Arches And Canyonlands National Parks

Arches National Park

I have concerns I’ve tried to pack too much into today’s upcoming journey but I just couldn’t work out a schedule other than I’ve got. Breakfast in the hotel is actually good, for once. Good choice, quality food and tasty. But it’s an early start required, target 9.30 am on the road. Which I didn’t make by 15 minutes…

I-70 W near Thompson Springs, UT

It’s 66º F / 19º C leaving Grand Junction and clear blue skies. Back on I-70 W, sadly, but there’s not long left to drive on it. About 30 miles on I leave Colorado and enter Utah. The Interstate has an 80 mph limit here. A bit further on I turn left on to US-191 S from where it’s about 30 miles south to Arches National Park.

There’s a timed entrance reservation system at this Park. Luckily I found out about it back in the UK and booked my slot, between 11 am and noon. There is a small queue to get in after arriving at 11.20 am. Once past the entrance booth I stop at the Visitor Center at 11.30 am to use the rest rooms. It is now 77º F / 25º C but will reach 86º F / 30º C by the time I leave around 2.30 pm. Getting hot!

Arches National Park leaflet

Then it’s into the Park proper driving on Arches National Park Road, also called Arches Scenic Drive. What can I say? Utterly amazing place. There are many more stopping points in the Park than in the Colorado National Monument. I am though time limited to some extent because I’m going to another Park later.

The Best Bits

Delicate Arch

So I researched the ‘best bits’ and put together a stop list based on the Park’s National Park Service website recommendations. I do find the NPS websites for each park very useful. For many parks its website will have a section such as “if you only have 2 to 3 hours” then see these things. Or half a day, or a full day and so on.

I know this Park is called Arches for a reason. But there are many other rock sculptures and formations to see as well. Equally some features require a 5, 10 or sometimes longer walk to see them. These I tend to avoid, however spectacular it is supposed to be, mainly to save time and keep to a schedule. As with yesterday, I don’t think I can add much commentary of merit other than let the photos speak for themselves.

Nature creating weird and wonderful things for us to look at is amazing. An observation I will make about Arches is I wondered many times just how did it come to look like that after millions of years? What is it in the structure of the rocks there that lets part of it remain and the rest gets eroded by the forces of nature? I’m sure a geologist knows, the rest of us can simply at the wonder of it all.

Using the NPS guidance of about 3 hours to get up to Devils Garden Trailhead and return back to the entrance wasn’t far off. I did lose time whilst I ate my lunch sandwich though.

“How Did We Get So Dark?” *

But despite Maps being up-to-date when I arrived – even showing the red line I was queuing in – when I get back to the Visitor Center there is no internet service. So I can’t load my route to Canyonlands. If I can get there I’m OK because it’s mostly a single road in the Park to a end point then return. From there it’s a re-trace to Arches then straight down US-191 to Moab. Problem is I know I passed the road to Canyonlands on US-191 S somewhere but I didn’t see a sign to turn off.

I go into the Visitor Center and ask a Ranger how to get there. It is 5 miles back up the road then turn left at the dinosaur statues by the roadside. She says people notice the dinosaurs. I think I did as well but not a sign. The Ranger also confirms they have no public cell or internet coverage.

As an aside, the reason I did Arches first then doubled-back was Arches’ reservation system. Canyonlands doesn’t have one; if I did Canyonlands first, not knowing how long it would take, I’d have no idea what entry time to book for Arches. Thankfully they are relatively close to each other, and to my overnight stop at Moab just down US-191.

Canyonlands National Park

I leave Arches at 2.45 pm, way later than I planned. Five minutes later I’m at “dinosaur junction” and turn left onto UT-313 W. I do spot a road-side sign indicating Canyonlands this way but I’m not surprised I didn’t see it because it is tiny. It’s 22 miles from the junction to the park.

Canyonlands National Park leaflet

I’d done a similar thing to Arches for Canyonlands, planning out which stops to stop at. But when I get a map after entering the park, there’s a disconnect between my list and the map. For some reason my list has stops not on the map. I can’t figure out why, so I go with the map.

The first stop, Shafer Canyon Overlook, blows me away. What a view. And what I will say now is that the photos of Canyonlands do not – cannot – do justice to the real life views. A 2-D photo just cannot render a 3-D view with your eyes, it flattens all perspective.

Next up is Green River Overlook, followed by Buck Canyon Overlook and, finally, Grand View Point Overlook. I also stop briefly on the way back at Orange Cliffs Overlook.

Canyonlands is as different to Arches as chalk to cheese. Both are amazing Parks. Yet at their outer edges they are only about 40 miles apart. To me, Canyonlands is like the Grand Canyon on steroids. It’s not as deep but the sheer scale of the canyons as they stretch into the distance is incredible. There’s also more subtle details, Canyonlands has elements that I don’t recall in the Grand Canyon.

Buck Canyon Overlook panorama

Green River Overlook panorama

Grand View Point Overlook panorama

However you view it, Canyonlands is simply stunning. But there is more to it than what I saw. This was the section called Island In The Sky, but there three others that make up the totality of Canyonlands National Park. I just didn’t have the time to visit anything else.

Both Arches and Canyonlands are beautiful Parks. You’ve just got to go and see them ‘in the flesh.’

To Moab For The Night

Out in this wilderness I’m still obviously without any electronic guidance. However I know where I’m going in order to get to the Bowen Motel in Moab. I drive past Arches on US-191 S and into Moab. From prior StreetView viewings I knew there was a gas station with a 7-11 attached diagonally opposite the Motel on a traffic junction, so I stop there for gas and breakfast tomorrow.

Bowen Motel business card

I pull into the Motel parking lot at 6 pm. The receptionist tells me my room has been upgraded. I know not why, nor what the upgrade entailed but am happy to accept it. It is a very warm 86º F / 30º C and still sunny. I asked the receptionist about my choice of bar for food later and she said it was good. She also offered up a couple more options.

Research found that most bars in Moab close really early at 9 pm, even on weekends. I set out at 7.30 pm to walk up a couple of blocks to Trailhead Public House & Eatery. When I go inside I can see it is very busy. There are no seats available at the bar. When I enquire of the server-in-charge, she says all those customers are well settled in and probably won’t be leaving anytime soon.

The next problem is she tells me that all the main restaurant tables are taken as well. In other words, there is no room at the inn. I’ve been bounced for the first time ever in America!

Where To Eat Then?

I remembered one of the bars the receptionist mentioned and it’s further up Main Street, which happens to be the main drag through town. As I walk I notice lots of bars that did not come onto my radar when looking pre-trip. Businesses just don’t seem to market themselves online as they should. I hadn’t heard of the receptionist’s recommendations for instance.

I get a couple of blocks further and notice The Spoke On Center across the street. Crossing over and peering through the window, it looks quite big inside. Whilst it’s busy in the restaurant section, a good sign, it also has a ‘proper’ bar with bar stools, many of which are vacant. It’s also open until 10 pm. I check out the menu, which looks good, so go inside.

Initially things don’t go well. A young bar lady ignores me completely, not even making eye contact whilst she busies herself, not even saying “I’ll be with you shortly”. A few minutes later a perky blonde called Madison, who clearly knows how to run a bar, appears, telling me almost straight away that “I’ll be right with you.”

I soon get beer (Johnny’s American IPA) and food ordered through her. Folks come and go, with Madison working the bar and surround area like a pro. The timid shrew who ignored me on entry thankfully floats in the background, doing little all night.

“Just take a seat they’re always free” **

At some point a young lady on her own, probably in her late 20s, arrives at the bar, two seats down from me. She and Madison know each other but from their conversation, they haven’t seen each other for a while.

They chat, she orders food and drink, and minds her own business. I watch the baseball on TV and respond to Madison when she asks if I want more beer or food. Of the former, of course I do!

A few minutes later, after another silent interlude, Shelby – for that is her name – turns to me and says “Where are you from?” I of course reply but as I mentioned last year about my last night in San Diego, single women just don’t go and sit at bars in America. But Shelby did. I suppose this was because she knew Madison would be there.

We talk about lots of things. Shelby is trying to sort her young life out and for that I commend her. She met Madision through skydiving of all things, a hobby for both of them. She told me she’d been through an unexpected and not particularly pleasant divorce about two years ago. This had forced her to re-evaluate her life. As I guess it would.

She grew up in South Carolina, migrated north, then lived in Denver for two years and somehow decided Moab is where her life is at now. She was very open about her life. I overheard her say to Madison at one point that she just needed to be somewhere tonight and knew Madison would be here.

” ‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, that’s life” ***

I think Shelby is lonely and struggling with whatever went wrong with her marriage at such a young-ish age. So she ended up in a bar asking me why I’m here, what I’ve done and where I’m going. When I tell her, she can only express wonderment at what I’m doing and keeps asking me more.

I did ask her about elements of her life but she just kept coming back to what I was doing. She seemed genuinely happy for me about my trips, almost as if me doing a road trip counter-acted, or negated, why she, now a single woman again, was sitting in a bar in the middle of Utah on a Thursday night with nothing else to do. And wanting to seek out an old friend she she’d not seen in ages.

I couldn’t really suss her out. As mentioned, any attempt on my part to get her to talk about her motivations these days – rather than ‘physical’ facts like the divorce or move to Denver – were met with more of “tell me more about where you’ve been.” Happy to oblige but I kind of felt I might have been able to help or guide her more.

She didn’t however ask me anything about my personal life. It was what I’d done in her country and how I’d done it. Maybe she was seeking to learn something that might help herself. I hope I gave her something.

She decided to leave. She had a big hug with Madison and said to her, “We must meet up again.” Maybe they don’t skydive anymore. Shelby says goodnight to me. What to do? We tried a fist bump that didn’t work so we shook hands and bid farewell.

Soon after, I settled my check. The wings with Korean BBQ sauce were good as was the beer. I enjoyed talking to Shelby. I exit the bar just before closing time at 10 pm and walk back up the deserted streets to the motel. Back in my room, I get ready to check-out in the morning, looking forward to another day on an American Road Trip. Excellent day today however!

* How Did We Get So Dark? by Royal Blood

** So Lonely by The Police

*** Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve, a song about the struggle to find personal meaning within the relentless, capitalist grind of everyday life