I've lived in Colorado for over 20 years and have never yet taken the trip over to the neighboring state of Utah to visit Moab. I have heard so many great things about Moab, I finally decided to make it happen for this long weekend.
I worked on Friday so we got a late start in the afternoon. Because of that we decided to spend the first night in Fruita, CO, that way we were able to (1) have dinner from our favorite pizza place: Hot Tomato, (2) visit with Leslie's Uncle and Aunt who live in Fruita, and (3) enter Moab in daylight so we could enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Day 1: The Drive In and Outside the Park
I was already amazed with the area without even going to the national park, which was planned for day #2.
The plan for this day was to drive down Potash Road to the trailhead for Bowtie and Corona Arches. First stop - we saw a sign pointing to petroglyphs, so we checked 'em out. This is one of the largest displays of petroglyphs I have seen yet! These were an awesome and unexpected surprise.
We then proceeded down Potash Road to the trailhead, and we commenced on our hike.
The start of the trailhead was simple and a short steep ascent to a train track. Before getting to the train track there was an obvious trail to the right that followed the tracks - how cool, I guess we will follow the track at the beginning of our hike.
After breaking through to the sunlight at the end of this first section we checked our map and discovered we veered off course. So we turned around and found the real trail. Nevertheless, this initial piece of track was very cool!
And after some of that "real trail" we arrived at the location where you can see the Bowtie and the Corona Arch.
I see the Bowtie
Is this why they call it the Corona Arch?
Day 2: Arches National Park
Spectacular!
Balanced Rock
Early morning valley
Valley view with cool tree
Fiery Furnace
Fiery Furnace
Fiery Couple
Fiery Furnace
Near Tapestry Arch
Tapestry Arch
Broken Arch
Broken Arch & Photographer
Broken Arch
Broken Arch
slippery trail to Delicate Arch
Very cool bird shot
Delicate Arch
Delicate Arch
Delicate Arch
Delicate Arch
La Sal Mountains
Petrified Dunes
Day 3: Fisher Tower and Drive Home
We got an early start to our day and wanted to check out the Fisher Tower trail as it is on our way back home. We ended up hiking for almost an hour and half - because this is one of the coolest trails I've been on. I want to return to this spot to spend more time checking out this great area that isn't even in Moab.
And after we left Fisher Tower, we drove through the beautiful town of Cisco - that was, uh, interesting.
