sunset. Of course we weren't the only ones who had the same idea.
Everyone wants a photo of themselves under the arch, but a lot of people hike up here to get a sunset photo of the arch, without all the people. Finally someone yelled, "we came here to photograph the arch, not you". The people got the message, and the cameras clicked.
Two of my photos
ON THE TRAIL BACK
Cathie and I both agreed that now that we had seen the arch at sunset, we didn't have to do it again. Just too many people.
We managed one more hike in Arches before we head out of Moab. We paid a visit to Tower Arch, in a more remote part of the park. We saw a few people, but nothing like the more popular areas.
TOWER ARCH
Tomorrow we leave Moab up the road just about 100 miles. We found out that there are some places nearby that we haven't seen before. We'll be off the grid, no Internet or phone for 4 or 5 days. We'll catch up when we find civilization.
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