The next leg of our journey took us further down the Colorado River, away from the land to which the mighty river owes its name, and into the great state of Utah. Our first stop in the Beehive State was in the fun little town of Moab which has become a Mecca for RVers across the country thanks to its warm/dry climate and proximity to several prominent national/state parks.
Although Moab’s reputation is sky-high in the RV community, our campsite, “OK RV Park,” left room to be desired when it came to marketing. However, despite the unfortunate name, we found this RV park to be more than just “ok” – especially considering the dirt-cheap rates.
Speaking of rates, while booking our trip to Moab, we noticed that several RV parks and campgrounds categorized our stay period as “off-season” which we found to be strange considering it was the middle of summer. Upon arrival, we quickly realized why we were getting a discount – it was friccin hot! Temperatures exceeded 100° every day of our visit and really put our new AC system to the test right out of the gate. Fortunately, everything held up and we managed to have a great time during our short visit.
We also had the good fortune of picking a fun initial activity that also partially mitigated the intense heat. Once the worst of the afternoon heat had passed, we made our way to the Grandstaff trail on the north side of Moab, a five mile out-and-back trail along the lush creek bed lining the bottom of Grandstaff Canyon which provided plenty of much-appreciated shade thanks to an ample supply of trees and cliffsides.
Stream crossings and rock scrambles highlighted the lower part of the hike, but the real payoff came at the end when we arrived at the massive Morning Glory Natural Bridge, the 5th longest spanning natural bridge in the world.
We opted to spend the next day resting up and taking in what downtown Moab had to offer. Following a pleasant dinner at Arches Thai (our first time eating out in months, dumb corona), we grabbed some ice cream and wandered around for a bit. We remember being struck by how many people were out and about. After months of lockdowns and social distancing, it felt good to see humanity remerging from its shell and gradually return to “normalcy.”
Our last day in Moab was spent exploring some of the breathtaking landscapes that the nearby public lands have to offer. Our first stop was Dead Horse Point State Park.
Although this area has little in terms of hiking, it more than makes up for it in terms of views, as you can see.
After feeding peanuts to a gang of the local chipmunks, we enjoyed a picnic for ourselves before moseying our way back south to Arches National Park. Since we planned on hitting several more national parks along our journey, we opted to buy an America the Beautiful Pass on our way into the park which gives us free access to any other national park or monument for a full calendar year. Pass in hand, we beelined our way to Arches’ most famous natural bridge – Delicate Arch.
This hike wasn’t our favorite, if we’re being honest. However, much of that is entirely on us since we decided to hit the trail right at the peak of the afternoon heat with temperatures in the triple digits. Sam’s face was as red as a cherry by the time we made it to the arch!
Our time in Moab was over before we knew it. We could have explored the area for weeks, but we had a schedule to stick to and we needed to be hitting the road if we wanted to make it to Boise by early August. We were once more heading west, right into the heart of Mormon country.