Moab Utah.... Adventure Capital of America

I don't know if that title is real or not, but driving down the main street sure makes me think it should be. Every shop, minus 1 lawyer and a candy store, was a canyoneering, rock climbing, outdoor gear, rafting or mountain biking specialty shop... We stayed in a nice little RV campground just north of town for 2 nights and had 2 days of exploring Arches NP and Canyonlands NP.
Going into Arches NP, there is a pull off on the side of the road that shows the Moab Fault. With a geologist in the rig, you can expect to stop to have a look. Not only that, but we could see a busy mining group across the highway actively pulling out some copper. The fault caused a big difference in the height of the cliffs on each side of the highway and you could clearly see the layers of rock. Continuing on, there was Park Avenue which was a little wash (occassional river that is mostly dry, but is where the flood waters roar through) illustrating the errosion process. Matt and I took a little over an hour to walk down the wash and back and he explained the errossion properties of the different layers of rock. As we got deeper in the park, the Arches became the center piece of the landscapes and views. Years of water being trapped in the rocks, freezing and then expanding to create cracks in the sandstone created these amazing formations.

Now the funny thing is, up until this point I had drafted back during our trip, however, I failed to ever post it... and not only that, I never finished drafting about our trip... so from this point on, I am working on memories and things will probably be just an overview rather than the detail you've seen so far.

We spent the whole day at Arches, enjoyed a spectacular desert sunset and then headed back to camp. The next day, we packed everything up and went to Canyonlands NP which is just a few miles past Arches and on the otherside of the highway. We had some very cold and windy conditions, but it didn't stop us from finding some incredible views. This one here is looking south towards the confluence of the Green & Colorado Rivers which as you know, continue on to create the Grand Canyon. So really, this is the start of an incredible geological formation that is millions of years old. Looking down onto the first 'platform' you can see winding wagon trails. These are now protected and the tracks you see were created by the settlers/prospectors and remain because of the harsh conditions in the desert cause nature to heal so very slowly.


From Moab, there are a ton of other places to see, but we headed out from Canyonlands to head towards Capitol Reef NP.