We were spending a few days in Moab, Utah, mostly to visit Arches National Park, and we didn’t plan to go to Canyonlands National Park because we thought it was too far out of our way. There are four unconnected districts of Canyonlands and as we drove to Arches early the first morning we saw a sign that said Canyonlands: 30 miles. So we thought, ‘let’s go!’ and we drove the forty minutes to the Islands in the Sky section of Canyonlands.
La Sal Mountains at sunrise
Arches National Park is home to the greatest concentration of natural stone arches in the world, more than 2000. It is unique and I was totally blow away by the backdrop of the La Sal Mountains in the east. Continue reading
Monument Valley is part of the Navajo Nation in southeastern Utah.
Beginning in 1925 with the film The Vanishing American, Monument Valley has been the visual representation of the American West. John Ford made Monument Valley famous as the backdrop for most of his Westerns including Stagecoach, Fort Apache, How the West Was Won, My Darling Clementine, and The Searchers. Continue reading
We spent four days in the Wahweap Campground overlooking Lake Powell. It was a beautiful and relaxing spot. While we were there I got up early for some solitude and to witness the dramatic sunrises over Lake Powell.
After getting our permit for The Wave, we stopped for lunch at the Paria Scenic Viewpoint and then drove a dangerous, rutted, unpaved road down toward the Paria Ghost Town. The road got far too steep and treacherous and we were worried we wouldn’t make it back up, so we stopped the car at a pull off and continued down on foot.
We didn’t have much time in Zion–we only allowed ourselves a day there on our way to The Wave. So we drove through Zion, taking in the towering peaks.
Court of the Patriarchs
In the late afternoon, after most of the other 18 hikers had cleared out of the area, we knew we had to start the 3.2 mile hike back to the car. Continue reading
In my limited research before our trek out to The Wave, I found out that there was a second small wave and a bunch of neat things to see if you hike up above The Wave. Some people even hike to the top of the ridge, but we did not have optimal footwear to be hiking on sandstone. Continue reading
Inside The Wave
The Wave is only two acres, but it is truly awe-inspiring. It’s amazing to stand inside it and ponder the intense and violent forces and the thousands of years that it took to create something so beautiful and fragile. Continue reading
After a month in California (blogs on this to come) we had to head back east for The Long Bike Back screenings and we decided to take our time and drive across the Utah/Arizona border because there are so many amazing things to see there. I have seen The Wave (in the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument) on a couple of ‘top 10 places to see in the world’ lists and since it’s right on the Utah/Arizona border we scheduled it into our meandering drive east. Continue reading
