Monday May 8, 2023 - Natural Bridges National Monument to Moab Utah

 

Another amazing sleep last night. The bed is so comfy and we are hiking quite a bit. We pulled out around 7:30 am and headed back out RT 95 to get back on RT 191 again. We were looking for breakfast and Blanding looked like the first kind of big town but there was only one place there with a low pickup truck to parking lot ratio so we went on to Monticello. The only place there was High Desert Cafe which had no trucks but lots of out of state plates, so a little classier joint. It was pretty busy until we got there and then a big clump of people left (was it the lack of personal hygiene thing??). Pretty good breakfast and then on to Canyonlands National Park. There is a north entrance (Island of the Sky Visitor Center) and a south entrance (Needles Visitor Center) and the south entrance has a small campground and big views. 

The highlight of the day is just the 22 mile drive into the south park. It was morning so we had good light. When we came out the light was mid-day flat and the rocks looked kind of gray. 

There is a stop called Newspaper Rock where Puebloans drew pictographs of who knows what on it (the sign says nobody knows what it means). Some cowboy from the 1950's also wrote his name on the wall, which may someday be of historical significance but not today.

We stopped at the campground just to see what it looked like. The campground was full but we had already planned on staying at a hotel tonight (remember the personal hygiene thing) and we were curious. The long road into the visitor center seems to be part state maintained, part BLM maintained and part park maintained. Not sure who is boss over who?

The ranger at the visitor center (Needles) said you could get a campsite, but it is pretty competitive. There are ample BLM free sites just outside the park and we saw a bunch of turnoffs for those. Those have no services (not even a pit toilet) and so far we have not had to use the BLM sites, although we are self- contained so we can go without any services. We did a couple of short hikes and then back out the 22 miles to RT 191. Deb found a Best Western in downtown Moab and booked it. Hot shower, clean clothes will be welcome as we are out of clean anything. We got to the hotel a little early and they were still cleaning the room.

Deb took a chance and contacted an AT hiker friend who she thought might be in Moab and she hit pay dirt.We met Maineiac in front of the hotel and he took us 2 blocks to a brewery and Deb and he got caught after 10 years. He is 29 now and works at the local public school as does his girlfriend.

Then supper at 98 Center (Philly cheesesteak) and back to do more laundry.

Odo = 6066