THURSDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2024

(Grand Junction, CO – Moab, UT)

Woke up when the alarm went off and checked the weather (via an app, of course…looking out of the window would have meant getting out of bed…). Cold. But dry. And I was convinced it would get warmer when we reached Moab, so I determined it was a shorts day. After breakfast and packing everything up again, we got ready to depart. We found time to check out a Boot Barn store before leaving Grand Junction though, a store I was intrigued to visit but never had. 

We have travelled some 515 miles east of Los Angeles in the last week, and it’s now time to start heading west again, although we’re only nibbling at that distance today, as Moab is just 50 miles, or so, further west, back on I-70 and then down the river road.  The trees on I-70 are changing colour and look very pretty, adding to the sight of the snow on the mountains as we drove along. We passed out of colourful Colorado, and into Utah, and soon turned down highway 128, generally called the river road. 

The familiar views of red rock cliffs towering above the river soon came into view and we enjoyed the drive down the road. We decided to have a light lunch at Gloria’s before going for a walk. 

Andrew had requested something easy so we settled on Corona Arch Trail, which is only 3 miles long. It might be short, but parts of it were significantly more effort than might have been anticipated. Ah well. It started by crossing the railway line and then climbing up and over some slick rock. On occasion this was steeply sloping, and there was one section with a metal rope to climb, and a short ladder section. The view from the arch was worth the effort though.

There is a tree growing in one of the basins below the Bow tie Arch, which was there when I did this hike in 2006. It has grown quite a lot in the meantime.

After we descended back to the car, we drove back alongside the river, passing climbers (it’s a popular place for locals to climb), some ghosts (it’s Halloween), some beautiful reflections in the river, and some views of the La Sal mountains. 

We checked in and decided that, because we were tired, and it was already gone six, we’d go straight out for dinner, then we could come back and relax. We walked into town, to the Spoke restaurant, passing funny Halloween decorations along the way. I remembered that last year, Spoke has done us the best coleslaw I’d ever had. Happy to confirm that they still do. And with that, I’m going to sleep.

[Editor’s note: video to follow, but I’m tired. You’ll have to wait for the update! ]