(Day 5: Moab)

After a full-on start to the  holiday and the drive from Grand Canyon, we decided that maybe we should have one day taking it a little bit easier. I slept well for the first time this trip, with the alarm clock actually waking me up, and felt great. We headed for the family-style breakfast at 8am and chatted with other visitors before getting ready for a short hike. Note that I said short, not easy, a distinction that Andrew may have missed when he agreed to the plan…! 

We drove down Potash Road, found the parking lay-by for the trail at the first attempt, and located the actual trail start near to a road marker by chatting to a local. Then we got ready to go up. And up. And up, right up to the rim. The trail wasn’t too technical, a mix of rock and trail, but climbed 900 feet in a little over a mile. We took it steady and admired the scenery.

Once at the top, the view over the Moab valley and across to Arches was superb and worth the climb. We spent a while admiring the view and chatted to a passing mountain biker…yes, this trail is for bikes too and, apparently, the bit we had climbed was the easier section where the trail “smoothed out”! 

We looked at the next section, but it was very much on the rim edge (emphasis on ‘edge’) so we decided to descend back to the car, making it a 2.4 mile walk overall.

From there we went to the Peace Tree for lunch, then on to Gearheads to browse outdoor equipment. Andrew bought a couple of hats, and we picked up some food supplies for our treks. After a stop at the city market (Cadbury’s Dairy Milk!) we returned to Cali Cochitta and just…relaxed. We sat out in the garden, which is unheard of. Andrew even read his book for the first time since the flight. It has felt like a long day, but perhaps the rest will have done us good.

After showing and changing we went to the Spoke on Centre for dinner, a restaurant with a slightly cosmopolitan decor and a bicycle theme (hence ‘Spoke’). We browsed another outdoor shop on the way home…I still haven’t bought anything, but I’m thinking about it…! And that’s it. Our relaxing day. Slightly unusual for us, but I’m sure normal service will be resumed very soon!