Stationed from Moab, offroad capital of America possibly... There is certainly no shortage of 4x4 vehicles around here, ranging from the showroom spec through to the fully customised off road vehicles.
The sceneries here are just stunning, the town itself is situated in a valley between high cliffs and hills. With snow capped mountains to the west and sandy desert like cliffs to the east, the town is practically hidden from the outside world. And yet it is world famous for its offroading trails and competitions.
So while I was in Moab, I took the 5 mile drive north to Arches National Park, which has the most stunning and interesting scenery I have yet seen - although possibly also helped by having the first sun I have really seen on my trip!
In the pictures I have posted, you will see as you go further through, it gets more interesting, as it did with the park. At first you think "this is nice", followed by "that's quite cool" to "wow, this is really amazing" - although i'm not sure you will think the same with my photo's!!! Time has left its mark on Arches, like with Balanced Rock, which will in time fall from its precarious perch atop a much faster eroding rock.
This is by far the best way I have ever seen different rock types demonstrating their weakness to erosion. Different layers compacted over the years of different rocks today, showing that just because you're on top, doesn't mean you're going to erode first!
The arches in the park are formed from water erosion mostly, freexing and thawing breaking further chunks the whole time, aided by wind erosion, as one of the info boards said "the very forces which created these masterpieces, will also destroy them". That said, There are when you look around, newer arches forming, so there will more arches around for the next few hundred thousand years!
After all these national parks and different weather patterns my car is really showing signs of needing a good wash - well the good news is that it is fully hand washed by myself, meticulously not missing any dirt, and a photo of it cleaned is present at the end of the Arches picture folder, after I returned to get a photo just after washing!
Follwing on from my wonderful day at Arches I had a free day and decided to follow a road that began just before you entered Moab. To reach moab you cross a smaller Colorado River than we saw at Hoover Dam, and it is at that bridge you find a car park called Lions Place. This is what I have called the road as I don't really think UT128 sounds very interesting! I followed this road out of curiosity, I had no idea where it went, turns out it ran along the edge of Arches National Park, although at river level, a considerable way below the level of the park. I followed the Colorado River winding its way around, and eventually the road left the river to one side and entered ranch territory, with dusty roads heading off the horizons, seeming to go nowhere, although had they been followed I am certain I would have ended up on somone's doorstep!
The return route was considerably more entertaining, as it seemed to sweep from one corner to the next, naturally flowing alongside the winding river, making it a wonderful driving road, not too far from what you may expect in Europe (although still not quite as twisting or entertaining). It just goes to show that there are plenty of flowing roads to be found, you just have to know where to look!
On Sunday, my last full day in Moab I went on a Hummer offroad tour, I thought that visiting the offroad capital of America I had to go offroad at least once! I am too young to hire a Jeep so I took the next best option, a trip as a passenger on an ex-military operated Hummer. Don't be fooled by its size, this thing really can go anywhere, it is extremely capable, the ability to climb 70-odd degree inclines, although we only touched on 45 degrees... in reverse - why? "Because we can", a 3-and-a-half-foot vertical rock face was covered with ease, being able to take more when asked. I like the photo I posted below, it shows the front suspension of the Hummer at almost full compression, if you look through the other photo's and see how high it rides from the tyres normally, you can get a good idea of the stresses it was going through - seeing as how it is older than I am, is not bad, oh and it gets 9 miles-to-the-gallon despite being a diesel!
The driver, and guide, was an ex-Utah police Sheriff and was excellent, he knew the area like the back of his hand having lived around the area his whole life, and had been driving some of the trails around (including part of the one we did) since he was 11 in an old military Willy's Jeep.
I would strongly recommend this to everyone, you get to see views you would not see from a regular drive in the National Parks, if you're interested in cars and offroading then it will tick those boxes, if you are not, then from sheer entertainment and interest of the area would be of interest. Along the way you can keep your eyes peeled for dinosaur tracks and foot prints, even dinosaur bones (someone in our group found one), arrowheads from the ancient American Indian population, they are all so abundant here that they are not protected.
Great photos. I think those arches are the same that appear in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade!
ReplyDeleteThe weather will improve!
-Oliver
You are right!!
ReplyDeleteOut on the Hummer trip the guide showed us where they filmed some of that film!!
You have good eyes my friend!