Welcome to our Adventure!

Al and I are thrilled that you have found your way to our blog. We hope you enjoy reading our journal and viewing our photographs of the natural wonder of our United States of America. Let's hit the road together!
Homer, Alaska

Monday, June 2, 2014

Update on Truck and Arches National Park

A lot has happened since I last wrote. The truck is safely waiting at Young Ford in Morgan Utah. The last we heard on Thursday was that Ford extended warranty had called them and requested an engine tear-down before authorizing an order for a new engine. They are still covering the repair, but apparently want to see exactly where the issues are before authorizing a complete new engine. Our service rep Dean said this would add a few days on to the schedule.

Good fortune has shone down on us though. Of course, with the set back to our schedule, I sent off an email to our boss, Brad, explaining our predicament and that we would let him know as soon as we did an estimated time of arrival. Shortly thereafter, we received a call from Brad. We discussed our options back and forth, and to make a long story short, Brad arranged for a co-workamper couple to head on down to Evanston with their truck, and towed our coach up to the ranch for us. So we are settled into our summer home here at Luton's Teton Cabins, able to start work on time after all, and so grateful to the compassionate and giving nature of our fellow workampers. It truly is a wonderful community.
The view of Grand Tetons National Park from our campsite. Awesome isn't it? We started work today, and after I am caught up from last week I'll post pictures of the ranch and what our jobs are all about this year. But be patient, as we are working the next 6 days in a row :-). Nothing like jumping in right away!

I do still have some catching up to do, as there are two National Parks, one National Monument, and some fun hiking we did that I haven't shown you yet :-). This post will be about our first day visiting one of the most beautiful areas I have ever seen, Arches National Park in Moab Utah.

We had arrived in Moab after a short three hour drive from Torrey Utah on May 20. I had tried to get reservations in a really nice RV Park that our friends Steve and Joan had stayed at, Portal RV Resort, but they were all booked up when I called in March. We ended up at Moab Rim Campark which was a nice campground (until the holiday weekend, but the issue wasn't their fault and a different story), clean and just south of town. It is right on the highway so there was highway noise to deal with, but it wasn't too bad. We decided to have dinner out our first night, and had a really good dinner at The Moab Brewery.

Arches National Park was our first destination Wednesday morning. First stop was the Visitor's Center to pick up maps and information. We had the dogs with us that day, so it was just the driving tour and reconnaissance mission :-). They also have a CD narrated driving tour of the park for rent for five bucks, so we did that. It was very interesting, I enjoy taking the audio tours of parks when a ranger tour isn't a viable option. 

After leaving the Visitor Center you start climbing up switchbacks, and the first stop was an overlook of the Moab fault line. The highway pretty much follows the fault line that occurred about six million years ago, causing the east side (that we are on) to sink about 2600 feet lower than the west side (across the highway).

The landscape immediately became stunning. This area is called "Park Avenue". The sheer walls of this canyon reminded early visitors of tall skyscrapers.

The "Petrified" Dunes, with the LaSal Mountains in the background. Petrified implies that they were once an organic organism like wood, but here it refers to sand that has been cemented into rock.

In Cathedral Valley there are several formations that have names. The most popular formation in this group is the three pillars on the left, called the "Three Gossips".

Balanced Rock is one of the most popular formations in the park. It looks like a rock has been cemented on top of a column, but in actuality it is all one formation. A widely told story exists about an elderly gentleman who swore the lighter colored layer was cement, and climbed up there to prove it was. He ended up getting stranded and needed to be rescued by Park personnel!

Cove of Caves area on the way to the Windows formations. Scenes from "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" were filmed here. As we swung through the parking area for the Windows formations, it was very crowded and no spaces available, so we'll return to that later!

Salt Valley

The iconic view of Arches National Park and is featured on their state license plate: Delicate Arch. It's down in the left side of the picture, I took this from the lower overlook point. One can take a 3 mile round trip to the base of the arch, but not today: no dogs allowed! We thought about going back and doing it later in the week, but when the rains came through over the weekend it flooded the entrance area and Park Rangers had the area closed.


The Fiery Furnance area, so named because of the way the formation is situated, the setting sun's rays light up the red rocks brilliantly, making it seem like they are on fire. There is a Ranger guided hike through the Fiery Furnace twice a day, as it is very easy to become lost in the maze of rocks. We did inquire about doing this hike during the week we are there, but the Ranger at the Visitor center told us the hikes were booked solid for the next two months. Since the advent of online reservations, he said it's highly unlikely to get a spot by walking in. Shame.

Skyline Arch, on the way to the end of the scenic drive at The Devil's Garden. There's also a campground down here, and we drove through, checking it out. Very nice. No hookups, but what scenery!

Having come to the end of the scenic drive, we decided to head back to the campground, take the dogs for a walk, have an early dinner, and then we would return to the park  ourselves to do the hikes around the Windows area, and possibly get some nice sunset pictures.

This formation is called "Nefertiti"

The Windows section with the LaSal Mountains in the background.

North Window

South Window

Together, they are referred to as "The Spectacles"!

Turret Arch. It's really hard to get pictures without any people in them, but at least the little figures on the right give a sense of scale to the formation :-).

Double Arch

The sun is setting....

and we're done for the day!

9 comments:

  1. Great solution to the start date problem. Love seeing your beautiful pictures of Arches. That wad our plan until solar. So I thought, next year. But now we have a wedding in May in MD. So thanks for taking me there.

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  2. Aren't RVers great??? I'll be those fellow workcampers didn't mind a bit, helping you to get your trailer to your work location. We've seen things like this happen many times during our travels.Love the photos of the National Parks, brings back memories of when we were there.

    Safe Travels,

    Jim and Linda

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  3. RVers are a helpful bunch!! Great way to meet your co-workers;o))

    Gorgeous photos of Arches. Never been there and it is now on our TODOS list!!

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  4. Glad your fellow work campers were able to help you out. Gread pictures of Arches- I fell like I don't need to go....

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  5. Just love Arches! You guys are on a great start to your new gig. Anxious to hear more about it :)

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  6. Thank goodness for RV'ers that step up to help out. I love your pictures of the arches, you have more angles than we do. It's gorgeous at sunset. I can't wait to hear more about the other parks and the job.

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  7. How nice of your fellow work campers to come get you. Love the pics of Arches, so many great trails there. Can't wait to hear about your new gig.

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  8. Just a quick note to let you know that I have been reading your blog. We have many things in common. Both of us are about the same age. We are fulltimers. I (Shawn) have a bit of a heart issue. We have lived in our trailer for about 1.5 years. I retired in January. We traveled for a few months and then went to Missouri and are living on our ranch (that we own with 10 other people) We are going to get back on the road soon. Good luck with the truck, that is one of my biggest fears.

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  9. I hit publish too quickly.
    Shawn and Kim
    ktmissouri.blogspot.com

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