Two Miles and Four Feet from Home: Heading West (Moab, Arches and Capitol Reef)

As usual another great night of sleeping. This time we zipped up all the windows and our tent stayed a bit warmer. Jasper and I got up about 5:30 while Lyn slept in again till 6 am. I fixed Lyn her coffee and cup of noodles and I made PB&J for myself. Since there were no showers we were on the road by 6:30. The plan was to stop back at the cafe we went to yesterday in Alamosa and catch up on the blog, email and all other things internet related. We arrived there about 7 and they were just opening for the day. It was still in the low 60’s so we left Jasper in the car and got some coffee and got caught up on everything. We also charged everything that we own. This coffee shop had great WiFi and their password was love others. How could you not like that. Anyway after about an hour we headed out to the KOA in Moab which is where the Arches National Park is located. This would be about 6.5 hours of driving and as it turned out pretty uneventful. Lots of open views with the occasional small town and very little construction. In other words easy. We did have to climb a few mountain tops and on one of the really steep ones the Prius protested by only letting us go about 35 mph so we got in the right lane and encouraged her the entire way. Finally we made it to the top and as luck would have it there was a scenic overview area. So we pulled in to take in the view and give the Prius a break. After about 5 minutes in rolled the Grandfather Granddaughter side car motorcycle team that we camped with on our first night near Memphis. As it turns out we had been leap frogging each other and even spent the night in one of the same campgrounds. The Granddaughters name is Erika and she calls her grandfather Opa. They are the ones heading all the way to Alaska. As it turns out Erika just got her motorcycle license last April and has been preparing for this trip ever since. They were on their way to Salt Lake City to a Motorcycle rally and then on to Alaska. We exchanged Facebook information so we could follow each others trips. (BTW just saw on her FB page that her motorcycle that her Grandfather had given her just turned over 100,000 miles) Wow! We got back on the road and finally rolled into Moab about 3:30. Our car said it was 102 outside but I later learned that it was actually 105! Yikes this was going to be a hot one. It is a dry heat with no humidity but still crazy hot no matter how you looked at it. Our campsite had a little shade and we had crazy winds that would come through with plenty of dust and sand for everyone. We all just went into slow motion mode and Jasper cut me the occasional look like are we really staying here??!?!??!!? Well the good news was that I had read that even here where the temperatures surpassed 100 during the day the night time temperature was 75. OK so if we could just make it til the sun went down we would be alright. I went and jumped into the pool which was great but once out you quickly heated back up. We even ate cold left overs for dinner so we would not have to use the stove. At 8 PM I noticed it was not any cooler so I looked up the hour by hour temperature. Sure enough the night time low was going to be 75 but this would not occur until 5 am the rest of the night was going to be blistering hot! Yikes we were in for a long one. We finally went to bed at about 9:30. Even with the fan it was crazy hot. We both slept off and on until about 5 am when the temperatures finally lowered.

The next morning we got up about 6 AM. The plan was to see the Arches early leave the camper at the KOA and come back and get it when we were done. The Arches park is currently under road construction which occurs from 7 PM until 7 AM every weeknight. We made a quick breakfast and headed out at 6:40 and arrived at the Arches at about 5 til 7. There was a line about 10 deep so we felt good about that. While we waited for them to open at 7 a few cars went in an open lane and right by where you pay. After about 20 cars went by we decided to join them. The idea of getting in free did not appeal to me since I had already bought two annual passes. As I drove by the unattended gate I held up my annual pass and waved it around like someone showing their backstage pass at a rock concert. I paid a total of $160 for my annual pass dang it. I will be danged if I am not going to show it off. After we passed the gate it was still a few minutes before 7 and the road was not open so they put us in the visitor center parking lot. At 7 on the dot we all were lead out and entered the park. Several of my friends told me how great this park was but I was still not ready for it to be so stunning so quickly. Immediately you rose up towards the park with beautiful colors of red all around you. It actually gave me goosebumps! I have loved so many of our National parks but none have delivered so quickly! We drove around taking it all in and even did a small hike to view the “Delicate” Arch. (Jasper stayed in the car with full AC since it was already about 88 degrees.) We sent several hours driving the loops and taking pictures and then decided we better go get our camper and head to Bryce Canyon. We will be back to this park for sure. Words and pictures will never do it justice. Click here for a short video of just one small part of the Arches. As we drove out the lines had formed at the entrance and we were so glad we went early. We had a bout a 4.5 hour drive ahead of us to Bryce Canyons and our route would take us right through the middle of Capitol Reef National Park. I will have to be honest I had never even heard of this park but loved the idea of seeing a bonus park while on the way to our next destination. The roads we traveled where mostly desolate with only a few cars here and there. It was beautiful the entire way. We arrived at Capital Reef National park and attempted to take a picture at the entrance sign but it was already 100 and no one else was around so we took a really bad selfie and got back in the car. On the way to the visitor center we really marveled at how the scenery had changed. Lyn commented that it looked like we were on Mars. It really did look like how Mars is depicted in the movies. Finally we came across the visitor center and saw a sign for a campground. I commented to Lyn that with these temperatures you could not even give a campsite away. We went in and used the bathrooms and took a look around. Finally we headed out. When I looked up I saw a sign that said picnic area ¾ mile ahead. This was not the direction we would be going but with it being so close we decided to give it a look. Maybe we could make our lunches in a covered area and hop back in the car. We drove toward the picnic area and went over a small hill. Much to our surprise we saw a huge picnic areas with large trees and tons of green grass something we had not seen in almost a week. As it turns out a small river runs right through the area and totally changes a dessert into an oasis. We could not believe our luck. We got all of picnic items and went to a table that was placed under a beautiful cottonwood tree. There was even a nice breeze! After lunch we almost hated to go but Bryce Canyon was calling us….or was it. The campground was only ¼ of a mile more so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be just like the picnic area. As we drove through we noticed a lot of the sites were available so we decided to just stay put for the day and enjoy this park. The campsites were grassy and had plenty of shade. Once we picked our site I went back and paid $20 for this beautiful site. What a deal. After we got settled in a park ranger came by and asked us how long we would be here. We told him only one night and he gave us suggestions on what to do. He said the thing we must do is the 20 mile scenic loop. He said the last 5 miles are on gravel but not to let that stop us from continuing on. He promised a reward if we did. He also said there was a little store that sold homemade pies and we should get one before we left. (Will do Mr. Ranger man on both accounts!) We thanked him and then walked down to the river and cooled off a bit. We met a young couple camping across from us that was also on a National Park Tour. The had bought a Ford Transit van and converted it into a camping van. It was awesome in just about every way. They just bought it three months ago and outfitted it in a month and have been on the road ever since. They were coming from the direction we were going and gave us some great advice on Mt Zion and even told us about some trails that allowed dogs. In the late afternoon we headed out for the scenic drive. It was absolutely stunning. Eventually we hit the gravel trail and things started to get really interesting. First of all the road narrowed and all of the walls came closer. You really felt like you were exploring another planet. The speed limit was only 10 mph so you could easily take it all in. I do not have word to explain how awesome this was and our pictures will not do it justice. All I can say is at sometime in your life please make The Capital Reef National park your destination and do not leave until you have gone on the scenic tour and whatever you do ….do not stop and turn around when the roads turn to gravel. You deserve to see this place in all of its beauty! We headed back to camp and were greeted with cooler temperatures. We had a great dinner cooked by Lyn and decided to head into town to get some ice. It was only about 15 minutes away and had a kind of crazy fun feel to it. Once we gout back we headed over to the amphitheater which was only about a 5 minute walk from our campsite. Tonight's show was about space and as it turns out this park has a lot of things in common with Mars and many of the other planets. The ranger even said that NASA tests some of their land rovers here just outside the park. After the show it was about 10 pm and the stars had come out as only they can when you are away from city lights. We went to bed with a chill in in the air and a pure appreciation of a little sign that said picnic area ¾ a mile down the road! Signing off for now. Hitting the road in the morning for Bryce canyon National Park.