Tuesday, May 9 - Canyonlands National Park
Today was our day to head to Canyonlands National Park, about 90 minutes southwest of Moab, for some more hiking. Despite the Weather Channel's insistance that it was "fair" in Moab at 8 am, it looked distinctly overcast to our eyes. After a wonderful breakfast of baked French toast with pecans and blueberries, cantelope, and red grapefruit at the inn, we left Moab a little apprehensive about what the weather held for the day.
As we drove to the park, it began to rain, lightly, and we watched the car's outdoor temperature reading drop from 60 in Moab to a minimum of 41 on the road to the park. Yikes! We were both wearing shorts and had rain ponchos with us, and I was lucky enough to have my light rain/wind jacket on, and a warmer fleece jacket in the trunk if needed, but Barry had only a long-sleeve, light-weight trekking shirt over his Coolmax t-shirt. We were a bit worried that today's hike might be kinda miserable, as it continued to rain lightly most of the way to the park as well.
Fortunately, by the time we reached the park, it had stopped raining, and the temperature had gone up to 55! It was still overcast, but this we could work with. It felt fine when we started our hike in these temperatures, and after a couple of miles, we were able to peel off our long-sleeved layers and continue on in only t-shirts. The temperature finally rose to the 60s and a high of 72, and by lunchtime, the sun came out, illuminating the beautiful rock formations all around us.
Canyonlands is absolutely gorgeous! It is a large park with three "districts" many miles apart, so it is impossible to "do" this park in a day or even two, so we took the advice ofBackpacker magazine, which stated: "Stick to one district instead of all three. If you're a hiker, the Needles is really for you." So, we headed to the Needles area and did only one hike, the Elephant Canyon/Druid Arch trail. It was glorious. The rock formations (vertical "needles", from whence the district gets its name) were very impressive, and there were many neat rock climbs. Much of the hike was along a narrow canyon bottom, through deep sand and beautiful desert rock. I was especially impressed by the rainbow of colors in the rock in this area - from rose to peach to mauve to grays to tans to aquas, I now realize that deserts are NOT brown, as I assumed, but a rainbow of soft, worn hues, as gentle as an old, well-washed quilt. I couldn't stop looking at the rocks below my feet and took several photos of them, even though the real "show" was way up high on the canyon walls.
As we drove to the park, it began to rain, lightly, and we watched the car's outdoor temperature reading drop from 60 in Moab to a minimum of 41 on the road to the park. Yikes! We were both wearing shorts and had rain ponchos with us, and I was lucky enough to have my light rain/wind jacket on, and a warmer fleece jacket in the trunk if needed, but Barry had only a long-sleeve, light-weight trekking shirt over his Coolmax t-shirt. We were a bit worried that today's hike might be kinda miserable, as it continued to rain lightly most of the way to the park as well.
Fortunately, by the time we reached the park, it had stopped raining, and the temperature had gone up to 55! It was still overcast, but this we could work with. It felt fine when we started our hike in these temperatures, and after a couple of miles, we were able to peel off our long-sleeved layers and continue on in only t-shirts. The temperature finally rose to the 60s and a high of 72, and by lunchtime, the sun came out, illuminating the beautiful rock formations all around us.
Canyonlands is absolutely gorgeous! It is a large park with three "districts" many miles apart, so it is impossible to "do" this park in a day or even two, so we took the advice ofBackpacker magazine, which stated: "Stick to one district instead of all three. If you're a hiker, the Needles is really for you." So, we headed to the Needles area and did only one hike, the Elephant Canyon/Druid Arch trail. It was glorious. The rock formations (vertical "needles", from whence the district gets its name) were very impressive, and there were many neat rock climbs. Much of the hike was along a narrow canyon bottom, through deep sand and beautiful desert rock. I was especially impressed by the rainbow of colors in the rock in this area - from rose to peach to mauve to grays to tans to aquas, I now realize that deserts are NOT brown, as I assumed, but a rainbow of soft, worn hues, as gentle as an old, well-washed quilt. I couldn't stop looking at the rocks below my feet and took several photos of them, even though the real "show" was way up high on the canyon walls.
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The end of the trail involved a steep ascent scrambling up rocks, in addition to a short ladder. When we finally reached the top, the view of the massive Druid arch was breathtaking, and we realized that we were likely the first hikers to the end of the trail that day, since we had passed no hikers heading out, and we had it to ourselves for a short while before another pair of hikers joined us. We had our little lunch stop here (peanut butter and granola bars), took some photos, and sat for awhile to rest.
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Heading back, the sky was completely blue, the sun was out, and everything looked different than on the way in with overcast skies. We took many more pictures going in this direction as the vistas and views were even more impressive. We finished the 10.7-mile round trip in late afternoon, with sore feet once again, but euphoric from the amazing views and the small number of people we encountered along the way. One hiker we met told us that Canyonlands is the least-visited national park, which explains the lack of crowds, but made it all the more desirable to us, as the quiet and feeling of being all alone in such a beautiful place is what we crave most.
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   I believe this is called the "butt scootdown". |
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Because the hike and drive both took longer than we anticipated, it was getting late, so we ordered a Hawaiian pizza to go at Zax Pizza here in Moab and brought it back to our room. I was able to catch the end of American Idol while chowing down on the delicious pizza in the room.
Tomorrow we have a busy day, with quick stops at Capitol Reef National Park and the Escalante Staircase, where we hope to do short hikes, on our way to Bryce Canyon National Park, where we'll spend two nights at Ruby's Inn. We hope to catch the sunset at Bryce tomorrow night. I just wish we had more time! In less than a week now, we'll be on our way home, and I am not in any way ready! This really has been the trip of a lifetime, and there is still more to come.
Tomorrow we have a busy day, with quick stops at Capitol Reef National Park and the Escalante Staircase, where we hope to do short hikes, on our way to Bryce Canyon National Park, where we'll spend two nights at Ruby's Inn. We hope to catch the sunset at Bryce tomorrow night. I just wish we had more time! In less than a week now, we'll be on our way home, and I am not in any way ready! This really has been the trip of a lifetime, and there is still more to come.
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