Moab, Moab and More Moab, but no Water

Moab

We planned to stay in Moab a good long time and ended up staying 5 full days.  Our stay was made most pleasant because Dylan’s friends the Moreau’s lived there and made our lives very easy.  The National Park campground was filled so we stayed in Ken’s Lake, a dry, non-electric campground with a great lake nearby  and a waterfalls in hiking distance.  All that water was good, because Moab was 104 degrees by 9:30 am every day and didn’t cool down until after dark.  That, combined with no water, which meant no showers, made the lake and waterfalls a necessity. The campsite was great because for most of our stay, we were the only folks there which made camping a very quiet time.  And David was able to see two of Jupiter’s moons each night through our binoculars.

That afternoon we took a drive around the park, stopping at various overlooks such as Balanced Rock which was quite a balancing act. And that evening, we prepared for our first campsite dinner party since we had invited the Moreau’s to our camp for dinner on Tuesday.

Our first full day in Arches was full of hikes.  We got up very early for a longish hike to Delicate Arch.  This was the only park where we were constantly reminded of the dangers of the heat, and indeed, were told that a woman had died on the hike a few days before.  And on our afternoon hike, a woman was taken out on a stretcher.  And then while we were in Canyonlands the ranger heard on his walkie-talkie that a woman in Arches had had heat stroke.  So, we took the warnings very seriously and had purchased an extra large bottle for water in addition to our other two.  The walk was wonderful over “slick rock” which are massive flat boulders of rock which you can walk on because they are made of sandstone which holds your feet. And on the way back we saw more petroglyphs.

That afternoon we took an easy hike, in the heat of the day, to Landscape Arch which was breathtaking. And then we went back to Ken’s Lake for a lovely dip.  Then we hiked up to the waterfalls for an even colder dip; then back to Ken’s Lake to meet the Moreau’s for yet another swim, and then our campsite dinner party, complete with music from my Ipod.

Wednesday was errand day, including haircuts for both David and me, new tires for Celeste and odd and assorted other menial tasks.  At 4 pm we met a ranger for a guided hike (mandatory) through the Fiery Furnace which was not hot, but red in color.  The guide was necessary since there were no trails and we hiked through fins, squeaking through little spaces and hopping from rock to rock.  We came to Surprise Arch which David renamed Holy Cow Arch because it was so beautiful and totally unexpected.  We found out that poison ivy grows here as a shrub, not  vine.

Thursday we had our all day rafting trip on the Colorado River.  David and I had a ducky, an inflatable two person kayak for most of the trip.  Just the two of us surviving in a double kayak, was, in itself noteworthy.  I must say we were both quite proud that we did not battle for control of the “ship at sea” and managed very nicely.  The funniest part of the “double experience” came when we were going through the heaviest and fastest rapid.  I, as usual,  was laughing and smiling, so that when we dipped down and a wave crashed over us, I came up with a mouthful of water and started to choke.  David, who was responsible for steering, and was relying on me for directions, heard my noises in the front of the boat and kept yelling, “What.  What are you saying”.  When we came through the rapids, he said, “Next time please yell directions. louder  I had no idea if you were saying left of right.”  I had to explain that I was saying neither, but merely coughing my brains out.  The trip was more a sightseeing float than a technical one so we had lots of time to see the cliffs and splash around in the water.  Go to :http://www.moabactionshots.com/find_photo2.php?cat=R&src=&lce=341&month=07&day=10&year=2008&pm=&roll=&start_pic=37 to see our photos. Our river guide told us that Castle Valley, where we were floating was the scene for a lot of John Wayne movies, and Fisher Tower is where they put the cars and beautiful chicks for the great, desolate car ad shots. Great fun.  However, when we got back, dog tired to the campground, it was the usual 103 degrees in Celeste at 5 pm and we had nowhere to lie down.  Quite uncomfortable.

Friday we decided to have a completely different view of Moab and took a long, long drive up into the LaSal Mountains over scary, bumpy switchbacks into the SNOW where it was a lovely 65 degrees and sunny and full of green trees, the first forests we had seen in a long time. We climbed to 10600 feet.  We had lunch at Oowah Lake and had a beautiful hike around the lake, enjoying the cool weather.  Then back onto the long and bumpy road back to Moab. 

Back at the campground for a quick wash-up. I have perfected the sponge bath and head in the pot hair washing techniques.  As I am writing this it is July 13 and we have not had a shower since July 4.  Yuck!

Later on our last evening, we were planning to have dinner at our campsite with the Moreau’s but rain threatened (never happened) so we went to their home.  During our pizza dinner, we mentioned to Tom that we quite enjoyed all the petroglyphs we had been seeing.  Up he jumped, and we all raced out the door in the waning light to go about 10 minutes from his house into the cliffs behind it…to his own personal petroglyph panel that he actually had listed on the Register of Historic places.  How cool!

We regretfull are leaving Moab after five full days and are making our way to Canyonlands.  Moab was great, but very, very hot, hot, hot.  And we are missing any sort of shower!!!