USA Road Trip Day 12 DeadHorse > Canyonlands > Tremonton,UT

Our last day in Utah starts sunny, cloudless and warm promising to move to hot. We pack-up and leave as we have another day of park visiting on tap as well as roughly 4 hours plus of driving…..

…last views of Moab…..a gateway town, like Banff but a lot more primitive…

Our first stop is Dead Horse Point Overlook some 32 miles (53 kms) from Moab…

The Colorado River cuts its way through the rock and carves the horseshoe-shaped bend in the river, as well as the surrounding canyon. Interestingly, though, this is not how the point got its name. Cowboys used the canyon to herd wild horses, trapping them by blocking the entrance then taking the best of the lot and leaving the rest to die >>>> hence the name. The outlook is stunning !!

As we carry on we pass some pumpjacks ….rather meagre in comparison to Texas, but that is probably a good thing…

…then onwards to Canyonlands National Park …..

The park itself is set in the high desert, the canyons, mesas, buttes, and arches have been slowly shaped by water, gravity, and the elements over millions of years. Canyonlands has a decidedly wild, unrefined feel. The rock formations and desert landscape have a harsher, rougher feel than its nearby neighbor, Arches National Park. We are visiting one of the four districts of the park called Island in the Sky. Although not an island, but rather a mesa, with access to the sweeping landscapes of the 1,000-foot canyon down below. This section of the park being the most visited… ……a beautiful park but it can be hazardous to ones health….it is easy to underestimate the heat and the warm winds, which actually accelerates dehydration:

 

There are some incredible roads for 4×4 vehicles stretching deep into the Shafer Canyon …..perhaps another time……

Today we only have time for two short hikes and driving the scenic 34-mile round trip scenic drive along the top of the Island in the Sky Mesa. Quite simply, the scenic overlooks are awe-inspiring.

First stop is at the Upheaval Dome.. which is an impact structure, the deeply eroded bottom-most remnants of a crater….

A simple walk but rather pleasant…..

Along the scenic drive, we then stop at the must-see Mesa Arch Trailhead. The easy trail is about half a mile and takes about 30 minutes round trip….longer if you spend time gawking….

The trees in the desert and along the Mesa Arch trail are weathered and worn characters! The severe conditions create curved, bent, craggy trees that are simply trying to survive in a region that sees less than 10 inches of rain per year…….

There’s an incline, but it’s gradual and descends back down a bit as you get closer to the arch…..tried to get a pic behind the arch but the drop off is seriously serious !!

Spots like these in the National Parks help to remind us of our place in the natural order. Canyonlands did this with ease. The landscape inspires and lends itself to quiet reflection with how vast it is!

At the trailhead time for a nature break …. and pic of instructions on how to use a toilet…..for the careful readers of this blog, please note the particularly useful #2 instruction, namely, not to stand on the toilet whilst doing ones business……good use of taxpayer dollars, unless of course the parks folk are expecting aliens…

Now it was time to get the bus going……our objective is to get as far as possible without getting exhausted….

Traffic around Salt Lake City is heavy but not grim and we drive on taking advantage of the HOV lane…….slowly but surely we move on and finally decide to stop in the megalopolis of Tremanton……another mom and pop, throwback motel > Marble Motel….

…not a looker, but actually clean, comfortable bed and relatively price friendly. Supper was at McDonald’s …yes, pathetic, but the alternatives did not look much more promising…….. then sleep time….