Day 3: August 24th, 2011.
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| Arches National Park |
The third day of this trip through the canyons of Utah started out just like the others. The weather was perfect, although a little bit warm. I got up early and packed up my campsite so that I could hit Arches National Park early, before the weather got too hot. Since there were really no trees in the campground I stayed at, I had to break out the tent. Packing up a dome tent and mattress takes a little bit more work than taking down the hammock, but as I get farther south I am finding that there are fewer and fewer trees to hang from. I had gassed the bike up the night before and wasn’t really hungry, so once I got things packed up and hit the road, I headed straight north out of Moab and to the park entrance.
Once I entered the park, I made a quick stop at the visitor center to get my stamp, collector pin and some water before heading into the park. I started up the winding pass and over the scenic route and was almost immediately greeted with some of the most incredible geologic formations I had ever seen. I pulled off at the first turnout and broke out the camera so that I could get as many pictures of this amazing place as possible. I stopped at several turnouts before finally reaching Balancing Rock, one of the most famous attractions in Arches National Park.
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| Balancing Rock in Arches National Park |
As I was walking back to my bike, I met up with a couple on a trike who picked me out of the crowd by the Alaska shirt I was wearing. We started chatting and it turns out that they had taken a trip over the Alcan highway the previous year and spent some time riding around Alaska. I got some good information from them as I am hoping to ride up that way sometime in the future. It was good to actually talk to someone who had made the trip. It somehow makes it a lot less intimidating.
I got back on the road and headed off towards Delicate Arch, one of the other famous attractions in Arches. I pulled into the parking lot and was somewhat dismayed when I found out that if you wanted to see the arch up close, you had to make a 1.5 mile uphill hike. The temperature was already approaching 100 degrees and I was in full riding gear, so carrying my fat ass up to the arch was out of the question. I did a short hike from the parking area to a point where you could view the arch from a distance. I managed to get some photos. Unfortunately they were nothing near what I had expected to capture.
I got back on the road and had planned on heading out of the park. I came across an intersection to the “Windows” section of the park, and I figured I should probably head that direction or regret missing some spectacular scenery. I made a good decision. As I got closer to the Windows parking area, I could see some really large arches and what appeared to be caves in the distance. I stopped at a couple of other turnouts to get some pictures before arriving at the final turnout. I got off the bike and started capturing pictures of the arches and caves I had previously seen in the distance. There was a trail up to one of the arches, and in the distance I could see several people standing within the archway.
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| South Arch – Windows Area in Arches National Park |
I began the hike up to the arch. As I stated previously, it was getting hot out, and I was dressed in my riding leathers, so I figured I would hike a short distance up, get some pictures and then turn back. As I had stopped to take some photos, I was approached by a polish death metal guy who started chatting. “This ees most beautiful place in vorld, no?” he asked. I couldn’t really disagree. We started chatting as we hiked up to the arch. I have to admit that I was huffing pretty good when I got up there, but the view from the top was definitely worth it. The guy was apparently from New York and had helped move someone to L.A. and was now on his way back home. He had no intention of stopping, but someone the night before had told him he should make the side trip up to the park, so he did. We talked about bikes (Harley vs. Triumph among other things) for a bit as we huffed up the trail. I got a few pictures as I caught my breath, then said my goodbyes and headed back to the bike.
Once I got back to the Harley, I headed back for the entrance of the park so I could hit the road. It was now early afternoon, and I had a pretty tight agenda. I made a quick stop for some food and then headed out for Monticello, UT and Cortez, CO. The ride at this point was pretty uneventful. The scenery was starting to dry up a bit as I headed south through Utah. I made a quick fuel stop at Monticello and then headed east into Colorado.
As I was approaching Cortez, I could see some storms brewing in the distance. I noticed one small downpour in the distance and I was hoping to avoid it. Unfortunately as I wound along the highway into Colorado, I found myself heading straight for it. Once I got to the storm, I found that the rain actually felt kinda good. The storm was short lived, and in the amount of time it would have taken me to dig out the rain gear I was drying out.
My initial plan in heading to Colorado was to visit Mesa Verde National Park, which was just outside of Cortez. Once I got to Cortez, however, I noticed some pretty nasty storms brewing in that direction with some pretty nasty lightning. I decided that wasn’t something I really wanted to deal with, so I decided I would chase the sunshine to the south and head for the Four Corners Monument. I gassed up and headed south towards New Mexico, feeling somewhat guilty that I had missed out on Mesa Verde, but glad to be heading into warmer, drier weather.
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| Four Corners Monument |
I was somewhat disappointed when I got to the Four Corners Monument. I am not sure what exactly I expected, but this definitely was not the place I had pictured. As I approached the monument, all I saw was a wooden stand where people were taking the entrance fee. The parking lot was a big dirt field with posts and rope to divide up parking spaces. The monument itself looked like a little league baseball field from the outside with concrete structures surrounding the monument itself. I parked my bike and walked into the “stadium”. Inside the concrete enclosures were places for Navajo jewelry and fruit stands. Most were unoccupied. In the corner, there was one jewelry stand open with two ladies selling their handmade crafts.
I walked into the center of the monument where each of the state’s seals were embedded in the marble sidewalk. I waited for some others to take their picture standing (or laying) directly on the four corners and then walked in to get my shot. Since I was by myself, I had to take my own picture. While there are no true identifying features in the picture, I can assure you that the big ass boot covering the crosshairs of the monument is mine!
I left the monument and headed back towards Utah. My plan was to head in the direction of Torrey, UT and Capitol Reef National Park. It was starting to get late in the day, so I figured I would travel along as far as I could and see where I could find a spot to camp. The wind was starting to kick up and since I was literally in the middle of nowhere, there was nothing to stop it from scooping up big dust clouds from the ground. The wind was getting hard to ride in, but I needed to find a place to stay.
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| Gas Station in Aneth, UT |
I approached the town of Aneth, UT and thought I should probably stop to get gas. I could tell by the looks of this place that it was not somewhere I wanted to stay for the night. Many of the houses were boarded up and abandoned, and the town was probably one of the most run down places I had ever been to. I stopped at the gas station and fueled up, and as I stopped there, some of the locals began chatting with me, asking where I was headed, where I was from, etc. I was a little concerned as this was the heart of Navajo land, and I have heard that they are not necessarily the friendliest people around, so I filled up as quickly as I could and got back on the road.
While looking for a place to stay, I decided to pull out the map and look at my options. There really wasn’t much in the direction of Torrey, so I opted to head back towards Blanding, UT. As I got there the weather was looking pretty bad, so I decided that this might be a good night to forego the tent and check into a hotel. I checked into one of the nicer looking places I could find and got some much needed rest and a good shower. After looking at the map, Blanding, UT is only about 70 miles south of Moab, so even though I had felt like I travelled a lot during the day, I ultimately only made it 70 miles to the south. At any rate, it was a good stopping place and set me up to head for Natural Bridges National Monument first thing in the morning.
