We stayed at the OK RV Park off Spanish Trail Rd. The park is fairly big rig friendly although we happened to get a rather tight (front to back) RV site, #25. The park was full so we are glad we called ahead. This is Columbus Day weekend so that did not help.
The day we arrived, Sunday the 11th, there was the tail end of a gem and mineral show going on at a rodeo arena just behind the park. We drove over the "back way" and had about 1/2 hour to look around before it closed. There was some pretty interesting "stuff" there and it was good to be out of the motorhome and milling around.On Monday, we decided to visit the more famous Arches National Park and
take a couple of days to drive through the park and take a few hikes. We saw a several rock outcroppings on our windy drive and finally came to the trail for the Delicate Arch, one of the most photographed arches in this park. We got our backpack, cameras and survival gear ready and headed down the 1.5 mile (one way) trail. Or.....Should I say.....Headed UP the trail.
This trail is rated as a moderate climb and for a couple that has not had a to of exercise over the past few weeks, this was a tough one! Good thing we had our walking sticks because some of the terrain was really tough to maneuver. We first checked out the petroglyphs just off the path. Very cool!We continued to walk. Usually I need a sugar "fix" when walking this far but this time, Peg got light headed and needed to stop and
eat about 3/4 of the way to the arch. After about 15 minutes, she was ready to go and we did make it to the arch. Unfortunately, the last 100 yards was a walkway on a narrow ledge around a large boulder with a 500-750ft. drop off. As many of you know, I do not like heights like that so I could not go around the corner to see the arch! Peg did and took pictures. I did manage to see the arch the following day (Tuesday) from below, so I had to be satisfied with that. The total hike took us 3 hours and we were pretty tired that night.
The following day we again went to Arches National park and saw many of the things we missed the first time around including the window arches and the campground at the very end of the drive. That night we met folks we met in Salt Lake City, Marcie and Rusty, who had parked their motorhome at a friends house. They took us around the town and up into the hills and gave us a wonderful tour. We then went to a local Mexican Restaurant for dinner.On Wednesday, we went for a drive on Rt. 128, the Colorado Riverway
Road through the Gateway Valley. We stopped at a local winery and the Red Cliffs lodge which had a Cowboy Movie Museum. They mainly has pictures and posters of many of the movies shot in Moab and surrounding areas. Movies that were not only cowboy films but other popular flicks you would know like Raiders of the Lost Arch, Back to the Future and many John Wayne movies. Pretty interesting.
Our friends Marcie and Rusty told us about some dinosaur footprints up on a cliff off Gateway Road so we decided to try and find them. After driving up a very high cliff (oh was that fun!) we came to an area that looked like what they described. 
Out we went and about 100 feet off the road we found the tracks! Take a look at the size of the footprints embedded in the stone on the top of the bluff. Amazing! Here is a shot I took from the edge of the cliff to show how high we were. Going down the way we came up was another adventure!!!!!Today, we leave for the Four Corners!
1 comment:
We stayed at the same RV park when we were in Moab. Jim, I was smarted and knew about the walk at the arch so didn't punish myself with the walk :-) Loved the arches and took many flat hikes to many arches so enjoy.
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