I was up early to find myself the only vehicle in a vacant lot. Where had all the other cars gone from the night before? Had I slept that soundly? I got up and took off at 7am, bypassing even a coffee shop.
Utah Forest Service personnel were conducting training across the street from where I had van-camped. (Ten wild fires have broken out across the state since 1 July) But after a quick tour of Price (home of a prehistoric museum), I drove on to Wellington and turned north on Soldier Creek Road, the start of the Nine Mile Canyon (which is actually 70 miles long and ends near the Green River) to explore the Fremont petroglyphs. Little did I know this would be an eight-hour endeavor across gravel roads, steep inclines and miles and miles of remote high desert plateaus. But I am not complaining.
I knew it was going to be a hot day and wanted to be on the road by 8am to allow for some cooler explorations. But getting to the first petroglyph site almost took an hour, as I slowed down to admire the rock formations along the road. Abandoned farms, crumbled barns and eroded adobe homes were also along this scenic gravel road, not to mention lazy cows hidden under the shadows of thick cottonwoods.
It was was a quiet drive. I only counted about seven cars all day, not counting the trucks and pick-ups working for the Bill Bartlett Corporation, a natural gas company drilling nearby off a plateau. (Lots of trucks carrying carbon dioxide shared the roads with me today).
There were two major rock art sites in Nine Mile Canyon, both which were well-marked, but there were many smaller samples all throughout the 50-mile stretch of road. Most were unmarked along the road.
The hot weather by 10am had already tired Sadie out, so I purposefully didn't wander too far off the road. It was already in the 80s by 11am. We didn't stay at any one site for long, and many times I left her in the van with the windows open, which she preferred, to keep her out of the sun.
What a pretty area this place was. This area was recently saved from additional oil and gas drilling once Obama took office, reversing a Bush approval to lease more lands to energy corporations. This land is too fragile to crack, drill and split open. Too many balanced rocks, unstable land and sensitive ecosystems abound here. When I walked on some of the rock shards the rocks cracked like seashells on the beach.
One of the largest petroglyphs is found at the 47.5 mark, showing a massive hunt. This photograph allegedly is one of the most photographed photos of Fremont petroglyphs.
But by 2pm I had seen it all and was now joy-riding, driving for eight miles toward Myrnton just to see the "Scenic vista" which was nothing more than white-topped plateaus by then. I could see the distant high peaks of northern Utah's Uinatas. Another drive took me up the steep Harmon Canyon where, according to my faithful Benchmark Map, an "interplanetary airstrip" is. This I had to see! But when I got on the high plateau all I saw was more dirt roads.
Skies to my west were darkening and I didn't want to be caught high on a dirt road during a potential monsoon. I had read earlier in today's Salt Lake Tribune that Logan Canyon experienced a mudslide and swept a mother and two kids away from their house. Nor did I want my low-clearance van to get stuck in any water.
I ended up wasting almost an hour trying to find an alternate loop out of the canyons. Dry Canyon Road turned out to be a narrow, poorly-graded one-lane road over a rocky stream. The Benchmark Map made the road look quite passable. Wrong! That immediately sent me in reverse and going out the canyon via the same way.
By4:30pm I was out of the canyon and back on USHwy6 going east. Rain clouds were to our south. Grand Junction, CO was only 150 miles away, a tempting drive on I-70. But I stayed on course, fighting triple-digit heat even by 6pm as I turned off the interstate (I-70) toward Moab. I found an AM radio station from somewhere out of Colorado and got to listen to an entire broadcast of Meet The Press starring Sens John McCain, Chuck Shumer. Topic: the resignation of Gov Sara Palin and Obama's stimulus package.
The stretch of road between East Carbon and Green River were some of the most barren, deserted landscape I have ever seen: bare mountain tops and dead sagebrush was all I saw on either side of me. The distant western slopes of the Rockies became more prevalent as I approached the Moab exit. I had been here back in early January 1997, but in winter the desolation isn't quite so obvious. But today it was more unbearable due to the heat.
But all boring things must come to an end. And thus ended my boredom of the white road when ten miles out of Moab the red rocks became abundant, and with a setting sun became very outstanding. Wow! My joie de vivre returned and I couldn't wait to get into town!
My first stop was the Moab Brewery for dinner. I was famished. This was a nice place, with decent food, and quickly started conversations with two very interesting people: Dave, a retired DuPage cop (IL) who now works for a local outfitter and adventure company in town. Dave has lived in Moab for 15 years. He also volunteers for the county's Search and Rescue team, telling me of the recent jobs they've had recoving bodies from the nearby Colorado River. He teaches arms classes, leads interpretive tours of the area and enjoys archeology and paleontology. And he drinks beer. A man of my heart! He did not look his 72 years.
"You know you are in the only liberal county in Utah?" Dave asked me. I personally can't place "liberal" and "Utah" in the same sentence but from looking around the clientele of the brewpub, I would have to agree. The beer was good and so was my "hot" chicken burrito, which wasn't really that hot. The beer here is served in Royal Pint glasses for $3.50. I ended up taking home a growler.
"That's not a growler, that's a jug!" Dave added.
The other interesting person was Sarah to my left, a 26-year-old from Tulsa who also works for a local guide as a rock climber. She moved her to rock climb and couldn't be happier.
"If you want to see the sunset, you better hurry!" said Sarah, so off I went at 8pm to find me a camping site near the Sand Flats. The only problem was, I was going the wrong way toward the Sand Flats, losing time. By the time I got to these mystical sand dunes, the sun had already set but the colors were still low in the sky, and Sadie and I pranced high on the rocks to catch the last fleeting moments of the sun's light. What a sight to behold.
My new Teva sandals performed great on the steep rocks, better than Sadie's paws! Tomorrow I will get up early to redo this trail at sunrise.
I secured a campsite for the night at the Sand Flats Rec Area ($10/day) but then went back downtown to walk an hour with Sadie for some exercise. She pulled the entire time and I was sweating from the aridity. Even at 9pm it was 89F and at at 11:30pm it had cooled down only to 86F.
But despite the heat, even late on a Sunday night the town was bustling with people walking down Main Street, laughing from the nearby open band performance. Young men stormed the streets on their skate boards, a common sight all through Utah. Sadie slept behind me on my sleeping bag while I sat up front updating today's blog.
What to do tomorrow? After my sunrise walk I want to explore the Negro Bill Trail near the river, hang around Moab for lunch and I guess from there slowly move southward. But I do like Moab and I don't want to leave it in a hurry. Moab is no Park City. Moab is fun! Moab rocks! It's been sofar my second-favorite town on my roadtrip so far, preceded only by Bozeman.
Utah Forest Service personnel were conducting training across the street from where I had van-camped. (Ten wild fires have broken out across the state since 1 July) But after a quick tour of Price (home of a prehistoric museum), I drove on to Wellington and turned north on Soldier Creek Road, the start of the Nine Mile Canyon (which is actually 70 miles long and ends near the Green River) to explore the Fremont petroglyphs. Little did I know this would be an eight-hour endeavor across gravel roads, steep inclines and miles and miles of remote high desert plateaus. But I am not complaining.
I knew it was going to be a hot day and wanted to be on the road by 8am to allow for some cooler explorations. But getting to the first petroglyph site almost took an hour, as I slowed down to admire the rock formations along the road. Abandoned farms, crumbled barns and eroded adobe homes were also along this scenic gravel road, not to mention lazy cows hidden under the shadows of thick cottonwoods.
It was was a quiet drive. I only counted about seven cars all day, not counting the trucks and pick-ups working for the Bill Bartlett Corporation, a natural gas company drilling nearby off a plateau. (Lots of trucks carrying carbon dioxide shared the roads with me today).
There were two major rock art sites in Nine Mile Canyon, both which were well-marked, but there were many smaller samples all throughout the 50-mile stretch of road. Most were unmarked along the road.
The hot weather by 10am had already tired Sadie out, so I purposefully didn't wander too far off the road. It was already in the 80s by 11am. We didn't stay at any one site for long, and many times I left her in the van with the windows open, which she preferred, to keep her out of the sun.
What a pretty area this place was. This area was recently saved from additional oil and gas drilling once Obama took office, reversing a Bush approval to lease more lands to energy corporations. This land is too fragile to crack, drill and split open. Too many balanced rocks, unstable land and sensitive ecosystems abound here. When I walked on some of the rock shards the rocks cracked like seashells on the beach.
One of the largest petroglyphs is found at the 47.5 mark, showing a massive hunt. This photograph allegedly is one of the most photographed photos of Fremont petroglyphs.
But by 2pm I had seen it all and was now joy-riding, driving for eight miles toward Myrnton just to see the "Scenic vista" which was nothing more than white-topped plateaus by then. I could see the distant high peaks of northern Utah's Uinatas. Another drive took me up the steep Harmon Canyon where, according to my faithful Benchmark Map, an "interplanetary airstrip" is. This I had to see! But when I got on the high plateau all I saw was more dirt roads.
Skies to my west were darkening and I didn't want to be caught high on a dirt road during a potential monsoon. I had read earlier in today's Salt Lake Tribune that Logan Canyon experienced a mudslide and swept a mother and two kids away from their house. Nor did I want my low-clearance van to get stuck in any water.
I ended up wasting almost an hour trying to find an alternate loop out of the canyons. Dry Canyon Road turned out to be a narrow, poorly-graded one-lane road over a rocky stream. The Benchmark Map made the road look quite passable. Wrong! That immediately sent me in reverse and going out the canyon via the same way.
By4:30pm I was out of the canyon and back on USHwy6 going east. Rain clouds were to our south. Grand Junction, CO was only 150 miles away, a tempting drive on I-70. But I stayed on course, fighting triple-digit heat even by 6pm as I turned off the interstate (I-70) toward Moab. I found an AM radio station from somewhere out of Colorado and got to listen to an entire broadcast of Meet The Press starring Sens John McCain, Chuck Shumer. Topic: the resignation of Gov Sara Palin and Obama's stimulus package.
The stretch of road between East Carbon and Green River were some of the most barren, deserted landscape I have ever seen: bare mountain tops and dead sagebrush was all I saw on either side of me. The distant western slopes of the Rockies became more prevalent as I approached the Moab exit. I had been here back in early January 1997, but in winter the desolation isn't quite so obvious. But today it was more unbearable due to the heat.
But all boring things must come to an end. And thus ended my boredom of the white road when ten miles out of Moab the red rocks became abundant, and with a setting sun became very outstanding. Wow! My joie de vivre returned and I couldn't wait to get into town!
My first stop was the Moab Brewery for dinner. I was famished. This was a nice place, with decent food, and quickly started conversations with two very interesting people: Dave, a retired DuPage cop (IL) who now works for a local outfitter and adventure company in town. Dave has lived in Moab for 15 years. He also volunteers for the county's Search and Rescue team, telling me of the recent jobs they've had recoving bodies from the nearby Colorado River. He teaches arms classes, leads interpretive tours of the area and enjoys archeology and paleontology. And he drinks beer. A man of my heart! He did not look his 72 years.
"You know you are in the only liberal county in Utah?" Dave asked me. I personally can't place "liberal" and "Utah" in the same sentence but from looking around the clientele of the brewpub, I would have to agree. The beer was good and so was my "hot" chicken burrito, which wasn't really that hot. The beer here is served in Royal Pint glasses for $3.50. I ended up taking home a growler.
"That's not a growler, that's a jug!" Dave added.
The other interesting person was Sarah to my left, a 26-year-old from Tulsa who also works for a local guide as a rock climber. She moved her to rock climb and couldn't be happier.
"If you want to see the sunset, you better hurry!" said Sarah, so off I went at 8pm to find me a camping site near the Sand Flats. The only problem was, I was going the wrong way toward the Sand Flats, losing time. By the time I got to these mystical sand dunes, the sun had already set but the colors were still low in the sky, and Sadie and I pranced high on the rocks to catch the last fleeting moments of the sun's light. What a sight to behold.
My new Teva sandals performed great on the steep rocks, better than Sadie's paws! Tomorrow I will get up early to redo this trail at sunrise.
I secured a campsite for the night at the Sand Flats Rec Area ($10/day) but then went back downtown to walk an hour with Sadie for some exercise. She pulled the entire time and I was sweating from the aridity. Even at 9pm it was 89F and at at 11:30pm it had cooled down only to 86F.
But despite the heat, even late on a Sunday night the town was bustling with people walking down Main Street, laughing from the nearby open band performance. Young men stormed the streets on their skate boards, a common sight all through Utah. Sadie slept behind me on my sleeping bag while I sat up front updating today's blog.
What to do tomorrow? After my sunrise walk I want to explore the Negro Bill Trail near the river, hang around Moab for lunch and I guess from there slowly move southward. But I do like Moab and I don't want to leave it in a hurry. Moab is no Park City. Moab is fun! Moab rocks! It's been sofar my second-favorite town on my roadtrip so far, preceded only by Bozeman.
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