TUESDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2023

(Grand Junction, CO – Moab, UT)

Another morning, another trip to the lobby for coffee, followed by watching the sky change whilst relaxing and watching breakfast news. I slept so soundly last night that I didn’t move from around one minute after my head hit the pillow, until 0658. I think I’m officially on the right time zone.

Breakfast was quiet, and I discovered a new combination…pancakes with syrup and chocolate chips! (Well I might need the energy!).

After packing up, we loaded up the car and checked out, and were on our way by around 1030. It is around a two hour drive to Moab, and I was reasonably sure of the route, so both drove and navigated. We were soon on I-70, and passed from Colorado to Utah.

I took the turning that I thought would lead to UT-128, which is the scenic river road. As we turned onto it, signs said rough road for eight miles. Andrew questioned my navigation, but a quick check confirmed that this was the way…

In due course we turned onto UT-128, otherwise referred to as the River Road. This winds down a canyon carved by the Colorado River, and passes many familiar sights for us, including Fisher Towers and Castle Valley.

We arrived in Moab about 1230, and decided to get lunch before going anywhere else. We tried ‘Gloria’s’, which used to be the Peace Tree. Apart from the sign out front, not much has changed and it still serves plenty of vegetarian food. Even better, it serves breakfast until 2pm, which meant Andrew could get a cooked breakfast and I could get Huevos Rancheros.

Suitably fed, we drive up to Dead Horse Point for the afternoon. The plan was to have an easy hike, but…

We started off ok, taking the East Rim Trail, which provided excellent views of the La Sal mountains, and the potash evaporation ponds, as well as the river.

We saw a Hopi chipmunk, which was obliging enough not to run too fast, as well as lots of small lizards, which weren’t so accommodating.

Once we reached ‘the neck’, we decided to continue by crossing the road and taking the slightly longer West Rim Trail back to the car. This mostly crosses the Mesa, winding between pinyon and juniper trees, with black brush and Mormon tea plants filling in the gaps.

We meandered to Meander Viewpoint, which offered a lovely view of the river, and then continued the hike back. Somehow our ‘easy’ walk ended up being nearly 4 miles again!

As we were just a bit tired, we decided that we’d have dinner before checking in to our hotel, so that we we wouldn’t have to go back out again. Perhaps predictably, we headed straight to Zax.

We were checked in and up in our room before 8pm, ready to relax. No idea what we’re doing tomorrow. We’ll work that out after a good rest.

[basic trail video is here: https://vimeo.com/880034620]