Arches National Park, Utah

I had intended to see Arches National Park at the end of the previous day, but I am learning that each of these major parks in southern Utah need, as a minimum, about half a day each to visit and take photos. You could easily take 3 or 4 days in each, but my time is limited.

I felt there was just not enough time on the previous day, so I set out on the morning of day 117 to see what was in this park. Like all of the National Parks in northern Arizona and southern Utah, it was truly impressive. Geologically speaking, these areas are fascinating with some of the most spectacular rocks formations I have witnessed anywhere in the world.

Almost as soon as you enter the park, things start to get interesting. This is part of what is called “Park Avenue”, presumably named after Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York....

These rocks are known as the “Courthouse Towers”....

Of course, I needed to get a picture of the Leading Ladies somewhere....

There are some bizarre structures here. It is difficult to imagine how this was formed, but I would guess water eroded almost all of the rock in this area but left this column alone....

This is perhaps the most odd rock in the park. For obvious reasons it is called Balanced Rock. I estimate it is 60 feet tall and 20 feet wide. It will of course eventually fall due to the erosion of the pedestal rocks supporting it. I walked right around it, pleading with the rock gods that it didn’t collapse at that very moment....

Very occasionally, I have met someone I find truly inspirational. I did on this day. I saw a woman hobbling along a path in the Arches National Park and I couldn’t help but noticed that seemed to be really struggling walking on her crutches with a broken leg. I wandered around for a while taking pictures and when I walked back along the path she was sitting down and resting. I asked her how she broke her leg. “ A rock fell on me when I was mountaineering” was the answer. Okay, I had to find out more so I joined her and the guy with her and listened to her story.

She told me her name is Teresa and she has enjoyed mountaineering for a long time. “Well, I prefer to call it peak-bagging”. I am not sure if I have remembered this next part correctly: “I am the first woman to have climbed all of the 1,000 peaks in Colorado over 10,000 feet”. I was amazed. Teresa told me that had taken 10 or 11 years and later I did the calculation. That is 100 a year or two a week!

But, her climbing was on hold at the moment because of her leg which was badly broken 10 weeks ago. She was coming down a mountain in Wyoming and walked around a large rock and pushed it to make sure it would not move when she walked in front of it. As she passed the front she used the rock to steady herself and it suddenly fell. “I jumped quick enough to save my head and back, but it got my leg” Teresa added. She had to stay on the mountain overnight (I think she said it was snowing) after others bought a tent up for her. They splinted her leg with her ice-axes and in the morning Teresa had to bum-scoot down the hill a way to a place where a helicopter could rescue her.

She told me the rock was reckoned to weigh 1,000 pounds.

That was ten weeks ago and just two days ago the plaster cast was removed. She told me she was worried about the rest of her “mountaineering muscles” wasting away while she laid in a bed for 10 weeks, so she was determined to start getting exercise as quickly as possible to regain her fitness. “Walking with these crutches is difficult on rough ground as one small stone can cause you to slip”. She did however relate it to mountaineering when she said “But that is just like being very careful where you put your feet when climbing”. This is Teresa walking with her crutches....

Yes, I think that is some climbing equipment being used to support the weight of her leg from her shoulders! I wish Teresa a speedy recovery and hope that she is soon able to bag a few more peaks! As I walked away, I promised myself to do more exercise when I get back home. If Teresa can climb two peaks a week, then I should be able to walk our dog even further each day!

There was obviously going to be a climbing theme to this part of my day because as I walked at the next place I stopped and parked the bike at, I spotted a climber on this rock. If you look carefully, you can just make him out....

He was climbing the rock using the crack as his route up....

A short while later as I rode away, I turned and looked back at the same rock which from where I was, now had the sun behind it. I could just see the climber standing on the top of the rock....

Some of the rock formations are in very strange shapes....

These are the North Window and South Window arches....

Very close by is the Turret Arch. I have included here a photo which has people in, so you can see the scale of this arch....

This is an area known as the Fiery Furnace, named for the warm glow seen on the rocks in the late afternoon. I was there too early to see that....

The Leading Ladies in front of a cluster of vertical standing rocks....

These fin type rocks were near the Devils Garden area....

Finally, this is Skyline Arch....

Overall, I think I did about 50 miles riding inside the park. It is a big place!

After leaving the park I had a decision to make. Do I travel north on US 191 before then travelling west, or do I take the much slower, but probably more interesting Utah SR 128. I chose the slower road and am I pleased I did. I have seen many impressive roads on this trip and this is certainly one of them. It mainly hugs and runs alongside the Colorado River and the views as you ride along at about river level, are stunning. The road and river are in one long canyon and I spent a lot of time looking up, forwards and sometimes backwards at the canyon walls. If you are in this area of Utah, DO NOT miss this wonderful road. Here are some of the views....

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I Walked Too Far....

At the end of this day, my body ached, not used to the distance I walked.

I drank a huge amount of water.

I forgot to put sun tan lotion on my nose. I now have a wrinkled red nose.

Despite those things, I had a great day!

Today was all about arches and canyons, for I saw many of both. I rode 152 miles today which doesn’t sound that far and it isn’t. Today was all about riding a short distance, parking the bike, walking to go see an arch or a canyon, walking back to the bike and riding a short distance again before repeating the cycle. I did this maybe 30 times and by the end of the day, my body was beginning to complain!

I started with riding along the Colorado River where not only the river, but the road as well, runs along the canyon. This is the canyon wall....

Look again at the picture above though. See that little blob in the bottom left hand corner? That is my bike and I took this picture to illustrate how tall the canyon walls are along this road – they tower above you! The road is Utah 279 to the west of Moab and it is pretty spectacular with sheers cliffs that are so vertical and cracked, they looked as if they might fall onto the road at any point.

Here is the it flows around one of its huge bends....

The area is obviously a favourite with people that like outdoor activities. Rock climbing, off-road motorbiking, camping, walking, cycling and running were all happening a great deal. Oddly though, this was a Saturday and I didn’t see many motorbikes on the road.

My research had showed me that some way along Utah 279 there was a large natural rock arch – Corona Arch - and I decided to try to find it. I arrived at a car park displaying directions of how to walk to the arch. I saw a few people who clearly take their walking seriously, with camel-backs, proper walking boots, terrain maps, walking poles and other gear setting out to walk the trail. The directions told me walkers had to register in a book, but didn’t say how far the arch was. This looked too serious for me. I got back on the bike and rode on.

After about 5 minutes of riding and thinking, I told myself I was a wimp and I turned around and went straight back to that car park. Of course I should walk to the arch. I hadn’t come all this way to chicken out of a walk and miss photographing something as good as this!

I grabbed my water and camera, left my leather jacket behind and started up the trail. It wasn’t an easy walk but it was fun. A couple of times I had to stop after walking / climbing up steep parts to catch my breath. It wasn’t a really hot day, but I was glad I took the water, which I drank most of during the walk. The other walkers had lightweight walking clothes on which were no doubt much more comfortable than my thick, Kevlar-lined, riding jeans. At one of my rest stops I saw and liked this scene....

At times the walk was so steep, there were safety ropes to assist you and even a ladder! My guess for the distance of the walk was a round trip of about 4 miles. It was probably less, but it felt like more. It was worth it though and I was rewarded with a first sight of the Corona Arch....

The arch is very elegant and is very tall, maybe 100 feet. It seems to spring out of the main cliff wall it sits next to and I can only guess that it was formed by water a long time before the rest of the canyon below it was formed. I waited until the other people there moved away so I could take my pictures....

Next to the arch is another formation in the rock. It looks like another arch is slowly forming as the weather wears away the rock forming a large hole. Whether this will turn into a full arch I don’t know, but my guess is yes....

Corona Arch was certainly worth the walk.

I then went to see Canyonlands National Park in Utah. Covering 527 square miles, this is an area largely unaffected by people. Apart from a few paved roads that us tourists use, its roads are mainly unpaved and little used. It is a remote place that remains truly wild. I was lucky enough to see what I later learnt was a Coyote which was an unexpected joy, but alas I wasn’t quick enough to get my camera out.

Access into Canyonlands is from the south east or the north. The entrances lead to different places in the park are a long way apart and this meant I only had time to do one of these and I chose the north. The paved roads are mostly at the original plateau level and take you to a series of overlooks where you look down into the valley that has been formed and carved by the free-flowing rivers over millions of years. Some of the views are breathtaking. This was the first I saw, called the Shafer Canyon Overlook...

From the Shafer Canyon overlook you also get a great view of the canyon wall and perhaps one of the most spectacular off-road tracks you will ever see. This is the Shafer Trail and I saw a lot of 4x4 off road vehicles and off-road bikes on the road. I was very tempted to try it on my Road King, but I watched some of the other vehicles on the trail and saw it was very bumpy. I didn’t want to risk dropping my bike on the rocks!

Anyone with an off-road bike (or a Ural) who is in the area must try this road. Dom – this means you!!!

This is looking down on the road....

Another two pictures looking down on the trail....

The paved roads in the park are good to ride as well. Don’t these curves just look so inviting....

One of the main overlook points not only has a fantastic view of the canyon below, but has the added benefit of a rock arch structure. This is Mesa Arch....

The main view point in the northern section of the park is called Grand View Point Overlook and the views are remarkable....

They even make the barriers look interesting....

Still within Canyonlands, this is the Green River Overlook....

And the Holeman Spring Canyon Overlook....

I liked the shape of this dead tree....

Towards the end of the day, I left Canyonlands and went to see the nearby Dead Horse State Park. The brochure I was handed as I entered the park says of the name “According to legend, Dead Horse Point was once used as a corral for wild mustangs roaming the mesa. Cowboys rounded up these horses, herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point. The neck, which is only 30 yards wide, was then fenced off with branches and brush, creating a natural corral surrounded by precipitous cliffs. Cowboys then chosen the horses they wanted and for some reasons unknown, left the other horses corralled on the waterless point where they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below”.

I was there in the late afternoon which is not the best time to visit as you are looking in the same direction as the sun when looking at the main views....

I did see this terrific looking van, to which Austin Powers would have said “Groovy Baby!”

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Grand Junction Harley-Davidson

My front tyre was in need of replacing, and the Leading Ladies needed to be serviced(!) so day 115 saw me divert to Grand Junction in Colorado and the H-D dealer there. I had called just two days earlier and they were able to do the tyre and the service first thing in the morning. That meant leaving Moab early and riding the 117 miles in the chilly morning temperatures. By the time I got there I was cold.

The dealership is big....

This is Ryan, the technician working on my bike....

I have to say, they were very good. The bike felt much better after the work than before. They had even cured a rattle that I couldn’t find the source of. Good job guys!

On the return journey, now in the warm, I crossed the 17,000 miles point of my tour. Hear is the ‘000 mile photo, taken on US 191 heading south towards Moab....

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