Even a Flat Tire Can't Stop This Group

We left the Grand Canyon and headed back in the direction of home with a few more stops to make on the way and a few more adventures to be experienced. We came through Monument Valley on the way to Moab, Utah, a place Don has always wanted to see since so many John Wayne movies were filmed there. Of course, we had to explain to Jack who John Wayne was.

When we pulled into the Canyonlands Campground in Moab we discovered a flat rear tire on Bertha. It was some sort of miracle that the other tire held up until we were off the road. We immediately called Good Sam and after some run around, we were hooked up with Jeff the tire guy from Chip's Grand Tire in town. We were a little concerned when they could not be sure how long it would take to get a new tire from Salt Lake City and Good Sam would not cover a repair.No matter, this tire was beyond repair anyway.

Jeff was just great. He knew we were here to enjoy Moab and took care of us just great. He was here first thing in the morning to remove the tire and diagnose the problem so we could take off for Canyonlands National Park in late morning. Canyonlands is a continuation of the Colorado river and the Green River and they join forces in the middle.

 Much of this park is accessible only by 4 wheel drive. But an ample sampling is available by car and foot.

We took a few short hikes to the best viewpoints. We have learned that the definition of easy hikes in this part of the country still involves up and down steep inclines studded with rocks and loose sand.


Jack was really impressed with this natural arch. This of course was before we went to Arches.

We returned home in the late afternoon to rest and have a bite to eat before heading out to Canyonlands by Day and Night for a moonlight cruise on a speed boat into the Canyons. Our narrator, Rubin was a pleasure to listen as he pointed out many of the aspects of canyon life. After the cruise, we had dinner with the cruise people.

The next morning Jeff had procured a tire attached it to the rim and arrived at the campground to apply it to the coach while we were visiting Arches National Park with the promise that we would bring payment to the shop first thing the next morning. We love doing business in small towns like this. They are so accommodating and trusting. We had a similar experience in Terrace Bay, Ontario a few years back when we had a crippling problem with our pop-up.

Park Avenue

Arches excited Jack from the moment we arrived. The drive in is studded with fantastic rock formations with names such as Three Gossips, Park Avenue, and Balancing rock. We had great fun finding names for many formations on our own. We had planned a few short hikes to see the highlights of the park as it was the hottest day of the year and water is not readily available in the park.



Jack building his own cairn



We both learned a new word that day - cairn - a pile of rocks which mark the trail. When we got out of the car at balancing rock, the trail around the rock was marked with cairns. In fact, it seems to be the practice for visitors to build their own cairns leaving something like a garden of them at the base of the formation. We decided that Karen was absolutely an appropriate name for our GPS after all.



Balancing Rock



I mean, this is hardly seeing it for real

 Our next project was a short 3/4 mile hike straight up to a spot where you can view the Delicate Arch, Utah's state symbol from a distance without taking the strenuous hike up to its base. When we reached the top it was so far away it was very disappointing so we mulled it over and decided to eat our peanut butter sandwiches then bite the bullet and hike up to the delicate arch. The problem was that this hike rises about 500 feet over slip rock for about 1 1/2 mile. Having done it now I can say it was much more strenuous than the hike out of Grand Canyon. It is desert climate temperature close to 100 and no shade. That said we had about 2 liters of water for the three of us. There is no water available at this trail head and because we were slightly short on gas, Don did not want to use gas running up to the only place in the park that had water available. Therefore he decided not to make the hike with us which was very smart because Jack and I were rationing our water until a very nice couple from Indiana insisted on giving us a fresh cold bottle of water which got us safely to the end of the trail.



Compare this view to the one above

 The hike was extremely difficult for me while Jack carried our pack and raced ahead to scout the trail out for me. He was very encouraging and kept saying it's not much further. At least twice I considered giving up and letting him go the rest of the way himself, but shear stubbornness and the desire to be sure he saw this spectacle kept me going. No way could I rest easy sending him off on his own. I don't think he would have gone either. Funny thing, at the top, once I cooled off a bit, the hike suddenly lost its sting. The trip down was quite easy except for the nagging thirst in spite of the large amounts of water we drank. I was too involved in keeping moving to take pictures of the actual trail. You just have to take my word for it that it was tough but kind of fun at that. Another funny thing is that 40 years ago Don and I took this same hike and it didn't seem bad at all. They must have moved the trail.

After that we proceeded to Devil's trail head where there was drinking water to refill our bottles and you'd better believe that all three of us guzzled water for at least 5 minutes. Refortified we proceded to our next walk on this trail to see Landscape Arch. This trail was listed as relatively flat. Well compared to the last hike, I guess it was "relatively" flat at least by Utah definition of flat. It took us about another 3 miles and this time we had plenty of water and were able to take our time. The trail itself was so beautiful that the destination was not necessarily important anymore.


Our George of the Jungle hats have served us well

 While I looked like this:

Jack was doing this.