Moab - August 9 & 10

August 9 - 10

AUGUST 9

Today is the day of the dinosaurs!!!

The trail we traveled, Klondike Bluffs Drive, is both a Jeep trail and a bicycle trail; although it is  not too well marked as the Jeep trail. We saw two or three bicycle groups on this trail.   As we could tell by the body language of the bicycle trail guide, she was NOT happy to see Roxanne out there. However, we pulled to the side as much as possible so we were not in their way or even dusting them. It's a shame the distaste that particular guide has for Jeepers as Dee always checks with bikers to see if they need extra water. 

Information about the dinosaur tracks

This is the kind of land to find dinosaur tracks. 

Here is Roxanne on the Klondike Bluffs trail. The dinosaur tracks had lots of rocks surrounding them and protecting them from people driving on them. 

This is one of the best tracks I think we have seen!! So distinctive and SO many millions of years old. 

More tracks. You can see the rocks protecting them. 

A comparison of the size of the track and Dad's hand. 

Pretending to be a dinosaur. Rawr!!

Here is a track I can fit in!!! I would have been done for!

Speaking of Dee being nice to mountain bikers (as she is one herself), nearing the end of the trail, we saw two bikers who looked as though they were in serious need of some water. We stopped and gave them plenty which they were glad to accept. Talk about the great deed of the day! 

Because of time, I managed to get out of a hike (wahoo!), and we started back down the trail,  first stopping to see an old mine. Moab is where uranium was mined years ago and at one point, Moab's only industries were the movie industry and mining uranium. There are many deserted mines across the area, and we found one up this trial.

An old mine.

Beautiful sky for sunset

The most fantastic sunset. And with the pool, it looks even more beautiful. 

Hug a rock if you get lost!!!

Dad and I are getting better each day at staying in the vehicle as it teeters across all  obstacles, although the current trails have become less extreme than those of the first part of our trip! Dee also gives us a really hard time and won't go over the obstacle unless my eyes are open. Good thing I wear sunglasses all the time (ha!). 

AUGUST 10
Well, it goes without saying...This day was BIG!!! So far, we have been to four of the five National Parks in Utah - Bryce, Zion, Arches, and Canyonlands. So in order to get the t-shirt, we have to go to the fifth park, Capitol Reef. From Moab, Capitol Reef is about 3.5 hours away, so an early 7:00 AM start was the only way to go. Talk about not seeing much but landscape between us and Capitol Reef. With the exception of about two gas stations and an abandoned town, all we saw were pieces of Utah land that were probably leased to some cattle rancher. Believe me, I have seen SO many cattle guards and hardly any cows out here. I don't know where they are!! 

The beautiful hot air balloon we saw on Hwy 191.

Utah landscape 

So different than back home

This weird pile of things were off the road, so we stopped to take a look. There was NOTHING else around it at all. 

Finally made it to Capitol Reef National Park

This deer is reaching for the fruit in the orchard. 

Capitol Reef is definitely one of the less visited parks so there wasn't even a staffed pay station to enter the park. It is also VERY remote! We went to the Visitor's Center and watched a fascinating video about how this area was formed. Even though it is in the desert, water plays a key role. Millions of years ago as the earth plates were shifting, the formations we see today were moved and shifted and formed, all while remaining under the ground. Utah used to be at the equator! Over time, water flow has eroded away the less secure rocks and revealed the formations we see today. 

This picture illustrates how the continents have shifted and moved

A close up of the different plates 

A Charles Darwin quote about the movement of earth 

Darwin explaining about the movements of plates 

Driving in the canyons can be very dangerous if it rains, and we are here for the monsoon season.  At  this point, all looked clear so we decided we could safely drive into this canyon,

Driving into the Capitol Gorge 

In the gorge. The Liberty is so small surrounded by the huge canyon sides. 

A shot through the gorge. 

Another spur off of the main scenic route called the Grand Wash - no storm threatening...yet!

Here are some closed entries to another old mine.

Driving into the Grand Wash.

After driving the scenic route and a few of the spurs into the washes and canyons, it was about lunch time. Looking for shade was actually not too difficult here. We found plenty in the campground and because there weren't many campers, we found an empty spot and ate there.

Another fascinating aspect about this Capitol Reef area is the orchards. There is enough green in the area for growing some produce. In the early 1900's, Mormon pioneers arrived in this area and were successful at growing fruit.  It came to be known as Fruita Valley. Through the1900's  until the early 1960's , families lived in the area and made money selling fruit. The Fruita Valley is a small oasis in the desert, and no more than ten families lived in the area at any one time. As travel become more popular, however, more notice was made of the area and eventually it was added to the National Park system. 

Now this looks like a threatening storm.

The Gifford House. This house has been refurbished by the National Park system to look like a Mormon settlement house in the early 1900's.

Inside the Gifford House

Inside the Gifford House

Pie, please. 

More amazing formations in Capitol Reef

Looking up from inside a canyon

This structure is called the Castle and is located very near to the Visitor Center. 

This is the one room school house of Fruita Valley. 

The river turns this orange/red color after big rains that rush off of the red rock and stain the water. 

This is where we stopped for gas!! Everybody was taking a picture. 

Also planned for this day is a trip to Goblin Valley State Park (we had no idea what this held) via an off road Dee recommended for us. The GPS had the road on its screen, and as we approached it we saw the BLM signage and a gate that said if you open the gate, please close it back. I'm sure the rancher doesn't want to have runaway cows. I didn't like the looks of the gate and didn't help Dad with the fence (I just wanted to read my book on the highway roads). For the first two or three minutes, it was actually an easy unpaved road until the sand dune started getting bigger and bigger.   There were no tire tracks so it appeared as though the road went right around the sand dune and we should have no problems. Well, the road probably IN THE PAST! went all the way around the sand dune, but with the monsoon season and high winds, A LOT of sand had been blown over into our path. With sand, momentum is your best friend. Without speed, the tires can just sink into the sand and before you know it, there you are totally stuck. Well, we definitely did not have momentum on our side and the Liberty kept slowing down and slowing down....to almost a complete stop. Dad is shouting "we are turning around, we are turning around!" And I'm screaming "I want to go home, I want to go home!!!"  And somehow, we got through the sand. I started scream/crying which I'm sure was very helpful.  So Dad turned around very quickly and just hit it.   We went FLYING through the sand and with the extra momentum we made it!!!!!! That little side trip only took about ten minutes, but it could have been ten hours if we didn't make it through that sand!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was NOT a highlight of the trip. 

There is the rain at in the distance right over Capitol Reef and that is the fence between us and the near disaster. 

That's the sand dune way out in the distance, but as we got closer, it got bigger!!!

Here is a cropped and edited picture.

We found the normal entrance to Goblin Valley State Park and immediately figured out why this place is called just that. The formations look like goblins. It is crazy. It also looks like the little sand piles that are made when you let wet sand fall out of your hand into a pile at the beach. Very cool - it was a total surprise, and I'm so thrilled we stopped there. We were able to walk down around the goblins and climb over them to get up and personal. As a Halloween baby, I loved the goblins!!!!

We made it. 

The goblins. I think the structures in the back will eventually look like goblins as well as time passed and erosion wears them down. 

The ground was made of very tightly packed sand, but could be broken as well. 

Goblin Valley

These are the three biggest goblins. 

Happy Liberty is in the parking lot and not the sand dune!

Practicing the lighting move Bryce Canyon National Park taught me. 

Goblins close up. 

With the goblins. 

And after all of that, it was time to head back to Moab!!! Well, first a quick stop to Arches National Park to buy our t-shirts since we have now been to all five of Utah's National Parks!!! Because of the sand incident, I bought two! UTAH ROCKS!!