Moab, Utah: Canyonlands National Park

I cannot improve upon the description of Canyonlands National Park by Edward Abbey: "... the least inhabited, least inhibited, least developed, least improved, least civilized... most arid, most hostile, most lonesome, most grim bleak barren desolate and savage quarter of the state of Utah -- the best by far."

Let me be clear; this guy is not exaggerating. Canyonlands National Park, while only 45 minutes or so from Moab, feels like you are in the middle of nowhere. If you are not in the middle of nowhere you can at least throw a rock there...

Notice the car in the upper right corner; this is one of the roads you can take in the park. That's a white Honda CR-V by the way. Not your normal off road warrior carriage...

I have been reading the journals kept by Powell and his men as they explored the Colorado River and this park contains several important areas discussed by Powell & his men. Most folks think that Powell was on the Colorado River the whole time he was exploring but in fact he started on the Green River, and rafted to the point where the Green River and the Colorado River join each other.  

A long stretch of the Green River that Powell explored and a corresponding amount of the Colorado River flow on either side of Canyonlands "Island in the Sky", a land of high, flat topped mesas. The park also include the confluence point of the two rivers. 

This is the beginning of the river that eventually flows into the other parks we have visited as we have been slowly working our way north.

With the storm that blew through the area yesterday, visibility was incredible. You could see well over 100 miles it was so clear. Later n the afternoon, just as we were about to take a short hike back to one of Canyonland's arches, we noticed some dark clouds in the distance. 

Mary Lynn suggested we fore go the hike since it looked like rain. Using all of my extraordinary outdoors skills, I calmly informed my wife that the storm was a long way off; the incredibly clear visibility made it seem the rain was closer than it really was.

Wanna guess how far we made it before it rained on us? Just about to the deepest part of the hike. Then it rained enough to soak everything. Fortunately MLA didn't believe me about the rain and took a plastic poncho along on the hike.

I say fortunately because, after she put the poncho on, she agreed to hold my camera under the poncho. Thank goodness she didn't listen to me.

Oh yeah. Want to guess when the rain stopped? Yep, you guessed correctly. It stopped when we were just about back to the car. Go figure.

Tomorrow we head to Salt Lake City where, on Tuesday, we will have the RV's 15K service performed. Plus we need to stock up at Costco and/or Sam's. Then we will start making real progress towards Montana where we plan to join our fellow Alaska trip travellers, Dave & Mary Anne, on the 10th.

See Ya!