Last night we went to the visitor center in Moab to watch the evening program put on by our friend Robbie. After the program we got dinner and then headed up to the Island in the Sky Unit of Canyonlands. We had planned on camping at the Horsethief Campground, but Robbie graciously allowed us to stay at his place.
This morning, after an unplanned trip back into Moab, we got out to explore the park a bit. While we didn't do any long hikes, we did a bunch of short ones to try and get a feel for the landscape. Our first stop was a drive south to Grand View Point where we hiked the 2-mile roundtrip to the overlook. It was a nice and easy hike and the views were quite grand.
Grand View Point, we made our way on the western road to Whale Rock. It's a short hike on the Whale Rock Trail, but pretty interesting.
The views from the top are quite impressive.
After a short time admiring the views, we started to make our way back down.
From Whale Rock, we headed to the end of the road for another short hike, this time to the 1st Upheaval Dome overlook.
Upheaval Dome is an interesting spot, and there's some debate amongst geologists about how it may have formed. After admiring the view, we returned to the trailhead for a picnic.
After eating lunch, we started to make our way back towards the park entrance. We had one more short hike planned: the famous Mesa Arch. While many people hike to Mesa Arch for sunrise, we opted to visit later in the day. It was still pretty crowded, but we managed to find some solitude along the way to the arch.
Once we had arrived at the arch, we waited our turn for a view without other people.
I took a photo of Noelle and Sierra at the arch.
Then, we headed back to the trailhead.
We had one more stop before we left the park: the overlook of the famous Shafer Trail. It's a famous 4x4 road that switchbacks down to into the canyon system.
Maybe someday we can rent a vehicle to drive the rough road. For now, we would be leaving the park. Robbie was in the entrance station when we left, so we swung by to say goodbye, before heading out.
No comments:
Post a Comment