Here we go! Short notice trip to Moab...

[Martinjmpr]

Okay, here's part 1 of 4:

Feb 2009 short-notice trip to Moab

Wife Liz had just gotten a new job and decided to take a couple of days off before she started, figuring that time off might be more difficult to come by once she started. She had initially suggested Vegas but I pointed out that it would cost us at least a couple hundred bucks to fly there, and then renting a car would be at least another hundred or so, even if we got discount rates. Since I enjoyed my Solo trip to Utah last year (and showed her the pictures I took) I suggested Moab and she agreed.

We decided to stay in a motel rather than camp, both because of the cold weather and because it would relieve us of the necessity to take a lot of cooking and camping gear. Plus we figured this time of year motel rooms would probably be plentiful and cheap.

So we left on Thursday, the 19th, driving across the spine of the Rockies, through the fresh snow that had just fallen the previous Tuesday. Road conditions were generally good, although the wet and occasionally snowy roads in Summit County made for a big mess on the windshield and I’m a little surprised I didn’t run out of washer fluid before I got through it.

But once we got to Vail and dropped down below 8,000’ it was clear and dry all the way in.

Day 1: Thursday, Feb 19th:

We took the Cisco road (which was much rougher and narrower than I remembered!) and stopped to photograph the sad remains of the old Dewey Bridge.

Strangely, there was nothing explaining what happened to bridge just last year, although there was still a collection box soliciting money to “maintain” the bridge.

After that it was a drive along the CO river through the Professor Valley, with views into the Castle Valley.

It was stunning as usual, a sight Liz had never seen before, so well worth it. We found a mega-resort along the river, too, that I don’t recall as having been there the last time I drove through here, which would have been in November of 2001.

After a quick fast-food lunch in Moab, we headed up to Arches NP. We stopped at the very nice visitor center for a brief scan of the displays, and then got back in the truck and drove up the steep hill that leads into the park itself. Arches is legendary, of course, and well worth a visit. Close proximity to Moab and the interstate make it a popular destination, but on a Thursday afternoon in February, it was all but deserted.

We snapped some photos of the weird rock outcroppings (one that reminded me of a “peanuts” character.) Took some short hikes around Window Arches and took some photos around Tower Arch, with it’s double-arch (one big one and a small “opera window” next to it.)

We then drove down to Delicate Arch viewpoint (Delicate Arch is the one that is featured on the Utah license plate and is pretty much a symbol of the area.)

After walking up to the Delicate Arch viewpoint and taking our pictures, we went back to the parking area. Liz saw me eyeing the Cache Valley 4x4 road sign and said “you really want to drive on that, don’t you?”

She knows me well! So even though it was around 4pm and the sun was falling, we decided to follow the road just to see where it went. I could tell from the map that it would eventually end up at the top of the cliffs that overlook the Colorado River in Professor Valley, but I couldn’t tell how long the road was.

We took the road about 1/4 mile before we reached the park boundary, marked by a closed (but not locked) gate. We went through the gate, closing it behind us, and continued on down a gradually worsening road.

We finally got to a point where I missed a turn and ended up in a dead end. I turned the truck around and tried driving up a sand wash but was quickly stopped by a low-hanging tree trunk I couldn’t get under. I carefully backed up and turned around, and at that point, with light fading, we decided we’d seen enough and would head back to Moab. One of these days I’ll finish that trail because I’d love to see the Colorado River overlook!

On the way out we snapped a couple of sunset pictures of Arches.

We arrived back in Moab and quickly found an inexpensive hotel room for our 3-night stay. I took the time to drive down to the local car wash and wash off all the road grime from the our trip through the Rockies.

More to follow...

 

[jeepmedic46]

Looks like you had a good time. Beautiful pics, Thank you for sharing

 

[Overland Hadley]

We found a mega-resort along the river, too, that I don’t recall as having been there the last time I drove through here, which would have been in November of 2001.

A lot has changed in the last few years.
Last time I was out there it was sad to see how many formally dark areas now had lights ablaze.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Part 2 / Day 2 (02/20/09)

Next morning we woke up to very cold temperatures (around 20) that reinforced our decision not to camp out. After eating a quick breakfast in our room (rolls, juice and yogurt we’d bought the night before) we headed out.

Our plan was to take Utah 279 (also called Potash Road) that runs along the North shore of the Colorado River, then take the Long Canyon/Pucker Pass trail up to the plateau, where we would then go to Dead Horse Point State Park and finally Canyonlands Island-in-the-sky district. We would then return via the Shafer Trail which would take us back down to Potash Road.

Our first photo stop was along the paved highway – the sheer cliffs are covered with ancient petroglyphs, so many that it’s hard to see them all. We were fascinated, and speculated as to what they meant. There was an interpretive sign nearby, but unfortunately it was so weathered and sun-bleached that most of the writing had worn off.

Continuing along the paved road, we turned off at the sign for Jug Handle Arch, figuring we’d snap a few pictures and then continue on until we found Long Canyon (Moab veterans are probably smiling at this one.) We never did see Jug Handle Arch but I followed the road because it looked interesting. It was basically just a wide dirt road and we were both curious about where it went.

The further we went on, the higher, narrower, and rockier the road got. It went further back towards the mesas and then started climbing up the hill on some switchbacks. I was tempted to turn around, but the GPS continued to show a good road ahead of me so I thought “what the hell, we've got 4 wheel drive!” and kept going.

Eventually we got to some ice-covered switchbacks that nevertheless seemed to have well-worn tracks through them, and I figured between my good tires and 4wd, I wouldn’t have any difficulty with them (though Liz wasn’t so sure.) I assured her if it got too bad we could turn around, but that the map showed the road straightening out up ahead and if we were near the top anyway, why not keep going?

When we got to the “tunnel” that was formed by a rock falling across the road, I started to get some sneaking suspicions.

We continued up, using 4 low, going through more switchbacks and more ice/snow in the shady areas. Finally we got to the top and the road opened up, and the view was incredible. We stopped for pictures and that’s when I pulled out the map, to confirm my “suspicions.” Yup, just as I’d started suspecting, I’d found the Long Canyon/Pucker Pass road completely by accident, and I was right where I wanted to be!

The views from the top of Long Canyon are amazing and we stopped for quite a while to take photos and walk around. Other than the FJ Cruiser that passed us as we were leaving, we saw no other vehicles there.

To be continued....

 

[Martinjmpr]

Part 3/day 2 (02/20/09)

Continuing on, the road becomes a car-capable, wide dirt road on the top of the plateau. A few miles later we hit Utah Highway 313 and took the left turn to Dead Horse Point State Park.

It was chilly up at DHPSP, since we had now ascended almost 2,000' from the point where we left the Colorado River back at Jug Handle Arch. The visitor center was nicely appointed and Liz picked up a book about the petroglyphs, while I finally decided to buy Charles Wells' Moab-Area 4x4 guidebook, which was a good thing to have!

The views from Dead Horse Point were amazing:

We walked all around DHPSP, taking numerous photos. One of the most intriguing things we could see were the turquoise evaporation pools from the Potash mines down by the CO river (that we would have passed had we not turned off at Long Canyon.)

After taking our photos at DHPSP, we headed back up Utah 313 to go into Island-in-the-Sky.

We passed this ominous looking sign:

After entering the park, we stopped at the tiny visitor center to sign in (I had bought an annual pass at Arches so we didn't have to pay again) and then we drove Southwest towards the Grand View overlook. I was amazed that I could clearly see Cleopatra's Chair, about 15 miles away and on the far side of the Green River.

Zoomed in:

I had visited Cleopatra's Chair in March of 2008 when I camped out at nearby Panorama Point. Although Cleo's Chair was only about 15 miles away from us at this point, to drive there would have taken us an entire day and probably close to 250 miles, a good portion of that on a rugged 4wd trail.

(here is my photo taken at the base of Cleopatra's Chair last March. If you look directly below the point of the rock in the center, you can see my truck, which will give you an idea of how immense Cleo's Chair really is!)

Just past the visitor center, the main road featured an overlook of the Shafer Trail. Since I had intended to take the Shafer Trail back, I wanted to get a look at it. The view was not encouraging:

The road had quite a bit of snow on it, being in the shade for most of the day. On the plus side, I could see at least one set of tracks through the snow, so I knew that somebody had driven through it. The snow didn't look deep, not more than 4 or 5 inches, and I figured that once I got through the switchbacks we'd be fine. After standing near the dropoff and snapping a couple of pictures, I got back in the truck for the drive to Grand View point, but in the back of my mind I did keep a few mental reservations about how we would do on the Shafer Trail on our way back down.

Stopping at Grand View Point, we took the 1 mile (each way) hike down to the point itself. These photos can't really do justice to this view. To say it's magnificent would be an understatement.

We could clearly see the White Rim trail below us but did not see any traffic (I later found out why.) Interestingly, we also could see some old, unused trails down there, one of which went razor-straight along the top of the White Rim plateau. I'm guessing these were old mining trails from a time before Canyonlands was a national park.

Arriving back at the parking lot after a 1 1/2 hour hike to Grand View point, we ate lunch by the tailgate. A couple of very bold Ravens hung around close to us, hoping to feast off of our crumbs.

(to be continued)

 

[Martinjmpr]

Part 4/day 2 (02/20/09)

We left Grand View to see the Upheaval Dome. On the way there we saw the first 4-legged wildlife of our trip: A pair of desert bighorn sheep:

The Upheaval Dome just looks like a big, rugged valley when you see it up close, but from the sky the circular crater shape is unmistakeable. For decades geologists assumed that the Dome was created by an upheaval of salt underneath the sandstone, but recent scholarship has suggested a more dramatic origin: The impact of a celestial body that was probably double or triple the size of the one that created the famous Meteor Crater near Winslow, AZ. A short but vigorous hike from the parking lot gets you up to the crater rim, where two helpful signs illustrate each theoretical origin for the crater.

After walking around and snapping pictures there, we went to the Colorado River overlook, a spur off of the Upheaval Dome Road. Nice view and we had the place to ourselves again. By this time, the sun was beginning its descent so I figured we might as well head back – I was still a little anxious about those snow-covered switchbacks but I tried not to show it.

Snow covered switchbacks and me "not showing it":

We drove past the visitor center to the turnoff for the Shafer trail, turned the corner and came right up on – a locked gate! Shafer Trail was closed (as was White Rim, which is why there was no traffic on it.) So all my worrying had been for nothing.

Since we had gotten the Charles Wells book, I flipped it open to look for some relatively easy trails to take us home, since I didn’t want to go back the way we came and didn’t want to go down the paved highway. I quickly came across Gemini Bridges trail, which fit our needs since it was classed as an ‘easy’ road, and went through some spectacular scenery.

The road was as advertised, rugged enough to need 4wd in places (and again, more for the low range than anything else) but mild enough that we felt confident running it alone on a day when not many people were out there. It was also kind of cool seeing the trailheads for some of the more well known “extreme” trails in the Moab area like Hell’s Revenge and Metal Masher.

We didn't take any photos on this road, although it was quite scenic, except for this one of the appropriately-named "Gooney Bird Rock"

After a long descent down a shelf road, we hit Highway 191 and drove back to Moab for dinner and relaxation.

Next up: Day 3, our last full day in Moab!

 

[Martinjmpr]

Part 5/day 3 (02/21/09)

Day 3 (Saturday, 02/21/09):

Our third and final day was originally planned for fishing (Liz is an avid flyfisher) but unfortunately nothing is biting now and the only fishing is for catfish, which we don’t like. So I pulled out the Wells book again and started looking around. Since we’d already “done” Island in the Sky, I thought we’d head South and get close to the Needles District. I chose the Canyon Rim Overlooks because it seemed to offer the best views that were fairly easy to get to.

We headed South and turned off just past La Sal junction (BTW, am I the only one who found it odd how many times road signs in Utah don’t put a space in La Sal? It actually took me a second to realize that a sign was pointing towards the La Sal mountains because the sign read “LASAL MTS” and I said “Lasal? [pronounced LAY-zul] What the hell does that mean?”)

Drove down a nice dirt road past Picture Frame arch, and then turning a corner, came to one of the oddest things I’ve ever seen: “Cave houses” blasted out of the solid sandstone!

Wells talks about them in his book. These are right next to the road and apparently abandoned, so we had a look inside.

An amazing amount of effort went into these, I have to say! And they seem to be in fairly good condition considering that the doors don’t close all the way. I’m a little surprised we didn’t find them filled with critters.

After exploring these, the Wells book said we’d run into more up the road. And sure enough, a few miles later, we came across Rocklands Ranch.

Liz wanted to get up closer, but I cautioned us to keep our distance. I pointed out to her that people who live in these kinds of isolated communities don’t much like strangers coming around “their” property (even if said property, according to my map, was sitting square in the middle of BLM land) and were not the type to just “dial 911” when they had a problem. So we took our happy snaps and drove on.

Doing research later on I found out that apparently this area was founded by a Mormon separatist family that was excommunicated from the main LDS church (presumably for practicing polygamy.) As you can see from the photos, they’ve got quite a well developed community, all blasted out of solid sandstone.

Liz started wondering if we could just get some dynamite and start building our own little slice of heaven out of the solid rock of Utah!

A few miles later on, we came across another set of rock dwellings, this one either abandoned or used as a barn/storage area right next to the Hatch Point dirt road.

We then took the slight jog onto Anticline Overlook road, a well graded, smooth dirt road leading Northeast. There are all kinds of trails that crisscross this road, many of them well developed. We took a turn off of one and went down a mile or so to do a little target shooting.

(to be continued)

 

[Martinjmpr]

Part 6/day 3 (02/21/09)

After we cleaned up, we had lunch and then took off back towards Anticline Overlook Road. We followed the road all the way to its terminus at the Anticline Overlook, directly across the Colorado River from Dead Horse Point. It was another breathtaking view of the Canyonlands from the other side.

Dead Horse Point from across the canyon:

Looking up Kane Creek Canyon

We also saw vehicles on the trails below us, Lockhart Basin, Hurrah Pass, Chicken Corners, and Kane Creek.

We spent quite a bit of time relaxing and taking pictures at the nice sheltered overlook, and then headed back down Anticline Overlook. As the Wells book suggests, we turned off to go to the Canyon Rim Overlook, a short (5 mile) 4wd trail that juts out to the West from Anticline Overlook.

It was definitely worth the drive, and Liz even got out and snapped a few pictures as I ascended or descended to steeper rock ledges (which were really no problem but they looked impressive.)

After that, an easy drive back to the main highway, and then into Moab. But we weren’t quite done yet. We saw the signs that pointed to some kind of Moab Mountain Biking trail, so we followed them up to Sand Wash road. The first thing we came to, surprisingly to me, was the infamous Lion’s Back (now, closed to all traffic.) I was very surprised to find that it was so close to town, as I’d always assumed it was miles away. The rock looks even scarier in person than it does in that famous Youtube video of the Blazer that lost its brakes on the descent.

We continued up past the entrance gate to the Moab recreation area and quickly passed by the “baby lion’s back” obstacle and numerous other areas where both Mountain bikes and motorized vehicles could play.

Continuing up Sand Wash road, we passed some of the more famous Moab trails including Fins n’ Things and Porcupine Rim. We finally exited the park on the far side along a wide shelf road that climbed up into the La Sal mountains.

As the road got higher, we began to see some very cool “frozen waterfalls” on the opposite (north) side of the slope.

Finally we got up to the entrance gate to the La Sal National Forest. I wasn’t sure how far we’d want to go in, but by this time the patches of snow were getting more frequent and the mud was getting deeper. I’d been in 4wd for a couple of miles and was pondering just how far to continue on (particularly considering that it was now about 4:45pm and the sun was sinking.) when we spotted a green JK Jeep coming towards us. Thinking that he must have come through the area we were heading towards, we flagged him down and asked him about the road conditions.

He told us that he’d also come up from Moab the same way we had, and had gone down another mile or two before he decided that the deep mud, snow, and chance of getting stuck at 8,000’ with no winch and the approaching night was just not worth it, and he turned around. So, we also decided to exercise the better part of valor and turn back.

The trip down was uneventful and we got back to town in time to enjoy a nice dinner.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Part 7/Day 4 (02/22/2009) and final thoughts...

The last day, we departed from Moab fairly early after filling the tank and getting snacks and drinks at City Market. We decided to go back via the “scenic route”, Paradox Valley, which I had last driven in my 1985 Toyota 4x4 pickup – in 1985!

On the way out, I just had to snap this picture, at a junkyard/repair shop.

I guess it could be seen as a form of advertising but in a place like Moab it also looks like a bizarre religious symbol, or maybe a ritualistic sacrifice to the gods, as if to say “Take this CJ2A and bless us on our travels!”

Final impressions from the trip: Moab is awesome this time of year! No crowds anywhere and the only down side is that some of the trails were closed to us either by fences or by iffy weather. I’d have gone deeper into the La Sal mountains if there’d been another vehicle to pull us out had we gotten stuck in the mud or snow, but being solo it didn’t seem worth the risk.

Liz was blown away by the Canyonlands and Arches scenery, as was I the first time I saw it.

I was surprised to see so many Jeep rental places. That must be a thriving business, but I can’t help but wonder how many rental jeeps get wrecked, rolled, or otherwise damaged by inexperienced or careless drivers? And yet, every rental jeep I passed by looked spotless which led me to believe that they must either repair or dispose of the damaged ones pretty quickly!

There were a fair number of built-up rigs in town, especially on Saturday. My guess was that these were “locals” or “regionals” (i.e. people from Grand Junction or the SLC metro area) who come down to play on the weekends.

There were FJ Cruisers everywhere. It was amazing, probably 1 FJ to every 2 Jeeps. Don’t know how many were rentals but it was surprising to see so many. Quite a few more than you see even here in Denver. Most of them appeared fairly stock!

Anyway, bottom line is that Moab is a great place to visit at any time of year, and in mid-Winter, with the crowds down, you can’t beat it for a bargain mini-vacation. I think our total out-of-pocket expenses were less than $500 and that includes gas, food and lodging.

This big buck antelope said "goodbye" to us on our way out of the Anticline Overlook!

 

[GTABurnout]

Great Trip report.

 

[Corey]

Excellent thread.
Very cool area you explored.
I had never seen homes like those either in the sandstone.

 

[kcowyo]

Excellent, excellent review. :clapsmile


Great photos and details. I camped at the top of Long Canyon last April and that view.... well, what can you say? It's out of this world!

Thanks for recommending that Charles Wells book also. I'll look for that one the next time I'm in town. Hopefully in April...


Canyonlands just never dissapoints! :jumping:
.

 

[t0mills]

Very nice! Thanks for the report!

I look forward to Moab in the first week of June.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Canyonlands just never dissapoints! :jumping:

No kidding! I'm already looking through the book and planning my next trip.

What's amazing to me is that this area is only 5 hours from Denver and yet there are so many people here who have never seen it or even thought about it. Best of all, it's accessible at a time of the year when our high roads and passes are all closed due to snow (and conversely, when our passes and mountains are open in July and August, it's hotter than hell in Moab!)

Thanks for the kind words. We actually took over 300 photos, I just tried to cull the best of the lot.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Excellent

A couple of notes.

La Sal = The Salt Mountains or some similar derivitive. The Spanish explorers were apparently convinced that the snow cap mountains were in fact brilliant salt as the crossed through the desert.

The cave compound you photographed has quite the story behind it. Recently one of our local news stations toured the homes and talked with the families. As you gessed they are a polygamst group. The homes are amazing inside, well decorated, georgeous wood cabinets, everything you could imaging out of a modern home, just without windows Many of you have probably been to the Hollow Mountain Gas Station in Hanksville, it too is an entire gas station complete with gift shop, tire repair setup, shooting range and restrooms, all in the rock mountain.

Re: FJ Cruisers. As far as I know there are not any rental agencies using them in Moab, all TJ's & JK's. They do keep their fleets clean, and usually sell off damaged or older models on a regular basis. They don't get beat as badly as one would imagine, full coverage insurance is pretty spendy on them and they have pretty clear stipulations on how and where they can be used in the area, exluding some of the more difficult trails. That said I've seen a rental rallied up Potato Salad to the cheer of hundreds of on lookers.

Again, great report!