Moab, Utah

Where: Moab, UT and surrounding areas

When: September 3-6, 2010

Who: M and myself 

That was awesome: The red rock formations, Arches National Park, mountain biking

That sucked: The heat, running out of water

If my “Can we go can we go please please please” place was Great Sand Dunes National Park, for M it was Moab. A tiny southern Utah town that was once dubbed the “Uranium Capital of the World”, Moab has a colorful history. It has served as a Colorado River crossing along the Old Spanish Trail, a Mormon trading fort, a mining town, a hotspot of growth during the Cold War nuclear area, a popular filming location for TV and movies, and – most importantly to us – a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts. Every year, an estimated MILLION people visit this small town to hike, mountain bike, ride ATVs or go Jeeping, canyoneer, rock climb, or simply stand in awe of the beautiful red rock formations that make up the area. Ranked as one of the top places in the world to mountain bike, M had been positively salivating over hitting the trails in Moab with his recently purchased Trek Remedy 8. Me, I’m still riding a hardtail (Trek WSD 6000), so while I thought I might try a few of the easier trails, I was really looking forward to hiking in Arches National Park and just relaxing outside for a few days.

It's apparently some kind of tradition to put a sticker on the Moab signs.

We had every intention of hitting the ground running, so to speak, when we arrived on Friday, but ended up just eating dinner and drinking a few local beers at Moab Brewery. Utah is a very lovely state, but its policies annoy the hell out of me – the pour tax on beer is ridiculous, and the 10% sales tax rivals larger, more expensive places like Washington, DC. At least you can buy booze after 7pm, which you were unable to do in the late 90s. (Utah has a history of bizarre and byzantine liquor laws.) The beer at Moab Brewery is quite good. We both had a German kolsch that was extremely yummy and hit the spot after a long day of driving in the late summer heat. The food was reasonably priced and tasty as well.

Saturday, we woke up early and I drove M down to Chile Pepper Bikes, where he was to meet a shuttle that would take him up into the La Sal mountains. Let me express to you that I was rather concerned my husband was going to kill himself. He’s a very good mountain biker, but I’d been seeing images like this and this, and I was pretty sure he was going to careen off a cliff and leave me a widow. It did not reassure me that when I told him to be careful, his response was to nod his head impatiently and mutter, “Man, I hope my bike survives okay.” You can see where his priorities are.

He rode The Whole Enchilada, a 26-mile epic adventure beginning above the tree line and covering 7000ft of downhill, as it descends through the La Sals down to the Colorado River basin. M loved the ride, but unfortunately couldn’t finish the whole thing – not for lack of athletic ability, but simply because he ran out of water and the 96 degree temperature was slowly turning him into a mummy. (We have later discovered that salt tablets are M’s best friend when mountain biking.) I, being a much more sane and much less skilled biker, rode some of the “Brand” trails north of town. These trails – spelling out M-O-A-B – are supposed to be some of the easier rides, but they still kicked my ass. Incredibly fun and pretty though.

Sunday was Arches National Park day, where I took approximately 200 pictures of various types of red rocks. When I told some friends that we had gone to Moab, the first thing they thought of was Aron Ralston, but I assured them that we managed to not have any of our appendages trapped under boulders.

Like with Great Sand Dunes, I totally underestimated the power of the heat in Moab. I thought, “Hey, I’m from Colorado, we get 300+ days of sunshine and live in a high mountain desert, this should be no problem.” Um, no. I don’t know if those red rocks act as heat amplifiers or what, but it was approximately the temperature of the sun. I thought I was melting into a little puddle of goo and failure. M was worried we’d run out of gas while driving around the gas-station-less Arches National Park, so we turned off the air conditioner to improve our mileage. The result was wind that was the approximate temperature of the sun blowing in my face. Here’s a learning point: Get gas BEFORE you enter the national parks.

At any rate, there are some truly beautiful formations in the park. The whole area reminded me of ancient ruins. I’ve never been to Rome, but that’s what I kept thinking of as we drove. The canyon walls, spires, and fins all had the feel of antiquity about them, a notion of something very old and very grand that had been weathered by millennia. I could imagine it being a giant’s city, full of grandeur, broken down by time and the elements. I was thoroughly in love.

And now prepare yourself for a selection of my 200 pictures of red rocks.

The Moab fault line, and the highway that parallels it.

Courthouse formation (I think)

More of the Courthouse area

I thought these looked like statues of people.

I was obsessed with this formation. I took like a dozen pictures of it.

Totally look like ruins.

We thought this looked like a lion head. Or maybe a sheep's head. You decide.

Another one of my favorite formation.

Petrified sand dunes with La Sals in the background.

Balancing rock.

Cairns stones.  These mark the trails.

Close up of Balancing Rock.

M & I in front of Windows Arches

Windows Arches.  We thought it looked like a face.

Turret Arch

Red rock fins.

Delicate Arch.  This is on the Utah license plates.

I don't even know, it's just beautiful.

Cute pronghorn statues in front of the visitor's center

Big horn sheep statue in front of visitor's center.

After a few short hikes, the heat got the better of me and I had to call it quits. We returned back to our bed and breakfast, the Castle Valley Inn. This place was phenomenal. It is 17 miles north of Moab, so going into town required about a 30-minute one-way drive, but it was totally worth it. The grounds were beautiful, a small cadre of deer lounged alongside us on the grass (sadly, I never had my camera on me when they were around), and the breakfasts were filling and delicious. As we drove back to the B&B, we followed the Colorado River through twisting canyons, and every time I had an incredible desire to go jump in the river and swim, possibly motivated by the fact that I thought I was going to succumb to spontaneous human combustion soon.

Castle Valley Inn B&B

View from the front of the B&B

Grounds of the B&B

This was basically the view from our window.

La Sals

So that's basically what M rode down.

Colorado River.  The water felt reaaally nice.

I love rivers, and have many fond memories of swimming in them. I learned to swim in the creek behind my grandparents’ house, and I spent many summer days freezing my butt off in the 38-degree waters of the Gallatin River in Montana when I was young. Alas, this time, I had a still-healing wound on my leg, and I figured swimming in the river with all its biological glory would probably not be a good idea. I settled for wading out into the water and then bitching about not being able to swim for several hours.

Monday came all too soon, and we grudgingly left our lovely B&B and the beauty of Moab behind. We had not made it out to Canyonlands National Park or Dead Horse Point State Park, but both of us were so utterly smitten with the area that I’m sure we’ll be back soon. We stopped in Palisade, Colorado on the way home to sample the wares at Peach Street Distillers (the Dagave is especially good) and pick up some Western Slope peaches. Dear god, these peaches were the size of softballs. It was insane.

As we drove home, there was, as usual, an ungodly amount of traffic coming through the high country back into Denver on I-70. I mean traveling-at-walking-speed-making-you-fantasize-about-either-rear-ending-the-car-in-front-of-you-or-possibly-seeing-if-a-2007-Mitsubishi-Galant-can-turn-into-an-off-road-vehicle kind of ungodly traffic. We stopped for gas in Georgetown, and flippantly decided to see where the frontage road took us. Which was straight into a “Road Closed” sign. The intrepid drivers in front of us, however, simply drove around the sign and continued along the road. We decided to follow suit, and I instantly determined that the vehicle in front of us knew where he was going. Why? Because he had a purple girl’s Specialized bike strapped to the back, along with some other bikes, and for some reason this made me believe he had an infallible sense of direction. I named him “Jeep Man,” despite the fact that he wasn’t actually driving a Jeep, and he became my unwavering guide through the twisty side roads of Summit and Clear Creek counties. In the end, my faith in Jeep Man was justified, and we made it home with relative ease.

(If anyone is interested, all of our pictures from Moab can be seen here.)

Bottom line: There is something for everyone in Moab, but if you enjoy getting out and hitting the trails in one form of conveyance or another, you need to come to this place. It’s a remarkably beautiful area, but, as you might expect, a little touristy, including the higher prices that go along with it. Still, it’s not to be missed.

Recommendations:

Castle Valley Inn B&B – A BIG yes. Room was very comfortable and affordable, compared to similar accommodations in Moab, staff was unfailingly nice and helpful, and overall just a beautiful place. I never wanted to leave their hammock.

Moab Brewery – Yes. Good prices and good food. Be prepared for crowds on weekend evenings, although if you don’t mind eating in the bar, like we did, the wait isn’t bad. If you order a beer, for an extra 50 cents you get a keepsake glass.

Slickrock Café – Yes. Prices are good, and the food is decent.

Arches National Park – YES. You cannot describe this place, and it’s a testament to how amazing it is that there were tourists from literally all over the world. If you fly from, say, Japan into Salt Lake City, then drive another 200 miles for something, you know it’s impressive.  One thing to note: The park does NOT allow dogs on the trails.  For this reason, we boarded Bella.

Coyote Shuttle – Yes. M said they were good.

Peach Street Distillers (Palisade, CO) – Yes. A little pricey, but the stuff is made from locally grown ingredients, and was pretty damn good.

Nearest services: Moab has pretty much everything, except no big-box stores like Target or Walmart. There are a couple grocery stores (City Market and Village Market), drug stores and hardware stores, anything you could ever need for outdoor activities, and a decently sized independent bookstore lives downtown. No services in surrounding areas.

Required activity level: For mountain biking, even the easy trails require a moderate level of aerobic fitness, although the ones I rode were not very technical. The more advanced trails require both higher levels of aerobic fitness and technical ability. For hiking, almost anyone can hike the easy, shorter trails in Arches. Just be sure to bring a lot of water and sunscreen. 

Weird, I didn't take any photos of flowers on this trip.  

Great Sand Dunes National Park

Where: Great Sand Dunes National Park, near Alamosa, CO
When: August 20-22, 2010
Who: M, myself, our mutt Bella, and assorted other friends 
That was awesome: The dunes, in every way
That sucked: The heat of the sand, not being able to swim in San Luis lakes

So M and I had a plan this year, to see a couple things within driving distance that we always wanted to see.  For me, that was Great Sand Dunes National Park.  I was absolutely enthralled with the idea of enormous mounds of sand in the middle of southern Colorado.  

Great Sand Dunes, with Sangre de Cristo mountain range in the background

Covering about 19,000 acres and estimated to be about 12,000 years old, the dunes, the tallest in North America, are the country's newest national park.  And as my friend D said, "They generally don't make things that are lame into national parks."  Wise words indeed.  You can read a lot about the dunes on the Wiki entry, but one thing I thought was cool was how the dunes are formed by a perpetual cycle between wind and sand deposits from the nearby streams.  It's like a giant engine that keeps picking up the sand and putting it back on the dunes.

Despite a delayed start, getting there was fairly easy.  Google’s directions were accurate and the place is well marked.  Pinyon Flats is a nice campground, with modern toilets and a sink for washing dishes, as well as drinking water.  The sites themselves are large and nicely spaced from each other, which is very important to me because one thing I hate about car camping is feeling like I’m on top of the people next to me.  Plus, we tend to drink and get loud, and that just doesn’t end well for anyone.  Don’t eff with the regulations or park rangers though – we got yelled at because one of our tents was not on top of the super special box edged by pieces of wood that designated the tent pad.  Apparently we were killing vegetation, and by vegetation, I mean dirt.

One thing to note: The reserved campsites at Pinyon Flats Campground book up FAST.  I made reservations in March, and the first weekend I could get was August 20-22.  Do not underestimate the drawing power of enormous mounds of sand. The campground also boasts a rather impressive view of the dunes, and you can hike directly to them from the campsite, which is nice.

View from our campsite

The primary point of this trip was to hike the dunes and for me to roll around in the sand, because I am evidently a 5 year old.  We met up with some friends at the visitor’s center and then began the hike out to the dunes.  At first, you’re like, “Oh, this isn’t so bad, it’s kind of like a beach.”  But then you realize that it’s like a beach that’s located at 8500ft elevation and ascends, sometimes near vertically, another 700ft to the top.  In which case it’s the most ass-kicking beach you’ve ever seen.

A small part of the dunes, cast in shadow.

 

Yeah, those little dots are people.

I really underestimated the difficulty of hiking up enormous mounds of sand.  I also underestimated the sun and how quickly the sand heats up.  Learn from my experience – take much more water than you think you need and start earlier than you think you should.  We started out about 9:30am, and by 11, the temperature on the sand was probably about 120 degrees.  My poor, poor mutt suffered most, as I didn’t think to bring her booties, and the sand burned her paws a little.  (Don’t worry, she’s okay, I just felt like a horrible pet parent for the rest of the day.) 

Ultimately, though, it’s totally worth the effort and the heat and sliding backwards every time you take a step up a sandy mountain-hill-from-hell.  There aren’t words – or even pictures, really – that can capture how truly amazing the dunes are.  It’s like someone just picked up part of the Sahara and dropped it north of Alamosa.  Framed by the Sangre de Cristo mountains, it’s a really ethereal experience.

Dunes and Sangre de Cristos

I must give credit for the summit pictures to my fellow trekkers, who continued on after M and I turned around. We were nearly out of water, and Bella (mutt) was starting to really struggle with the heat of the sand, so we descended the dunes and sought refuge in the shade.  Until that point though, Bella really loved romping and rolling in the sand. 

View from the top of the dunes, where you can see that they stretch forever.

Looking east.  This was take from lower down on the dunes.

Footprints in the sand

Sunset over the dunes, as seen from our campsite

 The most annoying thing about the trip was that, after hiking the dunes and getting all hot and sandy, we all really wanted to go for a swim.  There are some lakes nearby, at San Luis State Park, but, while you can partake of boating, water skiing, wakeboarding, or other aquatic activities, you cannot swim in the lakes.  Yeah, we didn’t understand it either.  There is a geothermal pool, but it charges $10 admission, and we decided that we’d rather sit around in the shade drinking beer instead.

We forgot to bring sleds, which is totally my next to-do item, because sliding down the dunes, as you can image, appealed enormously to my inner 5-year-old.  However we were able to amuse ourselves by sliding around on our butts and listening to the creepy creaking noise the sand makes while doing so.  Hey, just because I’m nearly 30, I never said I was an adult. 

Bottom line: The dunes are an amazing experience, and should appeal to everyone from kids through adults.  Be prepared for heat, the difficulty of hiking on sand, and remember to protect the paws of your furry companions!

Recommendations:

Pinyon Flats Campground – Yes, but be prepared for crowds and definitely make a reservation well in advance if you can’t make it down in the early morning for the first-come, first-serve spots.  Weekends are probably more crowded than weekdays.   Overall a nice place.

Nearest services: We drove into Alamosa for beer and a Safeway run.  That’s probably your best bet.  There is also, as I kept gleefully reminding my camping cohorts, a Wal-Mart in Alamosa (it’s a running joke between my cousins and myself, as they grew up near Alamosa and the Wal-Mart was a BIG EFFING DEAL when it was built.)

Required activity level: You either need to be of at least an intermediate activity level or willing to take a long time to hike the dunes.  It’s not the distance or the elevation, but rather the struggle to hike uphill in something that slides backwards when you step on it.  It took us about 2.5 hours to summit.  However, there were people of all ages and activity levels simply playing around and enjoying the dunes, so if you don’t feel the need to summit, you’ll be fine.  The park does provide specially designed wheelchairs to use on the sand for people who need them as well, which I thought was pretty cool. 

Prairie sunflower.  Because I habitually take a lot of pictures of flowers.

Up Next: Moab, Utah