Brigham City, UT to Moab, UT (US 89 to Sandy, I-15 to Nephi, UT 132 to Mt. Pleasant, US 89 to Salina)
The weather continues to be mild but cloudy as I head south from Brigham City into the Salt Lake City metroplex. A bit of an adrenaline rush early on as a small herd of mule deer decided to cross the highway with traffic whizzing by at 65 mph. By the grace of god all were able to avoid each other, but it was exciting for a moment! I wander around downtown SLC a bit and then decided to explore the hill to the north of the state capitol building, thinking there might be a good view of the valley. I struck gold! In the middle of what 40 years ago must have been prime real estate sat an empty lot with an amazing view south of the entire Salt Lake Valley.
The view is looking south, with the Wasatch Mountains to the left and Great Salt Lake just out of the picture to the right. The street that you see stretching into the distance directly above the capitol building is State Street (old US 89) which I took rather than battling the interstate until eventually they merge into I-15. I left I-15 at Nephi and headed back east, crossing the first north/south range of the mountains and entering the SanPete valley that runs north/south. The valley itself is very arid with really no apparent agriculture other than raising hay/alfalfa for what appears to be mostly sheep. Again, the power of the faith of those early Mormon pioneers became evident as soon as I turned right onto US 89 heading south. Dominating the valley from at least 10 miles distant is the temple at the small town of Manti. Construction began in 1877 and the dedication was in 1888.
The view is from the edge of US 89 below the temple grounds. The size of the temple is really disproportionate with the population that it serves; it really is larger than life! Leaving Manti, we headed south to Salina, another small town at the southern edge of the valley were US 89 intersects with I-70. Butch Cassidy RV Park was our destination and I should have taken a picture. A little mom and pop operation, there were fat rabbits everywhere, chickens, guinea hens, and even a peacock roaming the grounds. Augie was in heaven and was so fascinated by all the smells and noises he almost forgot to pee. We wandered a long time before the urge came over him!
The only way across central Utah east/west is I-70, which connects LA and Denver. This is some of the most desolate and rugged country that I have ever seen. The first 40-50 miles is traversing extremely dry mountains, going from juniper to sage brush to grass to gravel as we head closer to the desert that is southeastern Utah. Emerging from the mountains the desert plateau stretches for miles, scored by deep canyons cut by long ago water. Again, the predominant colors are gray and brown, with little of the red rock characteristic of the lands farther south. This is north of all the national parks in Utah. The road from Salina to Green River is 110miles with NO services (that’s no-nothing, no towns, gas, food, water, etc.) It’s a long drive with a brief break at Green River where the interstate crosses that river and then shortly thereafter we head south on US 191 to Moab (about 30 miles off of the freeway). The red rock cliffs start to rise from the plateau and then we drop down into the Moab Valley where we are staying for three days. Visualize a capital “T”… The Colorado River canyon runs east/west across the top of the “T” and the Moab Valley runs south from the top of the “T”. The Colorado River Canyon is very narrow, bordered by red rock cliffs on both sides; but the Moab Valley is narrow at the top before actually widening as you head south on US 191, which readers from last year might remember eventually took us to Monument Valley. The town of Moab strings along US 191 at the eastern base of the “Moab Rim”. Canyonlands RV PK is the destination of choice because it is right in town, within walking distance to lots of stuff, and has GREAT showers!
Arches National Park is the big attraction here, and it did not disappoint. I tried to take different pictures than those from the last time, and here are a few to give you the flavor of the experience.
As you can see, it is somewhat of a stormy day, cool and threatening showers with a breeze. That did not deter the travelers however, as the park was packed with people. Because of the temperatures, May is one of the busiest months in Moab. Nearly every parking lot was full, and the line at the entrance took about 20 minutes to get in. I can assure you that the German economy must be doing fine, as it seems like most of the tourists are from Germany! As the Colorado River heads west out of Moab it enters Canyonlands National Park, becomes Lake Powell, and then enters the Grand Canyon. Virtually all of this area is not accessible to motor vehicles. There is a paved road which heads west from Moab for 16 miles to a potash mine (my new fact of the day – potash is mostly used in fertilizer). Last year we visited Deadhorse State Park, which is above the Colorado River Canyon, and looked down to the river. This road is actually down along the river. Here is the view from above and below:
Headed to Colorado next. It snowed in the mountains last night so the search for warm weather continues! It’s ironic that it’s hot in Portland but not here!
Moab, UT to Montrose, CO (CO 128 to I-70 to Grand Junction to US 50 to Montrose)
Portlanders should be thanking me as it continues to appear that I pulled the bad weather away with me! While you are basking in summer-like temperatures, Augie and I are huddling under the electric blanket at night and dodging rain showers during the day. Last night was the third night in a row that thunderstorms serenaded us through the night, resulting in a crazed dog and little sleep. Oh well, the price of adventure! Leaving Moab, we head northeast on CO 128 through the Colorado River canyon heading northeast to the interstate. The river is running high and bright red from all the run-off. About 30 miles into the canyon the river makes a sharp turn to the left and all of a sudden we emerge from the canyon into a wide, arid valley. The red rock is gone, predominant colors return to beige and brown as the scrub land spreads for miles, bounded by mountains on the north and southeast. Cottonwoods provide a splash of green along the river. Another striking change is that the river is no longer red; it is now brown with mud. After a brief run down I-70 the town of Grand Junction begins to sprawl across the valley. Grand Junction is the commercial center for a huge area, being the only real “city” between Denver and Salt Lake City. The western edge is about the same as with all, big box stores, the mall, and the chain restaurants. The bustling downtown area centers around Main Street, which narrows to two lanes, buffered by planters, etc., and lined with restaurants, bars, and small boutique stores. Economy certainly seems healthy here!
Leaving Grand Junction, we head south east down a broad valley to Montrose. This is clearly agricultural country (evidenced by the large John Deere dealership!) with the large valley bounded by mesas on the right and the soaring peaks of the Rocky Mountains on the left. Montrose is about 60 miles southeast of Grand Junction and is both the commercial and tourist center for this part of the state. It, too, has the big box stores on the outskirts and a working downtown of small shops and stores. Main Street is not too “cutesy” but there are little sculptures on street corners (i.e. the horse head in the bottom right of the picture). People are very friendly with lots of real cowboy boots in evidence. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is just outside of Montrose and is quite a surprise. Leaving Montrose the highway slowly climbs into brush covered hills that roll into the distance, reaching to the snow-covered peaks of the Rockies. After entering the actual national park, the road twists and turns, but still nothing to see. The picture below is from the road looking east. The roof barely visible in the center of the picture is that of the restrooms at a viewing point, but from the picture there doesn’t seem to be anything to see. However, the next picture from the right shows what you see at the viewpoint – the Black Canyon of the Gunnison.
The Black Canyon is a narrow slash in the ground, plunging deep to the Gunnison River. There is no access to the actual river. You can see the edge of the rock that I am standing on at the bottom right. It is a looong way down!
Montrose, CO to Cortez, CO (CO 550 to Ridgeway, CO 62 to Telluride, CO 145 to Cortez)
The weather finally improved a bit with lots of blue sky and sunshine in Montrose. The road heads south, climbing as the valley narrows, until about 10 miles south of Montrose here’s the view.
Those are the REAL Rockies, most of the peaks in the picture are well above 10,000 feet. The road less travelled turns off 550 at Ridgeway and heads over Lizard Head Pass on CO 62. By the time we got near the top of the pass, both Augie and I were ready for a lunch break. Here comes another shameless plug! I really like Beaver Sweet Honey Mustard and so carry an ample supply on the road. I am here to tell you that the snap top on the plastic mustard bottle is amazingly air tight. How do I know? When I opened up the mustard to fix lunch at about 10,000 feet, the mustard EXPLODED out of the bottle, all over the counter and floor. (I can also tell you that Augie does NOT share my love for the mustard). The air pressure inside of the bottle was so much greater than the outside that at 10,000 feet that opening up the snap top just released it all at once. Who knew? That’s your science lesson for the day. There was some compensation for having to clean up a mess before lunch. Here was the view out my window:
That would be the aptly named “Mt. Sunshine” on the left and Mt. Wilson on the right. As you can see, I was losing my blue sky and in fact shortly thereafter it started to snow. Just enough to look nice and fortunately didn’t stick on the road. You can see from the mountain pictures that this has been a late spring and there is still a lot of snow in the mountains. After crossing the pass the road drops down into the Dolores River Canyon and heads down to Cortez. Cortez is famous for two things: 1) the gateway to Mesa Verde National Park, and 2) the hometown of Sharon Beckman (a longtime Barlow teacher/friend for those non-Barlow readers). I decided to dedicate the day in Cortez to honoring our Native American heritage, past and present, and documented my experiences with two expressive photos. I must say that both experiences were quite enjoyable! The “Past” (on the left below) is represented by the Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park – there are people in the lower left corner so you can get some idea of the scale of the building. On the right is my experience of the “Present”, represented by the Ute Mountain Tribal Casino just south of Cortez…
Now our journey turns due east as we will cross the Rockies and then veer north as we head up the Front Range through Colorado and Wyoming with the goal of reaching family in Billings, Montana, next Sunday. I don’t anticipate internet access for a while as I’ll be staying in a state park so it might be the end of the week before the next update comes out.
The adventure continues….
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