Snoab

High winds and cooling temps in Hite forced us indoors for a break. We made good use of our time in Durango, but now 8-16 inches of snow has been forecast, so we’ve decided to move west to Moab. We checked into another Best Western, and quickly headed out of town to a slick rock area for some riding before dark and/or snow set in. With temps in the low 40’s, I chose to stay in the car and read while the Old Man got in a solid one hour ride. After returning to town, we updated the blog until we got hungry, then bundled up for the 50 yard walk to a favorite Italian place in Moab, only to find it closed for a Halloween Party on October 27. We settled for some decent Baja style Mexican food and called it night early without even stopping by one of the wild and crazy Utah bars.

We woke to snow on Wednesday morning, and decided this would be perfect weather to attack the Fiery Furnace in Arches N.P. We packed our lunch and all the warm clothes we had and headed out early. A quick stop at the Arches visitor center resulted in 2 passes for the 2:00 tour of the Furnace. The nice lady said this had been the first day in six months that there was same day passes available. With a few hours to kill, we headed into Canyonlands N.P. This park is located above Moab on a mesa between the Colorado and Green Rivers, and I emphasize the word “above”. It was a balmy 42 in Moab, but only 28 degrees at the Islands in the Sky. We bundled up and hit the rim trail.
Once again, we found ourselves saddled with a “guided tour” instead of exploring on our own at the Fiery Furnace. The visitor center doesn’t advertise the self guided permits, they lead you to believe that the guided tour is the only way you can access the Furnace. This part of Arches is a series of vertical fins about 100-200 feet tall with narrow pathways in between. Some of those trails lead to another trail, while others are dead ends via a canyon wall or a cliff. In hindsight, a guide was nice but not necessary, but once again we had an engaging park employee who seemed genuinely interested in educating us about the fragile and adaptive desert environment. No pics from here to post, my camera made the trip into the Furnace.

We felt satisfied, snow flurries throughout the day and we managed to stay warm and see something new. With the October 27 behind us, the Italian place was open for regular business. Curt got the whole bar in an uproar when he asked for the World Series, it turns out they couldn’t find FOX and once Curt asked, the more obnoxious patrons chose to carry the torch kind in a loud manner until the hostess was able to locate the game.

After 2 nights in Moab, we’re antsy to get back into the bush. We check out Thursday morning and head south to Page, Arizona and drive through a storm that only northwesterners can appreciate . . . the sun poking through the clouds for 20 minutes, snow falling, and more snow drifting actross the road.
In spite of the bad weather, the drive was quite entertaining. The route takes you through Monument Valley, which we happened to hit with good skies and patches of snow on the Mesas. Page felt like Baja when we arrived to 58 degrees in the late afternoon. With temps forecast in the 20’s that night, the bush will wait one more day, thus we checked into our favorite moto lodge and paid the princely sum of 62 dollars with breakfast included. Then the Old Man left the complex instead of going to the room. Apparently, he learned from my reluctance to visit the Golden Spike or the Powell Museum and chose not to disclose our location until we arrived at Glen Canyon Dam (just one mile down the road). Six dollars later and we were the proud holders of two passes to the 4:00 Dam tour. Out we went, onto the top of the dam and then a long elevator ride to the bottom. Curt spent too much time looking at the turbines, I have fears that he is going to try and generate power on his own. We finished the night with a joke that doesn’t seem to get old. . . we dined at the Dam Bar, I had Dam Barbecue, Curt had Dam Chicken Fried Steak, we had a few Dam Beers, (all real names on the menu) we a Dam decent time. Tomorrow, we head to the Dam Paria River, set of that Dam fine movie, The Outlaw Josey Wales.