Unfortunately, just before we were ready to hit the road, the rain came down in buckets again. If we hadn't been on relatively high ground, I'd have been worried about a flash flood. It was no good trying to start out in such a mess, so we sat and waited until it eased again, at around ten - a good hour later than we'd hoped to start.
The rain was steady until we were about half way to Moab, then it began to trail off. As we rode between towering Mesas, our gear and our bikes slowly began to dry. We reached Moab, on the sunny side of the storm, a little before eleven, and pulled over on a side street to shed our rain-proof layer. I was warm and dry, except for my feet. I really have to replace these boots. They're great when it's dry, but crap in the rain.
We rode to Arches in warm sunshine, and our moods were definitely much improved from the time spent in Monticello, which is not a bad little town, playing the sort of role in relation to Moab that Castlegar does in relation to Nelson.
After stopping at the visitor centre so I could pick up some more stickers for my bags, we rode into the park on a narrow, winding road that, once again, would be brilliant if there were no cars on it. We pulled in at the Courthouse Tower Viewpoint to take photos. The immensity of the mesas is stunning, as is the copper red of their sandstone.
After a few minutes of walking around taking pictures, we got back on the bikes and rode till we reached the turn-off for Delicate Arch. Unfortunately, when we reached the parking area we found the trail had been flooded by the rains the previous night, and we had to turn back.
We continued along until we got to the parking area for Sandstone Arch and Broken arch. We pulled in and got out of our riding gear so we could hike in to the arches.
Sandstone was first, and was hidden between to narrow, towering mesas. We hiked in between them to the arch, took some photos, then hiked in further, until the path became too narrow for us. (Big shoulders, you know.)
We hiked back out, and headed off for the more distant Broken Arch, which we could see in the distance. We followed a very recently dried creek bed, which looked like it would be thigh or waste deep on me in a flash-flood, picking our way between sage and prickly pear, careful not to step on the beetles that occasionally scuttled across our path. There were many people on the trail, though not the tour bus loads of them that were at Mesa Verde yesterday. One of the best things about Arches is just how uncommercialized it is, especially compared to Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore and Mesa Verde.
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| Ringo? |
After a decent, but not overly strenuous hike, we arrived at Broken Arch, so named because it appears to have a fracture in it. (The creativity is astounding, no?) It was much larger than Sandstone Arch, and large enough to be visible from at least a half mile away.
We climbed up the sandstone to the base of the arch, and walked through it, taking pictures both of it and the surrounding landscape. It was astonishing. The whole park makes you wish you were riding a horse in a Western movie, six guns in your holster, squinting into the sun like Clint Eastwood.
After riding and hiking around Arches for a couple of hours, we headed back to Moab for lunch at the Moab Brewery, before gassing up the bikes and heading North to the I-70.
I could have spent another week just in Moab, exploring the two National Parks and two State Parks they have handy; mountain biking, off-roading, sky-diving, river rafting. But there is only so much time, and I'm just grateful the weather cooperated with us today, so we didn't have to miss this like we did Chaco.
Once on the I-70, we made good time heading West. The speed limit is 75 mph, which is fairly reasonable, and we kept close to it for most of the way to the junction with the I-15.
Most interstates are not known for their scenic splendour, but the I-70 is an exception. Towering mesas, on either side, the road has sweeping curves, and is a great ride when you need to make time without making you feel like you've missed out on scenery.
We pulled in at one of the many viewpoints to take some photos of Black Dragon Canyon, but otherwise we were all business. It's a four-and-a-half hour ride from Moab to Cedar City, where we'd booked a room, and we didn't leave Moab till half past three. Sunset is around half past seven now, and we didn't want to spend a lot of time riding in the dark. Not only are there deer, which seem to have suicidal ideations involving motor vehicles, but it also gets cold at night. Even colder at 80, I mean 75 mph.
We arrived here in Cedar City at about eight, and checked in to our hotel, exhausted but happy that, after an initially dismal start to the day, we had such good luck with weather. Tomorrow, we'll try to get in Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park before heading to Las Vegas for the night.
Colin is currently working on the next video, which will feature Mesa Verde and Arches. Stay tuned for that!
Oh, and yesterday Google miscalculated our mileage as just over 240 km. It should have been roughly 325 km.
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