Eastern Utah May 2006

Canyonlands National Park & Colorado National Monument
May 19-21 2006


With the high price of gas these past couple years (thanks George and Dick) and the long driving distances in the U.S. west, we have taken to the occasional overnight of “wild” camping. With the low population and wide open spaces it works out great. It also takes me back to my adventure across West Africa in 2000 where I slept out in the countryside, on the roof of the Land Rover, much of the time.


Riverside camping, near Grand Junction, CO.


Our current favorite is just off of I 70 about 200 miles west of Denver at exit 49. It makes a good stopover point on Friday night when heading west for a weekend trip. We can work all day, grab some dinner and our gear and then drive out there and arrive before midnight. The gurgling river current makes for good sleeping and in the morning the surroundings always seem more impressive than we had remembered from the previous visit.

Heading west out of Denver we have found that it is better to take US 6 rather than I 70. It skirts around downtown Golden, CO and then reconnects to I 70 at exit 244. This route is shorter and avoids much steeper grades and the SUV crowd (of often overly aggressive drivers.)


Former gas station, along highway 128 northeast of Moab, UT.

There’s two highways that head south from I 70 to Moab. We decided to take 128. Its the smaller of the two; we exited at number 202. This route winds along the Colorado River and offers great views and numerous camp sites (maintained by Federal agencies) and pull-off spots. It is a wonderfully deserted drive.

The Dewey Bridge, along highway 128 northeast of Moab, UT.

According to the historical signage, this suspension bridge is over a hundred years old and was the only way to cross the river at this point until well into the 1980’s. The bridge is barely wide enough to accommodate the width of one vehicle. Now it is strictly a pedestrian bridge and point of "interest."


Colorado River, along highway 128 northeast of Moab, UT.


Colorado River, along highway 128 northeast of Moab, UT.

The color contrasts along the drive are striking: the red stone cliffs, the brilliant blue sky, the lush green vegetation along the river, and the snowy white mountain peaks in the distance.


“Island in the sky,” at Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT.

The focus of a park visit is the series of high lookouts from the “island” in the sky. Note that this high mesa is only accessible by passing onto it at “the neck”; otherwise its sheer cliffs all around. Li likes to call it “Canyon Island”.


Steep grades, at Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT.

This road was constructed in the 1950’s to extract uranium ore. Now that this land is protected the road is part of a hundred mile driving circuit that is possible with a four wheel drive vehicle and several days of adventure.


“The arch,” at Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT.

Although much less known than its nearby neighbor, Arches National Park, Canyonlands also has this wonderful stone arch. Because of it high location, it frames the valley and snow peaks beyond in a very different fashion than those at Arches.

“The short cut to Moab,” near Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT.

Looking to return to Moab by a different route than that we had taken in the morning, we noticed a “four wheel drive” road marked on the map. It also appeared to be a short cut. We inquired about the road conditions on the route at the nearby State Park, the money collector said, “oh yeah, its fine in a two wheel drive, I drive down it all the time. There is one bad place where you can straddle the rocks or else try to go around to one side. It’s all downhill, so you know that you will make it…”

Although basically true, we found that his recommendation was greatly understated.

Falling cliffs, near Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT.

At the “bad place” he was talking about we were careening just shy of being absolutely out of control on the extremely steep, rocky and loose surface. As we approached this huge fallen rock we were completely unable to stop and it was not at all clear that we would be able to pass underneath it. Fortunately as we rapidly slid closer to it, it did become apparent that we could indeed pass beneath it uninhibited.

There were so many “bad” places on this road that we called this one the “really bad” place. It was like skiing down a double black diamond trail: once we had breached the cusp there was no heading back. The truck could NEVER climb up this road.

Canyonlands National Park, Moab, UT. It was hot.

Why are dogs the only ones with “sweat relief” tongues?

After making it down that road we headed straight into town for some ice-cold margaritas. That knocked us right out so we climbed in the back of the truck and napped during the late afternoon scorching sun under a shady tree in the McDonalds parking lot. “Another use of McDonalds,” we joked, “beyond their ever clean and convenient toilets.”

Later that night we pulled into McDonalds again. But this time it was to clean up, brush our teeth, and use the toilet before retiring for the night. We had planned to get a hotel room for the night but everything was booked solid so we “camped” out in the Comfort Inn parking lot. Suspecting that they might have parking lot security cameras we got everything ready while we were at McDonalds – including Li hopping in the back. After I pulled around in back, as far from the reception as possible, I too jumped in the back for the night.

What we did not expect was the early wake up call, the free car wash and cold shower that were not only included with the free camping but were indeed compulsory. The automatic lawn sprinklers came on at around 6:30am and sprayed in through our ill fitting back window. After the initial shock, it was straight back to the McDonalds comfort station.


Colorado National Monument, Grand Junction, CO.


Colorado National Monument, Grand Junction, CO.


Colorado National Monument, Grand Junction, CO.