DAY 10...RED CANYON TO MOAB, UTAH

After taking our time packing up camp, we hit the road en route to Moab via Scenic Byway UT12. If you opt to take the interstate to get to Moab, you'll shave off some time, but you will miss out on some of the amazing scenery along this road. The highway takes you through Escalante, Boulder UT, and some other smaller town before dumping you out onto I70. It passes through Capital Reef National Park, and across some amazingly diverse landscaping.

The highway cuts through the east end of Bryce Canyon, and quickly gives way to a nicely forested roadway, taking you up to an elevation in excess of 8900 feet.

You get some nice stops along the way to see some amazing canyons and roads carved into the rock.

Some of the roadways are a bit scary, hanging alongside of cliffs and with sheer dropoffs without guardrails. You definitely need to pay attention and not drive like a maniac. The highway cuts through scenic Capital Reef NP, which is a good way to get introduced to what you may be seeing when you arrive in Moab.

We arrived in Moab about 5 hours later, and set up our camp in Arches National Park, Devil's Garden Campground. I had reserved a site months prior, and I would have to say it was the best site in the entire CG. We had plenty of shade (some of the other sites were miserably exposed and had no trees). The campground was quiet and clean, had flush toilets and water, but didn't have any shower facilities. I had brought along my cheap-o solar shower for such an eventuality, and it worked out awesome.
The site backed right up to a huge slickrock boulder, and we had no rear neighbors. We also were isolated from the adjacent campsites, so it was a pretty amazing setup. If you reserve it, make sure you grab site 50.
The drive through Arches NP is amazing. Huge monolithic rock slabs, and some arches you can see easily from the road.

The Delicate Arch can only be reached via a hike over slickrock and up to a plateau. We hiked up to it late in the day to catch the sunset's effects of color on the rock. Despite it being overcrowded, we were able to sit back, relax, enjoy the serenity of the view, and even snap some shots without any people milling about.

You have no idea how large it actually is until you get right up to it...distances and heights are very deceiving in Moab.

The hike back down was just as nice, and was a bit more relaxing. We decided to head into town, grab some supplies, and then turn in for the night. The plan was Canyonlands during the day tomorrow, and MAYBE do some biking in the area.