Amazing spots in Moab
Put the Travelers Trunk on and headed on a road trip from the lush, green, temperate environment of Mt. Hood Oregon to a true desert like Moab. What a change that was. We are back in OR after an awesome trip and we wanted to share a bit of the story and the views.
This trip was not our average Moab trip where you see all the "normal" sites. We really wanted to see places we have never been before as well as, take a less touristy route to some of the more sought after spots. So we didn't wait in the early morning line up to get into Arches National Park or deal with full parking at all the points of interest. We went to the backroads.
As we drove along the Colorado river on day 1, we did decide to stop at a pretty famous location, Corona Arch, because the lot was pretty empty and the hike was a few miles long, hopefully steering a bunch of tourists away. This hike was cool because there were several arches you could walk right up to, and the whole area was sandstone allowing you to walk pretty much wherever you wanted. So, if you know us, we had to sneak away from the crowds for a bit.
After Corona Arch we moved on to follow Potash road and the Colorado river which soon turns to dirt and gets a little sketch if you're not used to driving off road trails. Depending on your vehicle, we do not recommend you going out too far on this. We made to see some cool spots, but best of all, we only passed 4 or 5 cars on the road. We were all alone in the middle of no where and it felt amazing.
On day 2 we were really wanting to see the Fisher Towers which is a bit out of the way but still normal for tourists do in Moab. On the way we stopped at Grandstaff Canyon which is a nice hike up a creek to a beautiful arch. We were early enough to beat the crowds and got to hang out under the arch with only a few other people around.
We tried driving into the trail head parking lot but it was full and there was cars parked down the side of the road, which to us is a sign to no go here. So we checked the map and found Onion Creek road which puts you a bit away from the towers but also gives you great views of them. Here we were able to park the car, set up a little base camp and hike around this insanely cool terrain for the rest of the day.
We got up early to start our drive back to the PNW and as we were leaving town, we decided we would do something a little more touristy and check out Canyonlands National Park. Luckily we were there early enough to miss the long wait to enter the park, as well as the normal overload of people and cars. We were able to easily park at all the epic spots to see places like Upheaval Dome, Grandview Point, and Candlestick Tower Overlook. It was so nice to sneak in and out of the park before it got too full. It's so nice to have some peace and quiet while being in such amazing places.