Moab Trip Day 3: May 18, 2013

On our third day of our vacation, we went on a hike to Corona Arch. We had to drive a ways out of Moab to get to the trailhead, which was on the banks of the Colorado River. The trail started out with some steep switchbacks. My favorite kind of trail. We then had to walk across quite a bit of slick rock, crawl up slick rock footholds, and climb a rickety ladder before we saw our final destination. The arch was rather impressive. We sat underneath it for a bit while Kevin went crazy with the pictures, of which I am only posting a very small percentage. There were also some people planning to rappel down the arch, but unfortunately they hadn’t even made it to the top when we left.

You can see the railroad from this viewpoint.

This arch was massive.

An arch in the making.

The ladder

The cable you had to pull yourself up. It was steeper down at the bottom.

A view of the railroad and the Colorado River.

I forgot to close Kevin's backpack when I pulled the camera case out.

The campground on the bend of the Colorado River.

Jim was very amazed by this cut

The switchbacks.

 The hike was a  medium difficulty hike, but I wish I would have put a camelbak bladder rather than water bottle in my camelbak backpack. I had a nice headache by the time we got done. After a quick stop at the Rock Shop and a kayaking store, we made it back to our campsite where we had sandwiches for lunch. It soon looked like a storm was brewing, but luckily it blew over us.

Our campground.

The "facilities."

Kevin and his dad decided to go ride again, but I still had a headache from the hike so I stayed at camp and read the Sixth Harry Potter Book while enjoying the cool weather under our shade tree. After Kevin and his dad returned, we ate at the Moab Diner, where I had a yummy plate of French Toast. On our way back to our camp, we found a very tired, yet talkative biker who needed a ride back up the mountain to get his truck to pick up his friends who were unable to make it up the mountain. I’m glad that our first experience with a hitchhiker was positive.

Moab Trip Day 2: May 17, 2013

Our second day in Moab started bright and early. Apparently there is something about a tent and a halfway deflated air mattress that helps me be an early riser, maybe I should adopt that lifestyle more often so I actually get up in the morning.

After eating a quick breakfast of Kevin’s special Lucky Charm/Cheerio mix, we were off to our first ride of the day. We went on the Fins and Things trail, which was where Kevin and I had gone the night before. It was much easier than the night before since I had a four-wheeler that didn’t have a mind of its own like the night before. On my first “obstacle” I made Kevin drive my four-wheeler, while I walked, but I actually drove the rest of the way. Part of that was due to the fact there was a family with a ten-year-old that drove most of the way with us, and I didn’t want to be shown up by a ten-year-old, that would just be embarrassing. Some of the slick-rock hills were a little bit sketchy, but I was able to go over them and survive.

After lunch at Mitt’s Stop & Eat (a little burger joint), we went on another ride south of town. The ride started out simple enough, as we drove on a regular dirt road for the first part, but then we went on a side road that ended up turning into a dry creek bed with huge boulders. It was not enjoyable at all. After about half an hour of torture, Kevin and his dad let us turn around, and we went back to the “smoother” road, which was a lot more enjoyable. We even saw some cows and their calves.

After we had drove for awhile, we turned around and headed back down the mountain to get some grub at the Fiesta Mexicana. This is a cheaper, yet very delicious, Mexican restaurant that we actually ate at when Kevin and I went to Moab three years ago. After eating we drove back to the arena on the south end of town where we had spotted a UTV convention. After spending an hour drooling over the side-by-sides, we headed back to our campsite and called it a night.

Apparently Kevin found something quite interesting.

And of course it was a cactus.

Moab Trip: Day 1, May 16, 2013

We decided to go low-key for our vacation this year and decided to go to Moab for a four-wheeling and hiking adventure. We even decided to save money by camping rather staying in a motel room. Consequently, I should actually be able to recount our vacation in four blog posts, rather than a whole bunch of post like the last two vacations.

We left for Moab on the morning of May 16. We had been up until midnight (which is quite late for us these days) the night before. I had needed/wanted some capris and pants and had not had time to go shopping prior due to school, work, and other commitments, so we drove to three separate Walmarts trying to find them in the right color and size. It was slightly frustrating. Anyways, we were both a little tired, so Kevin’s dad completed most of the drive alone because we were both asleep.

Our first stop was KFC in Price. After eating our chicken and drinking our root beer, we were back on the road to Moab. A couple hours later we arrived in Moab, and drove  up to the Sand Flats area above Moab to find a campground. The first couple areas we checked out were full, but the third campsite was a success. We staked it out, then headed back down to Moab to eat at the Blue Pig, which is a barbecue place. I was trying to eat healthy so I got a turkey BLT salad. It was the most amazingly good salad I have had, as both the turkey and the bacon were smoked. It was most delicious.

After eating we went back up to our camp, and Kevin and I took the four-wheelers out for a quick drive. I rode Glenda’s four-wheeler, which was the smallest and was easy to shift. I had driven it when we went up to Soapstone two years ago, and it had worked well, so I expected it to do the same on this trip. We had some trouble starting it, but Kevin and his dad adjusted the throttle and it finally started and stayed on. I didn’t think anything about it until we started going down the slick rock trail. Even when I was going uphill, it seemed like the four-wheeler was going on its own, despite the fact I was in first gear and had the brakes on. Kevin didn’t really believe me until he tried it out himself. So for the rest of the trip, he rode the small four-wheeler and I rode the medium one, which worked a lot better for me, even though my foot was pretty much done with manual shifting by the end of the trip. After our little jaunt, we pretty much called it a night in preparation for the next morning.