Thursday, July 4, 2013

Canyonlands National Park–Island in the Sky

DSC_0325

For our last day in Moab, we got up early, packed a lunch and took a driving tour of Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park.

Our first stop was Dead Horse Point,

Dead Horse Point

where we were overlooking the same canyon that we traversed in the Jeep last week.

View of Potash Road

Dead Horse Point State Park borders Canyonlands National Park at the White Rim Canyon,

White Rim Canyon

Canyon view from Dead Horse Point

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

overlooking the Colorado River.

Colorado River

We enjoyed the view from each of the overlooks,

DSC_0753

Dead Horse Point

and took a quick drive through the campground.  Some of the sites were long, but the roads were really narrow and had pretty tight turns . . . I don’t think it’s a place we’ll be staying. 

From there, we continued on highway 313 into Canyonlands, past the Monitor and the Merimac,

Monitor and Merrimac

and stopped at the Schafer Trail Overlook.

Schafer Trail

These are the roads that we drove down in the Jeep last week . . . even more frightening from above!

Schafer Trail Switchbacks

Our next stop was the Mesa Arch Trail.

DSC_0779

Since it was not too hot yet, and the trail was billed as a .5 mile easy walk, we decided to take the hike.  We walked through Utah Junipers,

DSC_0780

Mesa Arch Trail

to the edge of the canyon, where we reached Mesa Arch.  Of course, Nick & Bryce were way ahead of Tom and I, and reached the arch first!

Mesa Arch

It’s supposed to be a really beautiful sight at sunrise.

Mesa Arch

Our next stop was the Green River Overlook, which was new territory for us.

Green River Canyon

Oops!  We lost Nicolas!

Uh Oh!  How'd Nicolas get down there!!??

Just kidding . . . there was an intermediate level to the canyon, before you got to the big dropoff, and he was standing on that!

Green River Overlook

The views on this side of the canyon were just as amazing as the other side!

Green River Canyon

We drove to the end of the road where we reached Grand View Point.

Convergence of Two Canyons

This is the point at which the Colorado River and the Green River come together, and the canyons converge into a single large canyon.

DSC_0823

 

We followed the dead wood  trail to the overlook, and caught part of the Ranger’s talk on the geology of Canyonlands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ranger Talk

Ranger Talk at Grand View Point

It truly was a GRAND view!

Grand View Point

Admiring the Grand View

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our driving tour, we went back to the RV and changed into bathing suits to spend the hot afternoon the same way we spent most of the afternoons while we were in Moab . . . at the pool!

Moab Aquatic Center

The city of Moab has a really nice Aquatic Center, and for $50 we got a 1-week family membership. 

Pools at the Aquatic Center

They have Open Swim everyday from 1:30pm – 5:30 (7pm on Friday and Saturday), and we certainly got our money’s worth.

A hot afternoon at the pool

 

On the way home we got 50-cent ice cream cones at Burger King to tide us over until dinner.

 

Afterwards, we did most of our packing up so that we could get a really early start on Tuesday . . . we had almost 300 miles to drive and it was going to be another HOT day!

3 comments:

  1. It looked like Nicolas was almost in over his head. Nice to have fun. Gorgeous Views! Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great idea using the aquatic center, what a nice facility they have. Hope you have enjoyed your time in Moab. Becki

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was a great facility and we loved it! We looked at a campground in Moab that had a pool, but it was a LOT more money, and not as nice as OK RV, so getting the pool membership was definitely the better deal! We loved Moab, especially the kids . . . Nicolas wants to go back when he has his own Jeep! We'll go earlier in the year, though, when it's not quite so HOT!

      Delete

Thanks for reading! We'd love to hear your comments!