FRUITA CO to MOAB, UT

May 12th. After buying a new sleeping bag at Sports Authority, I packed up camp and embarked on the 1.5 hour drive to Moab. The last time I was in Moab was over 23 years ago; my family and I came here for a night for a family vacation. I remembered it being a one-stoplight town with an A&W Root Beer stand and a couple hotels. What a difference today!! The place is loaded with tour operators, ATV, biking outfits, hotels galore, and fast food restaurants. Commercialization at its finest! I pulled into the Canyonlands RV Park and was a tad disappointed. Aside from the pool and the shower facilities, the camp was crowded, the tent sites were one atop another, and it was dusty as hell. Either way, it was home for a few nights.
I decided to make a quick trip to Canyonlands National Park, and enjoyed the views.
This place is amazing. From the overlook, you can see the vast expanse of land that the Colorado and Green Rivers were responsible for carving through millions of years earlier. There were some crazy roads running alongside the canyon walls descending down to the valley floor. You can see one such road in the picture above on the lower right corner. Insane!

I spent a short time at Canyonlands, because I wanted to head over to Arches National Park and do the hike up to the Delicate Arch. This arch is the most photographed landmark in all of Utah, and the darn thing is even on the Utah license plates. The hike starts from the trailhead and is about 3.5 miles round trip. It's listed as moderately strenuous, partly due to the severe elevation change and the hike up the slickrock.

I made good time and arrived at the overlook point. What a sight. This place is incredible-the arch was much larger than I remembered, and it was wiiiinndy. I almost lost my hat a couple times. I sat and enjoyed the peacefulness and serenity of the scene, took some pictures, and then was interrupted by a busload of grade school kids who came up and ruined it all. I figured it was time to head down.

I drove around the park for a bit, and took another short hike to Pine Tree arch and Window Arch. This is a beautiful park, and I was pretty much stress free by now.

I headed back into town and stopped by Poison Spider Bikes for some info on rides in the area. A clerk at the counter told me about a shuttle that leaves from their parking lot at 9:30am (and two other times), that takes you to the top of Porcupine Ridge and you enjoy a blistering downhill back into town. He said the price was $20. Pass this up?? Heeeeeellllll no!! I told him I'd see him at 9:00 with my bike. The store wasn't anything special, and seemed like everything else in Moab- commercialized. You could barely find any shirt or gear in the store that did not have the "Poison Spider" logo and lettering.