On Sunday, October 18th, we left the cozy comforts of the Wyndham Pagosa and, for the first time on this trip, set out in the morning not knowing exactly where we were staying that night. I had tried to make reservations at the campground at Arches National Park but it was too late, so I did some research on the area and found potential campsites all over the place. We reassured ourselves that it was Sunday and most people would be gone, and tried not to think about one websites' helpful information that mid-October was one of the most popular times to visit. We had plans to visit Mesa Verde on the way up to the Moab area and we decided to go through with those even though it's a LONG way from the park entrance to where the cliff dwellings are. With only an hour or so, we opted for the Spruce Tree House site which is near the visitors' center. It's a fascinating place: of course there were people everywhere but that actually made it easier to imagine the prospect of living with maybe 80 next-door neighbors under the protective cliff overhang.
We left Mesa Verde at 2 or so and anticipated getting to Moab at 5-ish. However, we saw the south turnoff for Canyonlands National Park around 4 and decided to try there for a campsite: all the sites are first-come, first-served so we figured we had a fighting chance. The problem with that entrance to the park is that you have to drive about 20 miles through private land before you even get to the park boundary, and then there's another few miles to the ranger station...where you find out if you get a campsite or not. The suspense was building but the land we were driving through was so stunning that we just decided to stop worrying altogether. And - we got the last site of the day! The very nice ranger phoned in and determined that we could camp in the group campsite with 2 other couples that had just arrived since they (the rangers) were fairly sure that there were no groups coming. We found the site, got set up and ate dinner, and wandered out to take some photos of the sunset. That night, there was a talk about the history of the area and the people who had lived there before it was made into a park - cattle ranchers, uranium prospectors, and a woman who founded a spiritual community - all fascinating personalities, of course.
Monday morning, after getting up for the sunrise, we decided to go over to Moab and Arches, after moving all of our stuff to a regular campsite. It was about an hour drive to Moab - we stopped at Newspaper Rock on our way out of the park - and by the time we got there we were ready for lunch, so we stopped at the Moab Brewery which had good beer (even if it was 3.2%) and several vegetarian options. Arches is only a couple miles north of Moab and it is much more crowded than Canyonlands. We stopped at the Visitor's Center and decided that we had time to see Balanced Rock and the Windows along with a few stops here and there. Arches is completely different than Canyonlands; mostly, you drive along and almost everything you want to see is a short walk from the road. Sometimes you can even see whatever it is from the road. It's still a beautiful landscape with fascinating views in every direction, but we quickly decided we prefer remoteness to accessibility. On the way back to Canyonlands, we stopped and got provisions for the next couple days. There might have been gelato as well...
We knew that it was supposed to rain on Tuesday, but we didn't know when, so after breakfast we planned an expedition over to the visitor's center to see what the weather forecast was. Before we left, I realized that somehow my camera battery had run out so we took that along and I plugged it in next to the sink in the women's room. Then I hung around nervously watching people going in and out and checking it every few minutes. Fortunately, I also had an excellent view of the approaching thunderstorm which was really spectacular - I believe William has a few photos of the clouds rolling in. We made it back to camp just before it really started raining and spent a couple of hours huddled in the tent while the wind blew and it poured and lightninged and thundered directly over our heads. The tent, happily, only leaked a little bit and most of the water came in over our feet instead of our heads so that was easy to take care of. Afterwards, we ventured out and went over to Big Spring and Pothole Point for an hour or so of hiking - we overheard one man saying that this was the 5th time he'd been to Canyonlands and it had never rained on him before. So, in a way I think we were lucky. We got back to our campsite just in time for another rain shower: fortunately, our site included a very large rock outcropping that had a ledge hanging over part of it. So, we moved everything up on the rock, cooked dinner while watching the rain, and ate while the sun was coming out and setting...all while staying perfectly dry.
Wednesday, we packed up the car and headed over to Cave Spring for a last round of hiking. Again, I really do think we were lucky - I have some photos from this hike of patterns in the mud and sand and of potholes with water in them, and none of those would have happened without the rain the day before. We left about noon, stopped at the Needles Overlook which was so windy we couldn't stand to be outside the car for more than a few minutes, and got back to Moab around 3 where we had a hotel room (with a shower! there are no showers at Canyonlands...) for the night. Moab has not one but three excellent bookstores and a respectable, not-too-touristy downtown area, so we spent a while there before having dinner at - surprise! - Moab Brewery. That night, I downloaded all my photos and backed everything up on our external hard drive, and that is why I have photos for the next post instead of a very sad tale of how all that beautiful scenery is lost forever.
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