After some convincing, River and Wolf decided to join me on the next leg of the trip in Moab Utah. Unfortunately, they had to leave later than I wanted to. I'm glad I left when I did, because the rain drenching Colorado decided to strike yet again on my way out. This led me to MacGyver a plastic bag for keeping my sleeping bag dry. Dry sleeping is happy sleeping. Even with the little bit of rain that caught up with me, the ride through the mountains on I-70 was breathtaking! It is one of the few interstates that I would gladly take again.
Upon turning off I-70 onto Route 191 towards Moab, things started looking familiar. It had been almost a decade since my last trip to Moab, but the striking red rocks leave an indelible picture in the mind. There was one immediately noticeable difference. The Colorado River, which usually is low enough for awesome white water, was swollen enough to have overflown in a few places with no rapids in sight. I rolled into Moab proper just about sunset after checking all the free campsites I knew. These had been developed (and were no longer free), or were full. In a last ditch effort, I stopped by the tourist information center to ask some questions. I was told that there were some undeveloped campsites on state land just past the turnoff to Dead Horse Point on the way out of town. The one warning given was it wasn't very scenic. I don't think I've been so low balled in my life. This is what they called "not very scenic."
Being alone in the desert was wonderful, and the stars were the clearest I've ever seen. One night the stars were one half the sky and thunder danced across the other. The fact that I didn't have to pay for the experience made it all the better
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I had a day to play with before River and Wolf showed up, and of course I went for a ride. There is a beautiful route called the LaSal Loop that takes you along the Colorado River in a canyon, through Castle Valley, up the LaSal Mountains, and back down to Moab. It's a beautiful ride that takes a couple hours (or more depending on how often you stop for jaw dropping vista views...or cows in the road), and is well worth your time.
| To be added shortly here: The video of the gorgeous LaSal ride with some insights into solo traveling. |
Once River and Wolf arrived, we wasted no time finding an adventure. We went for a hike to the back of Negro Bill's Canyon. The creek had also swollen past its borders, but that meant we got to walk through cool water on a hot day. There is an arch at the end of the canyon, and there was a waterfall coming from behind it that we cooled off in. A lady hiked in after us and told us that in all her years of living in Moab, she had never seen that.
We headed home after stopping at the grocery store for dinner supplies. With just camp stoves, Wolf made a spectacular sausage and bean stew. While he was fixing that up, I got the honor of teaching River how to ride! It took a couple tries for her to get it to shift from first to second (because their KLR is touchy, River did a fine job of it), but with determination she soon was zipping back and forth. We finished the evening eating like kings while the mountains and red rocks were set ablaze by sundown.
We headed home after stopping at the grocery store for dinner supplies. With just camp stoves, Wolf made a spectacular sausage and bean stew. While he was fixing that up, I got the honor of teaching River how to ride! It took a couple tries for her to get it to shift from first to second (because their KLR is touchy, River did a fine job of it), but with determination she soon was zipping back and forth. We finished the evening eating like kings while the mountains and red rocks were set ablaze by sundown.
The next day there was a little time to kill before we had to part ways, and I decided to show them a small swimming hole just outside of town called Left Hand. When I had last gone, it was a rarity to see more than 2 other people there at any time, and it was a nice place to relax and jump in. We went during the day on a weekday, and there must have been 15 people running around with dogs and children jumping off a dangerous waterfall willy nilly. The thing that made me really sad was the trash and cigarette butts all over. Apparently people don't give a hoot anymore about keeping natural beauty beautiful.