Summer 2006 - Arches and Canyonlands

We were relieved when the fridge was very cold this morning. Unfortunately, it was the last time anything was cold. It was already over 90 degrees when we went shopping at 9 AM. It was 104 when we hit the road and when we stopped for lunch in St. George, UT it was 109 degrees. Oh, and the dash air conditioner in the coach quit. When we stopped for lunch it was 104 inside the coach. For the afternoon we ran the generator and the roof air conditioners and it was better. Also, we were headed into the mountains so it got cooler. When we crossed the summit at 7180 feet, it was down to 85. Due to our late start and loss of an hour when we crossed into Mountain Time, we decided not to drive all the way to Capitol Reef National Park. We stopped in Ridgefield, UT about 60 miles west of the park. It is a lovely, wooded KOA with views of the mountains all around. There’s even a few patches of snow on the high peaks. It was weird to experience 109 degrees and see snow in the same day. We are getting into our camping rhythm, a walk after supper then journaling, photo downloading and reading about tomorrow’s destination.

We drove to Capitol Reef National Park this morning. The red rock formations along the entrance road were awesome. After setting up in the campground we toured the visitor center to lean more about the geology of this place. Armed with maps and vrochures, we headed off to explore. We hiked some at Capital Gorge and Grand Wash but it was mid afternoon with temps in the high nineties. There were dozens of pull offs where one could stop to take pictures or just admire the scenery. We used most of them. After a relaxing dinner, we drove back along the entrance road to photograph the last hour before sunset as the rock formations glowed even more brightly. With the exception of Sunset Point where we found about a dozen people, we had this whole, beautiful park pretty much to ourselves all day.

We went birding along the Fremont River after breakfast and through the apricot orchard originally planted by Mormon settlers in the late 19^th century. We saw White Throated Swifts, Violet Green Swallows, Bullocks Orioles, Baltimore Orioles and a family of Chukars, a small ground bird, in this case, with 13 chicks following behind. We then headed for Arches National Park, 150 miles away. When we stopped for gas along the way, a pickup truck parked next to us with the bed full of little pigs, probably on their way to market. Once at Arches, the campsite we reserved last January is wonderful, with unobstructed views of the mountains and rock formations. After getting settled into the site, we drove into Moab, UT to buy more drinking water (we use a lot in this 90 plus degree weather). We also tried to call the auto glass place in town. The brutal heat has caused a small chip in our Honda windshield to grow into an 18 inch long crack. They are closed on Saturday so we’ll try Monday. Back at the coach, we ate supper at the picnic table and watched the setting sun paint golden colors across the landscape.

We saw much of Arches National Park today in spite of the heat (high 90’s). In the morning we hiked to Pine Tree, Tunnel and Landscape Arches then short hikes to Sand Dune Arch and Broken Arch followed by a drive to the Delicate Arch viewpoint. After lunch and some rest, we drove back to near the park entrance to follow the audio guide CD we rented at the visitor center. The first stop was called “Park Avenue”, a narrow canyon with high red rock walls on both sides, reminiscent of the skyscraper canyons in Manhattan. The two mile hike at Park Avenue was visually wonderful but the 320 foot climb back out of the canyon was exhausting. We enjoyed most of the other sites mentioned on the remainder of CD while staying pretty close to the car to conserve our waning energy. Back at the motorhome we relaxed, had a delightful dinner and went to the ranger program at the campground amphitheatre.

Another wonderful day, mostly in areas adjacent to Arches. First stop was Dead Horse Point State Park. This is a magnificent small park almost 2,000 feet above the Colorado River. We looked down upon hundreds of square miles of eroded landscape with rich red and ochre cliffs, buttes and spires. We then drove to the northern entrance to Canyonlands National Park. A small but informative visitor center gave us a sense of what this park had to offer. Our first stop was Mesa Arch, made more beautiful by the view of eroded red rock seen through the arch opening. We then drove to Grand Vista Point. Once again we were 2,000 feet above the river but this time it was at the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers. The expansive views were awesome with clear views to mountain ranges 35 miles to the south. All of these canyon views made us hungry so we drove back into Moab to the Moab Brewery for a delightful lunch accompanied by local beer and wine. After brief stops at the super market and post office we went back into Arches to see the Windows district that we had skipped yesterday. We hiked to north and South Window, Turret Arch and got a glimpse of Double Arch though it was too hot to hike all the way there. Back at the motorhome we relaxed and watched the sun set across the red rock formations across from our campsite. Rock Wrens, Violet Green Swallows, Kangaroo Rats and Rabbits kept distracting us from our reading. A quiet dinner and an evening of journaling and photo review brought an end to this fabulous day.

Mostly a driving day as we went 300 miles north to Willard Bay State Park. We stopped for lunch at a K Mart along US-6. Unfortunately for them, there is always lots of space in K-Mart parking lots, unlike Wal-Marts that are frequently very busy. We needed a stopping point enroute to Grand Teton National Park and we selected this lovely State Park just a few miles south of the Bear River Migratory Bird refuge that we will explore tomorrow. We seem to have this section of the park to ourselves. There are lots of cottonwood trees (dropping cotton all over the place) and lots of birds. A short walk after supper added ten birds to our trip list.

Another wonderful day. Today was our first full day devoted to birding (hey, we can hear that groaning!!). In the morning we went about 20 miles north to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. The refuge itself has a 12 mile loop road along the dikes separating the various ponds and the last six miles driving towards the refuge offered spectacular birding as well. We saw 42 different species at the refuge including a mother Clark’s Grebe with a baby sitting on her back as she swam, huge flocks of American Avocets in breeding plumage and a ring necked pheasant. On the way out we stopped at the new visitor center. It has only been open since April and it has many informative displays for visitors of all ages. After lunch back at the coach we drove south to Antelope Island State Park. This 15 mile long island is seven miles out in the Great Salt lake, connected by a causeway. The highlights of this park included a pair of Northern Harriers harassing a coyote, a Short Eared owl and a large herd of Bison that roam free around the island. Back to the campground for supper and the usual evening entertainment of journaling and photo review. Sandy has had a very bad day electronically speaking. Her cell phone/PDA battery died and her laptop computer keeps crashing in the heat.