Moab, Utah-DeadHorse State Park - Arches 7/1 - 7/11 2020 Travel Tour "Rock Stars" of Moab

From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com 

Tim and Linda Bunyan

Travel Tour 2020 - The "Rock Stars" of Moab
Arches National Park  "Windows to the Universe"

Astonishing rock formations: Landscape Arch is the largest arch in entire North America.
  It is amazingly thin, delicate-looking, and photogenic.

Unrivaled rock formations.

The Angel pinnacles along the hike thru Devils Garden.

The Hiking Trail within the Devils Garden

The Hiking Trail to Landscape Arch in the Devils Garden area is filled with natural sculptures.  Other Loop Trails lead to Private Arch, Partition Arch, Navajo Arch, Wall Arch,
Double O Arch, and more. ...a place to return!

Arches is a landscape of change.  The vertical slabs of rock are called fins.  Once a solid layer of sandstone.  Overtime stresses in the rock made the layers crack.  Water enters and makes the cracks bigger.  Water continues to erode.  Fins and arches remain.

We've found our water resource improved with Tim's 6-gallon jug to refill the water bottles we carry with us on the trails.  Within an hour, 16 fluid ounces of bottle water is empty.

  Sand Dune Arch

A sandbox clearing.  A place to pause within these rock walls.

The trail hikers at the trailhead for Broken Arch and Sand Dune Arch

Sherry is here very happy with Arches National Park!

Facing West in Arches National Park, 14 miles of the Salt Valley within Arches with the La Sal Mountains in background.  Beyond is Colorado calling us.

Salmon-colored Entrada Sandstone.

Sherry and I hiking to Balanced Rock in Arches National Park.

 

We come to Arches National Park's gigantic and well-known monoliths. 

Views of massive rock fins and balanced rocks at Park Avenue in Arches National Park. 
The trail heads down the Avenue and towards the Courthouse Towers.

 The sheer walls remind us of buildings lining a big city street.
Some of these landmarks are over 600 feet tall.

Rising majestically, these geologic skyscrapers tell the story of Entrada Sandstone.  

In the past

 2 million years the erosion in the cracks of Entrada. 

  The cracks have left verticle slabs.

  These slabs called fins are the first step in arch formations.

The three gossips, the courthouse towers, queen Nefertiti and queen Victoria Rock, the Oran, and the Tower of Babel are all visible by driving by the road and listening to the Gypsy Guide which Sherry has downloaded onto her phone and Mike G. plays the narrative on their Chevrolet, Silverado-High Country Truck sound system.  Highly recommend this audible narrative throughout the National Parks.

it was a unanimous choice: Arches National Park "not to be missed" and our favorite of Canyonlands National Park or Arches National Park by Tim, Linda, Mike G., and Sherry!

Balanced kitty: Woodstock.

Moab, Utah-DeadHorse State Park - Moab 6/30 - 7/11 2020 Travel Tour "Rock Stars" of Moab

From: casarollnotes.blogspot.com 

Tim and Linda Bunyan

Travel Tour 2020 - The "Rock Stars" of Moab
A day downtown and evening boat cruise in Moab

We take the day to go 'downtown' to the 'gateway to massive red rock formations in Arches National Park': Moab (population: 5,500).  It is a popular base for mountain bikers who ride the extensive network of trails including the Slickrock Trail, and for off-roaders who come for the annual Moab Jeep Safari.

Main Street 4-way street light, downtown Moab where adventurous travelers come.  Since the 1970s tourism has played an increasing role in the local economy.

Moab is an increasingly popular destination for four-wheelers

 This is a sign in the local grocery store checkout line.  This store knows its audience!

Moab's economy was originally based on agriculture but gradually shifted to mining Uranium discovered in 1910 and 1920s.  Potash and manganese came next and then oil and gas were discovered.
After geologist Charles Steen found a rich deposit of uranium ore south of the city, in the 19050s Moab became the so-called "Uranium Capital of the World".  By the end of the cold war, the early 1980s nearly all of the uranium mines had closed.  

Uranium is on its way out: the Uranium Mill Tailings are extracted and moved away from the Colorado River.  This plan is contracted out by the Department of Energy.

 Covid sign: Hand Sanitizer.  Please use it and we will all feel better. Thank you.

 We choose Miguels' Baja Grill for 'meal of the day'.  Excellent and fresh.  Moab is unique with a bit pricey as they have an attentive audience.

 Indoor/Outdoor seating at Miguel's.  Reminds Tim and me of restaurants in Mazatlan.

Eat well and prosper; locally produced food here at the Baja grill tastes better, lasts longer, and supports community farmers and ranchers.

 A sign along the street!  There is a Trump Patriotic Boat Parade on the Sacramento River this weekend.  Sam and Kathy Teresi's boat was filmed for this event and reported on the local news!  (also a Trump Patriotic Boat Parade held in San Diego too)!

The area around Moab served as the Colorado River crossing along the Old Spanish Trail.  LDS settlers attempted to establish a trading fort in 1855 to trade with travelers attempting to cross the river.  Finally, a permanent settlement in 1878 under the direction of Brigham Young Moab was incorporated as a town in 1902.

SEE "About US" on casarollnotes.blogspot.com

NOTE of Tim and Linda Bunyan Travels:

1/1/2009 began RV travel in a 21' Toy Hauler

1/1/2016 we now travel in a 26' Travel Trailer: CasaRoll.

Total Nights: 1130; places: 244.  (per Tim's locations journal).

This is a laundry day with Mike and Sherry and a walkabout downtown Moab.

 

Intrigued with seeing the Colorado River and rock cliffs at night, we chose a Water Tour, Sound & Light Show with Dinner boat cruise.   The dinner is served covid friendly with ample table spacing.

Boat Cruise station and dinner house.

Waiting area at the cruise boat terminal.  History, culture, geology; every National Park has an inspiring story to tell.

 

Canyonlands by Night Tour, the entrance gate to board the cruise boat.

The dining room has seating for covid friendly spacing.

 

All you can eat (and drink) dinner cruise; this rustic bar sets a Moab-friendly atmosphere.

 The evening cruise on Colorado River.

The tour guide is friendly, a native Moab, and tells stories of current events and of the history of Native Americans that roamed in the area for a couple thousands of years.  National parks create jobs, strengthen local economies, and support historic preservation and environmental sustainability.

Mike and Sherry seated across the aisle from us in the cruise boat. 

The different colored rock tells their own story.  Black Rock is an accumulation of manganese oxides that accumulate on the surface of the rock.

 The brown or orange is an accumulation of iron.

Layers of rick include the Wingate (the name of our campground) Sandstone and Mancos Shale.  Rock layers represent over 500 million years of geologic changes. 

 320 million years ago much of Utah was covered by ocean.

The different rock types as young as 100 million years old, 
when dinosaurs roamed the area. 

Sundown and patriotic music and light show begin. 
 A 'must-do' tour to experience this boat cruise under the stars. 

The scenery is dramatic and as the sun sets the story and lights begin with a patriotic message and music.  It is a wonderful experience and one I tell our friends that are joining us next week 'to do' this cruise (Viator Tour Company - $85.00 per person) for an evening of dinner, entertainment, and relaxation with a different perspective of the natural environment.  The tour is a memorable 3 1/2 hours not to be missed.

The 'go-to downtown Moab', we stop at the Moab Brewery and Distillery!
  John and Barbara Webber come to the Moab area, annually, with their group of Rzr friends.  They are familiar with the 4-wheel Trails and the Moab Brewery!
This one is for you!

An oasis in the desert.  The only Microbrewery in town!

Sam and Kathy Teresi always come to mind when Tim and I spot a distillery.  This looks to distill hard alcohol sold inside the Moab Brewery Restaurant.   

 We dine and delight with a flight of beer tastings.  From over the top Hefeweizen to Golden Sprocket, to dark chocolate/coffee-flavored beer.  

With a state liquor license, The distilled hard liquor and mixes are sold 
in the store at the Restaurant which makes an even more accommodating restaurant and pub.
Mike G. bought us a gelato, from a choice of 18 flavors.

Here is a sign at the Moab grocery market: Senior Citizen Parking Only. 

The guys choose to park here, they are with us senior hussies!!

Shuttle to the panoramic mountaintop views at the Sunset Grill Restaurant.  The building is in the former home of Uranium King: Charlie Steen.  The Atomic Energy Commission was offering a $10,000 reward for finding domestic uranium.  Charlie, a geologist searched for three long years.  He with his family nearly destitute he extracted ore samples 240 feet beneath the earth's surface. The ore samples in his broken drill bit hit the Geiger counter and in 1952 Charlie had finally hit his "paydirt."
 

2020 covid sign

Back at our Wyngate Campground at Dead Horse State Park (8 degrees cooler up here).  
Atop the mesa with Moab nearly 30 miles as we look east, just before the backdrop of the La Sal Mountains along the Utah/Colorado border.   The range is part of the southern Rocky Mountains.  We will be crossing over those mountains when we depart here next week to Grand Junction, Colorado

Flowers from Sandy Connelly in the vase given to us from Sherry.