20
th May
The car was taken to the garage in Torrey, but the mechanic
was concerned that the problem with the ignition may not be straight forward to
solve so we agreed that we would try the dealership at Moab, are next
destination.
Our route took us through the remainder of Capital Reef NP
on Scenic Byway 24.
We skirted the San
Rafael Reef and through the San Rafael Desert.
The scenery was different yet again.
Moab is an old mining town which now serves the tourists
brought in by both Arches and Canyonlands National Parks on either side of the
town.
The dealership in Moab fixed the car in an hour; the problem
on this model was known to them, and they had done the same to other cars.
21
st May – Arches NP
A quiet morning fixing the saucepan drawer and placing some
traps for the mouse we picked up in Bryce, as we had found it’s nest! Three
traps were put down, two humane and one “not”. Unfortunately the mouse was not
very smart and he chose the “wrong” trap! Splat!
In the afternoon we visited Arches NP. This area of Utah has the largest collection
of Natural Arches, formed by the action of water on the sandstone over the
millennia.
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| Cove of Caves |
 |
| Balanced Rock |
 |
| Double Arch |
 |
| South Window |
 |
| Turret Arch |
 |
| North Window |
It was Alison’s birthday so Paul booked a trip down the
Colorado River that evening, which included a very nice meal followed by a
music and light show against the canyon walls.
22nd May – Devils Garden Trail
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| Pine Tree Arch |
We hiked the Devils Garden Trail at the far end of Arches
NP. Passing Pine Tree and Tunnel Arch,
Landscape Arch, which had a portion collapse from it in 1997, Partition and Navajo Arch. We then had a challenging hike up to Double O
Arch which required walking over a ridge of rock with sheer drops off either side.
It was exposed and would have been alright
apart from the wind that gradually got worse as the day wore on.
 |
| Tunnel Arch |
 |
| Landscape Arch |
We met some more Brits on Tour on this section of the Trail;
two young ladies working in USA with
the Oil Industry and then a young lad touring for 6 weeks.
We considered hiking with
them on
the remainder of the loop trail,
but because of the high winds picking up we decided to go back the way we had
come.
23rd May – Into Darkness
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| Broken Arch |
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| Skyline Arch |
We returned to Arches NP to check out the remaining Arches; Broken
and Sand Dune Arch and Skyline Arch which doubled its size when a large portion
fell off in 1940.
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| Sand Dune Arch |
The wind was even worse than yesterday.
The main problem is the sand and dust picked
up in the wind and flung in your face, and eyes; crunchy grit in your mouth;
sand stinging bare arms and legs.
Alison
used a cowboy style bandana to breathe through without getting a mouthful of
sand.
When we passed the Devils Garden Trailhead there were
several Rangers vehicles and an Ambulance – had someone been blown off the rock
ridge on the Double O trail? We will
never know but glad we did that hike yesterday.
In the evening Paul was coerced (dragged screaming more
like) into accompanying Alison to the Star Trek film “Into Darkness” – popcorn
and all – good film, great evening!
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