A Jeep Mecca
It seems a fact of life that all Jeep owners find themselves in Moab from time to time. Although I did not get the pleasure of taking my jeep and hitting some trails, I always appreciate my time in this enchanting part of America.
After a long drive from our previous night in Brush, Colorado we arrived in Moab via Scenic Byway U-128. Interesting and unique roads were a bit of a trope for this trip, but nonetheless this road was really neat! It dove right down by the river and followed it through the canyon, just skirting the edges of Arches National park before depositing us right outside Moab itself. We drove through many campgrounds along this route looking for just the right place to stay, but eventually settled at Sand Flats Recreation Area nestled at the top of a rocky outcrop east of Moab proper.
Quick side note, the Sand Flats are home to the Lions Back, a rocky fin legendary amongst the jeep community. I have to say it was really cool getting to see this famous landmark, even if it is now on private property and closed off from off-roaders.
Arches National Park
The next day, June 4th, we woke early for a hike in Arches National Park. Arches is one of my favorite national parks, it has great scenery, fun trails (in most cases…), and it isn’t as crowded as some of the parks we’d visit later on our trip.
After gearing up and obtaining all of our drinking water for the trek, we left for the Devil’s Garden trail head. This was our first big hike of the trip, and it would also prove one of the more challenging.
Regardless of how prepared I was (physically) for the trail, I do really like this hike. The trail takes you near a large number of arches (more than anywhere else in the park), and includes some of the most interesting arches including Landscape Arch, Partition Arch, and Double-O Arch.
The trail also leads you directly onto some of the rock fins from which the arches eventually form. This is one of the more exhilarating parts of the trail.
We did the full Devil’s Garden Loop, taking the trail out to Double-O arch, enjoying a quick snack, and heading back to the parking lot via the primitive loop. This was our first time taking the primitive loop, and in retrospect we really should have started it earlier. The heat and inclined nature of the trail made for a tough hike back.
There are some really great photo opportunities along this trail! The rocks have some interesting textures and patterns, besides the obvious beauty of their formations.
The heat and exertion didn’t stop us from taking some family portraits though!
On the way back to camp, we stopped by one my Dad’s favorite parts of the park, Park Avenue. A short path from the parking lot leads to a really impressive overlook with some of the greatest views in the park. No picture can possibly do it justice, but I can try.
Needles Overlook
Exhausted from our intense hike that morning, we choose to spend our afternoon at Needles Overlook in Canyonlands National Park. This was a long drive, but was well worth it as we were the only people there shortly before sunset. This is one of the best hidden gems we found along our trip.
Canyonlands National Park
False Kiva Trail
The next day, June 5, we got another early start. This time, we were going to tackle the False Kiva trail in the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. The False Kiva is a round rock construction in a small alcove of the sheer cliff face. A small trail leads directly from the park road to the cliff face, then winds down the cliff underneath the alcove before coming back up and across. The trail is not present on any park maps, and the site is not actively advertised by the parks service. The Kiva occupies a strange status as possibly a historical site, but not proveably. As such, the parks service is obligated to protect the site from tampering, but without proper evidence for its origin they cannot prevent hikers from exploring.
I captured some of the greatest pictures of the trip from this site. The unique juxtoposition of the clearly man made Kiva and phenomenal backdrop of the canyon provide for truly awesome images.
The biggest challenge of photographing this site was the challenging lighting situation. Since the Kiva was in an alcove facing the West, it was fairly dim in the morning. The canyon outside, however, was very bright. I needed to make pretty heavy use of HDR to make any images including the Kiva really work.
Shafer Offroad Trail
After our morning hike off a cliff, we decided to try one of Moab’s famous backroads. Shafer’s pass is a dirt road cut directly into the face of the canyon starting at the Canyon Lands visitor center and traveling all the way back to Moab.
Since the road followed the river, it had some great views as well!
To be continued…
Our Moab adventure now completed, we continued our trip leaving the morning of June 6 for Bryce Canyon National Park.