Utah vacation, Day 6, Arches National

Moab

Advice if you go to Moab in September - Book ahead of time!!  It was a good thing we had made reservations.  We were lucky to find a room. The hotels in Moab are able to charge a hefty price - almost double from other places (luckily we had points we used to get it more than half price). 

We would never have guessed that September was one of the busiest seasons.  School has started, so you wouldn't think so.  But tourists come from all over the world.  Summer time is very hot in Utah and we were told that September and October are prime months. 

While we were checking in, a young couple came and told that the hotel was booked full.  You could tell that this wasn't the first place they had stopped.  The wife was looking pretty discouraged.  Hope they didn't have to sleep in their car!

After a good nights rest, we drove to Arches National Park, just on the edge of town.  Arches has the largest concentration of natural stone arches in the world - more than 2,500!! 

 So many balanced rocks too.  How does this happen!?

We were able to drive through it all in about 3 hours.  We got out of the car a few times.  I wasn't physically up to hiking this day (except a couple short ones), which was a little disappointing, but it was just beautiful to drive.

We ran into our first Japanese visitors.  Usually you can run into lots of Japanese, but this time, just 2 couples from Nagoya and Sendai.  We took their picture and they took ours.  Fun to speak Japanese with them!

We stopped at this spot.  There were a few picnic tables set up here so we had our lunch.  I was so glad I had packed lots of lunches for this week.  We had the last of it at this place.

This little bird (possibly a Lazuli Bunting?  The mate had an orange breast) was also scratching for his lunch.  

If one would want to, you could come to Moab and spend a week here; hiking, biking, four wheel driving and river expeditions.  We really only skimmed the surface, so to speak.  Maybe someone reading this will be encouraged to go to Utah to visit.  I was just amazed at the beauty of this place!  Would love to go back again! 

More Day 5

San Juan County, Utah 

We drove into Hanksville, Utah.  Population around 350.

"The remote town of Hanksville is about one hour’s drive from any other towns in Capitol Reef Country. Middle and high school students travel 55 miles each way every day to school in Bicknell.

Hanksville was first settled in 1882 and called “Grave’s Valley” after a member of the Powell expeditions. The settlement, which lies at an elevation of 4300 feet, was renamed Hanksville in 1885 for Mormon pioneer leader Ebenezer Hanks.


Agriculture and mining were the primary roles of the community but outlaws such as Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch often came to Hanksville for supplies while hiding out in the nearby canyons."




 Someone there has an "interesting" hobby.  

"Seven miles from Hanksville, the Mars Desert Research Station is a testing area to explore similarities in the terrain between Earth and the Red Planet. Crew and equipment simulation tests occur during the winter months. The BLM also keeps offices in Hanksville."

We turned south on Highway 95 toward Highway 191, which is close to the Colorado border.


 
 



Colorado River that runs into Lake Powell, on the Utah/Arizona border

We first ran into this couple at the scenic turnoff for Hog's Spring.  He came up to us and asked if we had found the hot springs.  Had a good laugh over that.  They were here in their RV from Washington.  She was a vet and he helped run it.  Like us, empty nesters having a good time.  They were on their way to take a boat excursion on Lake Powell. 

 When we got home, we looked into that and taking a boat on that lake sounds super!!  Another trip!

How cool would this be!!??

 This rock formation is called "Joseph's Chair" .  Lots of monuments have Biblical names.

What an amazing adventure we were having!