Flat Tire Colorado

Landscape Arch

What another beautiful day in the desert. We had sunshine today as we packed our campsite and headed into town for breakfast. Today we opted for bagel sandwiches. There is no shortage of food in Moab.

Arches National Park

We then headed back to Arches National Park to check out a couple more arches and a quick hike. One of the arches we saw today was huge! Back on sept 1, 1991 a huge 60 foot chunk fell from the bottom of the arch and amazingly, the arch still stands today. The largest arch that we saw today was called Landscape Arch and it was as big as a football field.

"Park Street", Arches National Park

After Arches we headed for Colorado. We had planned to do an awesome, but very strenuous hike today but we'll be saving that for tomorrow. We got a flat tire about 13 miles outside of Grand Junction, CO (where we had planned to stop to get two new tires...). A nice highway patrol man stopped and parked behind us, so that gave us some comfort while Scott changed the tire on the side of highway 70. Poor Scott, of course we got the flat under a huge gray cloud and it spit rain the entire time he changed the tire.

Flat Tire

We decided to stay the night in Grand Junction, so we did it up right and got a hotel room and ate dinner at Outback. When we got back to the hotel we headed straight for the hot tub, yay!

Tomorrow we will be heading to Discount Tire first thing.

2 for 1



View from our campsite, LaSal Mountain range

After a very nice night of sleep on our new air mattress we headed out to breakfast and then for a mountain bike ride. One thing that Scott has been looking forward to doing on this whole trip is to ride Moab's slick rock. For those of you who mountain bike probably already know this, but the slick rock that Moab has to offer is a definite must do if you ride.

Scott's Happy, Slickrock Baby!

Thanks to Poison Spider Bicycles for recommending perfect trails for us. We had an awesome ride today and I'm still alive to talk about it! The slick rock was phenomenal as well as the other trails that we rode (Bar M/Lazy EZ/Rockin' A trails).

Delicate Arch

Petroglyths from the Ute/Paiute Cultures

After our ride we decided to check out Arches National Park. The great thing with Staying in Moab is that you are within 30 miles of Canyonlands, Arches, mountain biking as well as a plethora of other outdoor activities. Arches National Park has over 2000 documented arches. We saw a few today and hiked to Delicate Arch; the most popular and probably the most familiar as it is pictured on the Utah license plate. The hike was about three miles long and the majority was on slick rock. The park is filled with tons of beautiful red sandstone. We also saw many huge formations and crazy rocks balancing on what seems like nothing. After our hike though, we were done and decided to head back to the campground. On our way out of town tomorrow we are going to check out a few more things in the park.

Strawberry shortcake anyone?

The weather was beautiful here tonight, thankfully not like last night. We ate an awesome grilled steak dinner with veggies and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

I will post pictures in the next couple days.

Canyonlands National Park

Canyonlands National Park

Today we got up bright and early...at least the early part. Our air mattress lost most of the air last night and both Scott and I woke up on the ground. Let's just say the last half of the night was filled with tossing and turning on both of our sides trying to get comfy with half our bodies on the ground and the other half on what was left in the air filled mattress.

We headed out for a quick breakfast in town, it was good, we both got breakfast burritos.

Road into the canyon.

Canyonlands was very similar to The Grand Canyon, but not nearly as scenic. Like The Grand Canyon, Canyonlands was formed by water and wind. The Greene and Colorado rivers flow thru the park. We opted not to hike today instead just short walks out to a couple different lookout points. The unique thing about Canyonlands is that you can drive down into the canyon. Driving down was awesome, however I was so nervous. You need 4-wheel drive and the road you take to get into the canyon is narrow, on the edge of the canyon, and has many steep switchbacks. We went about 6 miles into the canyon and didn't even reach the bottom. The canyon was beautiful once we were down inside. We did get to see the Colorado River while we were in the canyon.

Colorado River

View from in the canyon.

When we returned to Moab we bought a new air mattress and decided that we would grill out dinner, so we headed to the store and bought veggies, halibut, and steak for the next couple nights. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't agree and we had lightning, rain, and wind. Instead of grilling we cooked the halibut and half of the veggies on our Coleman grill and also made some pesto pasta, it was delish! Hopefully we can grill out the steak and remainder of the veggies tomorrow.

Go figure, we've been on the road for over a month now and the two places we've had bad weather is one day of rain in Vegas and here in Moab, two dessert towns!

We've got a busy next couple of days; it was nice to have a low key day today.

Capitol Reef National Park and Southeast Utah

Capitol Reef NP

Quote of the day - "Why does Utah have to be so conservative...." from Scott...apparently he would like to move to Utah...too bad it's not in the cards for us!

Quote of the trip to date - "It's so beautiful here!" from Mandy. Scott said if we had a dime for every time I've said this we would be rich.

So today we packed up and headed to Capitol Reef National Park. I wasn't sure what to expect since Bryce Canyon was so unreal yesterday, but of course, this National Park was beautiful. Instead of the hoodoos like Bryce, this national park had enormous rock formations. We saw reds, oranges, purples, and just about every other color possible. The park is beautiful. We did a short hike along a wash through a canyon (Grand Wash Trail). There were cliff walls on either side of the wash extending to the sky for what appeared to be at least a hundred feet. We also drove a 10 mile scenic road which ended into a dirt road. Since we have 4WD we figured we'd keep going a while. Each and every turn left us speechless. Some of the rocks looked as smooth as butter while other rocks looked bumpy and mean. The colors for me though were the amazing part.

Since we've gotten into Utah the drive has been scenic and beautiful. We've taken a National Scenic Byway (Utah 12), which is a 124-mile route. We've been lucky enough to drive the entire route. The Federal Highway Administration designated this route as an "All American Road" and I wouldn't argue it. We've passed through amazing canyons, tall mountains, and flat plateaus and never once have we been bored. Today we drove over a mountain and it was awesome seeing all of the pockets of aspen trees. The bark looked like paper to where you could walk up to the tree and rip it off in sheets. In one section we also drove on top of a ridge, it was awesome. On both sides of the road there was a drop off, but the scenery was unbelievable.

We're camping in Moab for the next three nights. I can't wait to check out the town, Canyonlands and Arches National Parks as well as do some incredible mountain biking. The next three days should be some of the best days on this trip. Hopefully the weather holds out and we don't get the slight chance of rain that they're calling for...or the hot temps.

Bryce Canyon National Park

Wow! I don't even think there's words to describe this park. Amazing! When you enter Bryce Canyon National Park you don't think it's much because you enter on the rim and all you see is pine forests. The scenery is actually below the rim.

Scott and I opted to hike a 6.5 mile loop right through the amphitheater, or where all of the rock "hoodoo" formations are located (The Figure 8 - Queens Garden/Peekaboo/Navajo Conbination Trails). It was beautiful! It seems like Bryce is a canyon, but is actually a sinking basin. The scenery consisted of red rock hoodoos, pink and white rocks, and rock formations all layered on each other with pine and pinyon trees mixed throughout to create some of the most amazing scenery I've ever seen. Unfortunately, the pictures we took do not depict the beauty.

Our hike consisted of hiking through, around, and over these amazing rock formations. At the very end of the hike we went up steep switchbacks for about a half mile through a gulch to get back to the rim. It was breathtaking. By far this was the most strenuous hike of the trip, and it doesn't help that we had just spend five glutenous days in Vegas!

Tree trunk

Both Scott and I were sad to leave this park because of the beauty.

When we got back to our camp we hung two hammocks and had a relaxing evening in the hammocks and by the campfire.

I will post pictures in the next few days, we don't have a great Internet connection.

Zion National Park and Southern Utah

After a fantastic Labor Day weekend hanging out with old friends and making new friends in Vegas, it's time to continue on our trip.

We left Vegas this morning and headed to Zion National Park with a plan to camp outside of Bryce Canyon National Park. We made it through Zion and decided to camp just before Bryce in the National Forest.

The drive between Las Vegas and Zion was filled with desert scenery and desert mountains. The rock formations and colors that we saw were beautiful. The drive reminded me of Phoenix and the scenery I have missed living out East for the last few years. I forgot the beauty of the desert, however I do think Arizona's desert is more spectacular because Arizona has saguaro cactus. Driving into Zion National Park is cool because you can see it from a distance and the mountains and rock formations become neater and neater the closer we get to the park.

A couple miles outside the park we went through a town called Rockville. It was a nice little touristy town and there were American Flags about every 10 yards on both sides along the road for at least a mile. The sight made both Scott and me proud.

Zion National Park is BEAUTIFUL! The colors were deep reds, oranges, and everything in-between. Zion has desert terrain, canyons, and pine trees. One cool thing about Zion is that in some places the trees and vegetation grow right out of the side of the mountains; Zion calls it hanging gardens. It's amazing because it doesn't seem like anything could grow on the steep, sheer cliff walls, but sure enough nature finds a way. They are cool! We also saw another Ram hanging out on a rock ledge. He was chilling with the red rocks behind him.

Zion National Park

After we left Zion we were back in the pines; awesome. The drive was great between the pine trees and huge meadows. It didn't feel like we were in Utah. It was strange because we had just left this national park with huge rock formations with red and orange colors and now we were driving through deep green pines and meadows. It was such a contrast.

View from out campsite

The location of our campground cannot be beat. We are in a valley surrounded by beautiful red rock formations. Pictures do not even do it justice. The weather is beautiful, most of today we were driving in the high 90's and when we got to our campsite it was in the high 60's. A perfect way to continue our road trip and camping.

What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas

We're headed to Vegas today through Monday September 5th. I won't be blogging for the next couple of days unless something Epic happens.

This is an annual trip that we take every year over Labor Day weekend with friends that we've met from all over.

Enjoy your Labor Day weekend everyone!