Day 28
Unfortunately, we were on the west side of the mountains, so we didn't get that first glimpse of sun. Instead, everything became a glowing pale yellow, and finally as the sun crested the mountains, the aspens shone bright with sunlight.
After a delightful breakfast on a picnic table (we consider this a luxury), we packed away the once again wet tents and began our drive down from the hills. Being so entranced by the La Sals, I spotted a road called Geyser Pass Road, which sounded more irresistible the more I thought about it. The detour began, and we climbed even higher into the hills. We got to a clearing, and the valley that was spread out in front of us filled us with awe. The morning light gave everything a strange color.
Higher still, and we got a closer view of the snow cover on the a section of Mt. Tukuhnikivatz. I'll leave the pronunciation up to you.
Soon after this, we came to an abrupt end to our charge upward into the mountains. There was a post that closed the road to motor vehicles. Only snowmobiles, snowshoes, skis, or bicycles oddly enough. I'd be impressed if someone biked through a foot and a half of snow.
We were lucky enough to spot a blue grouse, who was apologetically crossing the road, or so it seemed. Quite the display, with tail feathers spread, red patch on the neck, and funny yellow feathers on his eyebrows. I consider this close enough to a chicken for all intents and purposes. One chicken spotted.
Back on the "main road" down the hill, the view of the La Sal peaks was just fantastic. There isn't much that does it for me like a bunch of snow-covered peaks.
With at least a few thousand feet above us, we were greeted by a nice herd of cows in an open range section of the road.
With our late-ish start to the day, and the detour up Geyser Pass road, we decided to take the day off from any big hikes and just hang around town, and hit up some shops. In a gear shop, Noah was searching for a lightweight method to make coffee in the backcountry, since the instant grounds he was using apparently tasted worse than death. He found a sweet filter/pour-over thing made from nylon that only weighs half an ounce. We made a lunch stop along the Colorado River on Rt. 128.
With our elevation along this trail, the La Sal Mountains appeared once again. This was one of the highlights of spending a few days in this area - we got to see the mountain range from many angles, and in many different lights. Not to mention camping in them!
The road did not improve much as we went further into the desert. We also did not happen to see any campgrounds, and we were wondering if perhaps they were on the western access to Gemini. We kept going, since the natural bridges at Gemini were said to be very cool.
We arrived at the parking area, but there was no obvious trails, but instead an amount of footprints in all directions indicating something on the scale of a migration. We poked around a bit, and the rocks were very odd - maybe like a combination of Arches and Bryce. American-sized hoodoos if you well.
Finally, we found the bridges. Talk about an abrupt drop-off. When you see how small Noah is in the picture below, you should have a good sense of scale.
There were two bridges and an amphitheater of sorts, which Noah is sitting on top of below.
You can see through both bridges in this picture.
We decided to continue on Gemini Bridges Road west, and we discovered this was a much better road, and we did see a few campgrounds, but sadly none with a picnic table. But we stopped in at one anyway to check out the awesome view. It was better from on top of Wombat.
5.11.15
For the first time on our Utah trip, we woke up to no snow! We were instead blessed with a thick coat of frost. We had come in to the campsite in the dark the previous night, so to see it in the daylight was a treat. I had gotten up quite early be chance, so I used the time to catch up on my journal writing, and soon enough, the sky got lighter and lighter.
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| Our spot at Masons Draw CG |
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| Crescent moon |
As we continued upward, the road wound through more aspens, glowing bright with the sun on them.
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| The Moab valley |
Soon after this, we came to an abrupt end to our charge upward into the mountains. There was a post that closed the road to motor vehicles. Only snowmobiles, snowshoes, skis, or bicycles oddly enough. I'd be impressed if someone biked through a foot and a half of snow.
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| Blue Grouse |
Back on the "main road" down the hill, the view of the La Sal peaks was just fantastic. There isn't much that does it for me like a bunch of snow-covered peaks.
With at least a few thousand feet above us, we were greeted by a nice herd of cows in an open range section of the road.
With our late-ish start to the day, and the detour up Geyser Pass road, we decided to take the day off from any big hikes and just hang around town, and hit up some shops. In a gear shop, Noah was searching for a lightweight method to make coffee in the backcountry, since the instant grounds he was using apparently tasted worse than death. He found a sweet filter/pour-over thing made from nylon that only weighs half an ounce. We made a lunch stop along the Colorado River on Rt. 128.
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| Our lunch setup. Noah uses a rock for a table, I use an accordion! |
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| Coffee brewed successfully. Cheers. |
After some browsing online in the comfort of the Moab library, we decided to hike the next two days in Canyonlands NP, and I took a shot at finding some decent campsites for us for those two nights. The tricky part of Canyonlands is that there are no thru-roads. The only access is from the north, the west, and the east, each of which is of daunting length. Our first hike was in the northern district, Island in the Sky, so I chose a place called Gemini Bridges, which was said to have some campgrounds along the road. And because you should always have a backup, we saw a campground a few miles further west just in case.
We were in for a nice surprise once we turned on the Gemini Bridges Road. There was conflicting information the web regarding what kind of vehicle you need to pass this road, and we got the short straw by the looks of things. We wouldn't be discouraged easily, so Wombat continued to crawl eagerly up the rocky slopes along the canyon walls. I'll be honest, I am stunned at the capability of this car. No modifications (except for one missing sway bar of course), and we were able to scale these trails that most people would choose a dune buggy for. We did see a buggy coming out on our way, as well as a few other vehicles coming in to check out Gemini Bridges.
With our elevation along this trail, the La Sal Mountains appeared once again. This was one of the highlights of spending a few days in this area - we got to see the mountain range from many angles, and in many different lights. Not to mention camping in them!
The road did not improve much as we went further into the desert. We also did not happen to see any campgrounds, and we were wondering if perhaps they were on the western access to Gemini. We kept going, since the natural bridges at Gemini were said to be very cool.
We arrived at the parking area, but there was no obvious trails, but instead an amount of footprints in all directions indicating something on the scale of a migration. We poked around a bit, and the rocks were very odd - maybe like a combination of Arches and Bryce. American-sized hoodoos if you well.
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| Funny bowl carved out of the rocks. |
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| Find Noah if you can... |
You can see through both bridges in this picture.
We decided to continue on Gemini Bridges Road west, and we discovered this was a much better road, and we did see a few campgrounds, but sadly none with a picnic table. But we stopped in at one anyway to check out the awesome view. It was better from on top of Wombat.
After a few miles of road, seeing a oil truck road-train, and finally pavement, we stopped into Horsethief CG. Only a few spots left, but all with a picnic table, on which Noah promptly began to cook up our burgers as I went to get our camping permit. If you like burgers in a kitchen with a table, multiply that by about 62, and you'll get how we felt about our burgers.
The skies cleared a bit to reveal a starry night. I sat on the table just watching the sky. I saw two shooting stars; a cool way to finish the day. I had Noah join me, and of course no more shooting stars came through. It was a peaceful experience nonetheless. Sleep came to us very soon.
I'm reminded of Edward Abbey's Desert Solitaire, a good read.
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