April 25-29 2010 Canyonlands and Arches

042510
John cooked a lovely breakfast for us. We meandered out around noon and drove the scenic drive. Walked the slick rock trail, 2 miles. then we drove to the Colorado overlook and found the lower jump. I took a long sun shower back at camp. John cooked a lovely dinner. We climbed up the rock behind our campsite and watched the sunset. It was a perfect temp. In the 70’s with some wind. We thought a storm was blowing in, but it did not.

John, our shadows

sunset light, John at sunset
 
John standing on the brink of the lower jump. the lower jump is lower falls of the Salt river. It is maybe 30-40 feet high and is pretty cool in the spring when there is more water.  salt patterns on rock

April 26, 2010

We hiked to Peekaboo springs, 10 miles, getting hotter. Pictures above.
 

 
John has been cooking us gourmet dinners each night, the bus at Canyonlands and dust as sunset

042710
We packed up and moved to Moab this am. We need groceries and water and to dump a few tanks. We moved into an RV park, which was a shock after being out in the rural parks so far. we were right on the road, and listened to cars and semi’s going by. It was in the 80’s, very, very windy. we grocery shopped, got gas. We did have internet again, so caught up on things. did laundry and cleaned out the coach.
042810
Woke up to dusty windy air and the highway. Boo. We asked them to move us to a quieter place and they put us in the back. Much nicer. The spots all have grass and trees but in the back it was quiet. We checked out the other RV parks in town and decided we had a pretty good one. Pretty much the same, or pretty grim.
We drove out to Island in the sky, part of Canyonlands and viewed where we had been from the lookout. It was so windy and dusty you could not see far. Drove into Arches to the visitors center and chose where to hike the next day.

Ugly am view, new spot

Shaffer trail on the Island in the sky, View from the Island

view of the white rim from the Island and the view back toward Needles, where we had been camped

042910
We went to Arches and hiked into Devils Garden, thru the arches and the primitive trail, which was not all that primitive, but lots less people. It was snowing when we started and then the sun came out for most of the hike, then rain came in the very end. Very nice, very beautiful place.
 

John on the Arches trail, a double arch

fins on the primitive trail, paint brush

John on the primitive trail, double O arch

Pine tree arch, storm coming

partion arch
 

storm sunset on the La Sals
 

 
John took these very flattering photos of me. First one I had on my fur hat, I had to scrounge it out of my car, who knew the desert would be cold. The next two are of me as the dark angel. The formation above my head, sitting the arch is the dark angel. In another life we named it the pillar of virtue after someone we knew. The last photo is me with my rain coat on, over my fanny pack-not my rear end! We were exhausted, it was a long hike, lots of up and over rocks and fins. I cooked a homemade pizza in the convection oven. I am learning how to use it.