Day 36 - Moab

Mesa Arch courtesy of NPS.gov
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Today I visited Canyonlands NP which is nearby to where I am staying at the moment in Moab. It was one of the parks that I was really looking forward to visiting on my trip and I wasn’t disappointed. It was much emptier than any other park I had visited so I had plenty of space to myself to wander round and explore. Thankfully I was not followed by any coachloads of tourists today! The park is split into 3 areas – Island in the Sky, the Needles and the Maze. I only explored the Island in the Sky area which is divided from the other areas by canyons formed by the Colorado and Green rivers. The Maze is only accessible to 4x4 vehicles and the Needles was another 60 mile drive south to its entrance so I didn’t make that today. The views of the canyons were absolutely amazing and I went on lots of walks around and about. I took about a 20 minute walk to Mesa Arch which had great views of the canyons through it. It was really peaceful and quiet there as I was the only person about so I took the opportunity to sit for a while and do some reading with my legs dangling over the edge of the canyon which was really cool! However, I had a minor disaster late in the day which was really annoying. I was coming up to the last area I was visiting when my camera went a bit crazy and managed to delete all the photos on its memory. Luckily I had downloaded all the photos apart from the ones I had taken today but it meant that I lost most of the photos I took today which was a bit of a shame. Also the weather started to take a turn for the worse and get more cloudy so the photos I have left aren’t as nice as the ones I had taken earlier in the day. It also means that I don’t have any of the photos I took of Mesa Arch either which is a real shame. After getting a bit pissed off about losing my photos I then got more annoyed by American drivers. They are generally not the best drivers in the world anyway, but a few REALLY annoyed me today! They have a habit of driving right up to your bumper and have absolutely no concept of breaking distance. This happens whether you’re driving at 20mph or 80mph – they drive just as close. This got on my nerves today whilst I was driving through the park as the speed limits are fairly low so you can look at the scenery and not disrupt the environment so much. You would have thought that the other people in the park would also understand this as most of them were there to go hiking, but no. They hike through the most beautiful landscapes and then drive as fast as they can on the road to get between spots to hike. One guy today was driving at least twice the speed limit and then proceeded to undercut me as I was turning out onto a main road. I indulged in a spot of road rage and screamed at him (unfortunately my windows were closed) and I think he got the message because I think my hand gestures said just as much as the words I was shouting. Idiot. Made me feel a lot better though!

Canyonlands NP
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Distance travelled today – technically 0, but trip to Canyonlands NP 110 miles.

Distance travelled today – technically 0, but trip to Canyonlands NP 110 miles

Bearwatch – 0.