September 15, 2019

Our day started with a buffet breakfast in the hotel dining room. Our luggage was picked up after 7 to be loaded on to the bus for an 8 a.m. departure – one of the passengers was a few minutes late. From our fourth-floor window we could see the Colorado Plateau and cliffs. The first journey was short today. The Colorado National Monument east gate was about a 15-minute ride from the hotel.

The 386,242 square kilometer Colorado Plateau extends from western Colorado into eastern Utah, northern Arizona and northern New Mexico. For the next eight days we will be travelling through the territory also known as the Colorado Plateau Provinces. The region is a high-altitude desert with scrub vegetation. The rainfall is less than 11 cm per year. This huge region has the largest concentration of American national parks. We travelled the 23-mile (37 km) Rim Rock Drive which follows the edge of the Colorado National Monument. It winds its way up using switchbacks giving a great view of the changing scenery and the Grand Valley below. The original dirt road was surveyed and built in the 1930s by President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps(CCC) workers.

We stopped at several lookouts to view the ancient Precambrian igneous rock layers which form the bottom layer of the Colorado Plateau. The best view is here since the other canyons show erosion of newer deposits. The same gray igneous rock can be seen if you hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. The cliffs are striated with distinct coloured layers of reddish, light brown and grayish rock, sometimes there is purple and black rock. The rock walls can tower from 1,534 to 2,134 kilometers (5,000 to 7,000 feet) above sea level. The black streaks on the rock faces are caused by magnesium and are called desert varnish. The newer reddish sandstone layers were called slip rock by the homesteaders, since the metal horseshoes caused their horses to slip on the sandstone.

Our first stop was Ute Canyon, named after the tribe which occupied the land when the European settlers arrived. We had great views of the Grand Valley and the distant Bookcliff Mountains. Nearby was a small area called Ute Gardens where examples of native plants grew, including juniper, cacti and yucca. The yucca spines have very sharp points that easily penetrate skin when accidently bumped.

Next was a stop to view the red rock formation called “Coke Ovens”. Nearby was a drainage tunnel built by the CCC workers to drain water so as not to erode the road bed. The step counter read 4,437.

At Grand View Point, there was another 20-minute stop to admire the scenery and take pictures.

The final stop was the Colorado National Monument Visitor Center where we watched a short video on the geological history of the Colorado Plateau, dating back 320 million years.

Then it was back to Interstate route 70 for the drive to Utah and the town of Moab. The journey took less than 90 minutes. Matt gave us information about the state of Utah which is the second driest after Nevada. The three geological areas of Utah are the Colorado Plateau in the east; the Rocky Mountains that reach into Idaho and Canada and the western part called the Basin and Range. Our visit to Utah in the next three days will be in the Colorado Plateau region.

When we arrived in Moab, Utah, Jose dropped the group off at the Moab Information Center while he and Matt dropped off the luggage at the rustic Big Horn Lodge and checked-in the group. The elevation of Moab is1,227 meters, lower than the Colorado Plateau.

We walked along North Main Street looking for a restaurant for lunch. Being Sunday in Utah, which was settled by members of the Mormon church, some places were closed. We found the Moab Garage Co. café which was a high-ceilinged vintage diner and ice cream shop. Our lunch was delicious, we took a picture. The café served breakfast which was good to know. Steps after lunch were 8.083.

The bus was waiting for everyone 75 minutes later to take us to the Arches National Park, just north of Moab. There are over 2,000 natural sandstone arches in the park. Some are as small as one meter wide by one centimeter high. The temperature was 28°C (82°F) with a 20 kph wind to keep us cool under the thin cloud cover. In the distance we could see the Le Sal Mountains named for their important salt deposits.

Driving into the park, we passed an area of solidified sand dunes, that has turned to stone over the centuries, which now had scrub bushed thinly growing on them. The first stop was at the Courthouse Towers Viewpoint. Some of the rock formations were the Three Gossips, Sheep Rock, the Tower of Babel and The Organ. Our next stop was the Balancing Rock viewpoint where we could wander and take pictures for 20 minutes. Next, we drove to Utah’s famous 25-meter high Delicate Arch which is featured on the state’s automobile licence plates and on some twenty-five cent coins representing Utah state. The final 45-minute stop was at the Windows Section where there are over ten large arches and great canyon views. We followed the trails to the different arches including the Double Arch, Turret Arch, North Window and South Window and views of the surrounding areas.

Shortly after 5, we were returning to Moab. Matt went over the details for tomorrow including advising us that the facilities at Canyonlands National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park were basic and that we would be advised to pack water, snacks and lunch for our six-hour adventure. We do not need to pack in the morning since we are staying in Moab for two nights. Hopefully everyone will be on the bus by 8 in the morning.

We decided to go across the street to the City Market grocery store for snacks and lunch items as well as something for breakfast on Tuesday since the group is to leave at 7:30 and the restaurant next door is very busy this week and may not be able to quickly serve our 44 people. We saw several other passengers from our group stocking up at the store.

We walked about five minutes from the lodge to The Moab Brewery for a light dinner. We had a 10-minute wait before being seated, it was a busy place at 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Our final steps for the day were 17,826.