MOAB AND CANYONLANDS NATIONAL PARK

June, 2019

There are 5 National Parks within Utah’s borders that collectively are known as “The Mighty Five.”  In the southwest corner of the State, Bryce Canyon and Zion are easily reached from Kanab. If you don’t stay in Torrey to visit Capitol Reef in the southcentral part of the State, Richfield’s a decent choice for a couple of nights.  Arches is in the east central part of the State and actually has a Moab address.  Canyonlands Island in the Sky is nearby to Moab, and Canyonlands Needles is about an hour away.

Our ride from Richfield to Moab ran a little north then eastward along Interstate 70 – we drove between mountain ranges north and south, and the road was a little hilly, but there were no major changes in elevation along the route to challenge Aimee.  The last 30 miles of the trip ran south on Highway 191 into Moab…our campground was about 6 miles south of town and about a mile off of the Highway.  Highway 191 begins in Malta, Montana (go ahead – find it on the map!), passing south through Billings and into Yellowstone National Park, continuing through the Tetons and into Utah and through Arizona before ending up at the Mexican border at Douglas, AZ.  It’s a major north/south road, and we guessed that Highway 191 is one of those alternatives to an Interstate.  Our apologies, that’s certainly more than anyone could ever care to know about Highway 191 – just know it’s a damn busy road 24/7.

Moab’s city limits is just across a bridge over the Colorado River, and it is a first-rate small town of 5,235 full-time residents.  The population swells to about 7,500 as many college students, young adults and retirees (yup – workampers, too!) find Summer employment as guides with the local “adventure” companies or in the  National Parks as Rangers, interns or volunteers.

We guessed that Moab would be among one of America’s thousands of sleepy small towns along the country’s major roadways if not for Canyonlands and Arches National Parks.

Millions of years in the past this, as well as other areas in a large region extending from the Gulf of Mexico to northwest Colorado, was home to the dinosaurs.  We thought our grandkids would appreciate a couple of pictures from Moab’s touristy collection.

Canyonlands National Park is comprised of three distinct districts:  Island in the Sky, Needles and The Maze.   The Colorado and Green rivers wind through the heart of the Park, and after centuries of cutting through layered sandstone, two deep canyons, a colorful landscape, and numerous smaller canyons, mesas, and buttes were formed.

Island in the Sky – Most visitors spend their time at Island in the Sky, which is about 32 miles north and mostly west of Moab.  Island in the Sky is a flat-topped mesa more than 6,000 feet above sea level, resting on sheer sandstone cliffs that are over 1,000 feet above the surrounding terrain.  Every overlook offers a different perspective on Canyonlands’ landscape.

Hiking to Shafer Overlook, Mesa Arch, Grand View Point and Upheaval Dome are the most popular trails in the Park.

Shafer Overlook is named after early settlers in the area.  The Shafer brothers were cattle ranchers who drove their herds from the valley below to the top of the mesa for summer grazing.  The Overlook is best seen at sunup or sundown – the colors just absoultely pop.

Mesa Arch is pretty cool in the daytime.

…but Mesa Arch really shines at sunup!  Of course we drove into the Park in the dark, and hiked our way out to the Arch for sunrise.

Grand View Point is at the southernmost point of the Island in the Sky scenic drive.  There’s a 3-4 mile roundtrip trail that ends up at the furtherest out-point…well-worth our hike for a view that included the white rim canyon as well as features in The Maze, The Needles, and distant mountains.

We’ve always enjoyed Ranger talks, particularly if they involve the night sky.  Canyonlands is designated an International Dark Sky location and wouldn’t you know  that there was a Ranger Night Sky Program offered every Saturday night?  The talk was superb, but the chance to view the skies from 6 telescopes and have the Ranger in charge of each telescope talk about what we were seeing was phenomenal.  We were like overly excited little kids seeing stars and nebulas millions of light years away; to see with our naked eye the International Space Station, zig zagging across the sky looking like a bright white LED light attached to a string; and to see through a telescope’s eye the band of Jupiter and the movement of Jupiter’s moons over the couple of hours we had to view the sky.

We couldn’t pass up a 4-mile strenuous hike along the Upheaval Canyon Trail to see as much of Upheaval Dome as we could.  Upheaval Dome is the deeply eroded bottom-most remnants of an impact crater, most likely caused by a meteor strike.  How cool is that?

A fellow camper and devout off-roader suggested that we follow Shafer Road either to the top of the mesa or back down.  Either way, our access was Pot Ash Road, which would take us past the pot ash plant (pot ash = potassium salts in the form of nitrates, sulfates and chlorides dissolved in water pools, allowed to air dry, and harvested as a powder to be used in fertilizer).

We started down Shafer Road at 4pm and it was 7pm when we made it back to Moab!  Remember it’s only 32 miles by “normal” roads from Moab to Canyonlands.  Shafer Road is 16 miles of 1-1/2 lanes of steep decent hell, sharp switchbacks, blind corners, and 1000 foot drops.  Vehicles going uphill have the right of way, so at blind corners, those of us going downhill have to use pullouts against sheer drop-offs to let them pass; and occasionally, when too far into a blind corner, those going downhill have to back-up into pullouts.  Exhilarating!

I can’t claim the following 2 pictures of Shafer Road…looks like fun, no?

At the bottom, Brian’s “WhooHoo!” could have been heard for miles and miles.  But then we realized there were another 30 miles of unimproved off-road adventure ahead of us.  The 5-10 miles an hour avoiding boulders, jutting rocks, puddles hiding unforeseen hazards, and an abyss or 10 made into an obstacle by Satan got to be a bit tedious.  We had hoped that the pot ash plant would have made improvements to the roadway for their trucks but logic did not avail itself.  We can say we made it without incident, but honestly, once was enough – we had no desire to try the route from the bottom up!

By the way – the last scene of Thelma and Louise was filmed at the top of Shafer Road!

The Maze – Few visitors explore The Maze.  It is the least accessible district of Canyonlands due to the district’s remoteness and the difficulty of roads and trails.  The National Park Service is even more clear: “visitors must be prepared for self-sufficiency and the proper equipment or gear for self-rescue.”  We easily crossed The Maze off of our “to do” list.

Needles – Needles forms the southeast corner of Canyonlands and was named for the colorful spires of Cedar Mesa Sandstone that dominates the area. There are also entrenched canyons, natural arches and sheer-walled cliffs in the rugged landscape.  We enjoyed a great scenic drive, a couple of short hikes, and a nice picnic lunch during our time in the Park.

We’ve said this before, but while hiking we make sure to take a moment to do a 360 – we never know what we’ll find.  Flowers we don’t know as well as different flower colors tend to draw our attention.

Barbara had been to Canyonlands when her children were in grammar school, and she had excited anticipation to relive those wonderful memories from 40 or so years ago. The memories and visions of her time here with Kea and Jordan will always be locked in her heart as wonderful.  And now new memories were created during our visit to Canyonlands National Park.