We enjoyed breakfast and had a nice visit with Jason, the owner of the B&B, and other guests who opted for the early seating. Our first stop of the day was to the Moab Information Center to get maps of the parks. Then on to pick up sandwiches at a grocery store for our day in the parks where there would be no food service.
We began our excursions by driving to the Grand View Overlook and hiking trail at the far end of Canyonlands National Park. Here, we covered 2 miles of beautiful scenery as we traversed the top of a bluff until we came to a point where the it ended and we found a drop off to the desert floor. The canyons that we looked down on had various levels as there were canyons within canyons. We scrambled up to a high point on the rocks and for a moment were king and queen of the hill! We enjoyed the various wild flowers that we encountered along the trail.
We returned to the car and drove to the Green River Overlook. As the name implies, the overlook provided a view of a river and the lush green vegetation which grew along it’s banks. The next stop was at the Mesa Arch. Here we did another hike of approximately a mile where we hiked down to a large arch which was at the edge of a high bluff providing a perfect natural frame for pictures. The background of the picture included white topped mountains as well as the canyon. We also noticed the area was more desert-like with sand and cacti.
The National Park Pass did not work at our next stop - Dead Horse State Park. The main attraction here was at the end of a four mile drive and the end of a different bluff. This overlook also had trails and we hiked another 3/4 of a mile as we explored the rim and took in the views. One of which was of the likeness of a horse on its side in the rock below. Another view revealed large salt water pools where they were harvesting table salt. Like the Utah sky, these pools were very blue and clear.
Due to reservations for our next stop, we returned back to the main road and Moab. We boarded a jet boat and the next thing we knew we were zipping along at 40 mph down the Colorado River, now looking up at the high rock walls of the same canyon that we had been looking down on. Our captain and guide had a great sense of humor, which added to the trip and scenery. Speaking of scenery, we stopped at the famous “Wall Street” - famous, that is to rock climbers from all over the world. We spotted a half dozen climbers at various elevations on a mile long expanse of rock “wall” gripping the rock or tapping in. Some were free climbing without the use of ropes. Our guide also pointed out a jeep traversing a stretch of rock that was just flat enough for attempts to drive it. The challenge was to drive this with your vehicle in tact. At best, you would bang up your ATV or vehicle, at worst, you would overturn, get stuck, or end up in the river!
Another stop was at a series of Indian Writings on the same rock wall further down stream. These were 1000+ year old carvings of men and animals. They were 10-15 feet from the ground level, and it was explained that at that time, the floor of the canyon was at that level. We also went by two arches and Long’s Canyon, where several movies and commercials (Jeep) were filmed. We turned around at the salt mine and headed back upstream. The highlight of the return trip was our up close and personal beaver encounters! We were able to see adults and adolescent beavers going about their business in the wild. The largest one we saw must have been 70-80 pounds!
The boat ride culminated with a series of high speed turns as a form of grand finale to our trip. Spray was flying and we were rocking as the jet boat created huge wakes in the river that continued to lap the side of the boat as we nestled up to the dock. The boat ride also included dinner which we enjoyed in a dining hall along with our fellow passengers Gary and Carol from Michigan who we met on the boat. Dinner was cafeteria style and include a nice variety of food and was well done.
Teare noted the time and we realized the Cavs game was probably at a critical point, so we went looking for the game. We found it at the first place we came to in Moab. Unfortunately, the Cavs tost their second game of the Eastern Conference final series and now it is tied 2-2. We drove a very dark, winding road back home to our B&B. The stars were brilliant out in the dark canyons away from any ambient light. Mars was a red dot low in the southern sky. Neither of us had any trouble sleeping….
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