To celebrate Valentine's Day (weekend), Jesse and I decided to take a quick weekend trip down to Moab, Utah (about 3.5 hours southwest of Salt Lake City). Moab is this really cool, funky little desert town that is famous for it's granola-eating, outdoor-enthusiast population, as well as for it's red rock canyons and it's proximity to Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, and Goblin Valley State Park. Part of the reason for the trip was that Utah State University had decided to expand it's Social Work program to it's Moab campus, and they had asked me if I was interested in the position. Since I had never been to Moab, we decided to kill two birds with one stone and check it out.
We took the pugs with us on this trip, which actually turned out to be a mistake, since Moab is not particularly dog-friendly. You can't really take dogs anywhere in the National Parks, and the only doggie daycare facility was closed for the season. Obviously, this limited somewhat the activities we were able to do, but we still enjoyed the trip and having the dogs along (they really are great travel companions).
The first day we spent just exploring the area. Moab is really cool (it lives up to it's reputation in that regard), although it is too far from any "real" civilization for us to consider living there (the nearest Wal-Mart is over two hours away, and Target?? forget about it!). Moab sits between the Colorado River (before it enters the Grand Canyon) and the Manti-La Sal National Forest, with it's tall peaks and the awesome Mount Tukuhnikivatz (try pronouncing that!!), which rears it's snow-capped peak 12,500 feet above the red-rock desert floor. I think what makes Moab so interesting is the mix of desert canyons, tall peaks, fantastical red rock formations, and wide rivers, all in one place. Moab is known as a Utah adventure capitol, offering activities such as hiking, mountain biking, off-road jeep trails, rafting the Colorado River, and hiking to Delicate Arch, Utah's most famous icon (see below).
After driving up into the La Sal mountains (great fun!), we went down to the Colorado River and hiked a bit of a ways up Negro Bill Canyon (yes, I swear that's the real name). We were doing well, until Rudy the Pug decided to take a short cut straight through a prickly pear cactus. After spending an hour picking spines out of the poor dog, we headed back into town for dinner and rest. The next morning we went to Arches National Park, where we visited as many of the famous landmarks we could with the dogs in tow (some of the arches required hiking, and dogs aren't allowed on the hiking trails). We spent all day exploring Arches NP (saving Canyonlands and Goblin Valley for another trip), and headed home that night tired, but very happy and having had a great trip. As you will see from the pix, there was a good bit of snow scattered about, and the contrast against the red rock made for great studies in color and texture. This trip is a definite must for Utah explorers -- I can't wait to go again!
Educational Moment: Most of the formations in Arches National Park are composed of Entrada sandstone, which geologists say was part of a low arid coastal plain adjacent to a great inland sea 150 to 200 million years ago. Over time, the sand was covered by layers of sediment and hardened into rock. Then the land was lifted up, tilted, and eroded until the Entrada layer was exposed to the weather. At first, water and wind cracked the exposed sandstone. Then, narrow canyons and gullies were scoured out of the stone, leaving thin walls called "fins" in between. The next phase in the process occurred as wind and frost brushed away at the soft interior area of some of these fins, eventually perforating them with a window. Such an opening gradually enlarged until the window became an arch. The park's most photographed attraction, Delicate Arch, is isolated in its own amphitheater, framing a stunning view of endless sandstone. Landscape Arch, with a span of 306 feet, is the longest in the world and only one of eight arches along the just over seven-mile-long Devils Garden Trail.
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