Yesterday the winds were too powerful to do much of anything here. They had 53 mph sustained winds with 75 mph gusts. Tommy and I took a ride into town and putted around most of the afternoon. We also took a ride along highway 191 and took some pictures of how people live within the rocks. They are squatters and the rocks now belong to them. Its pretty ingenious how people can take nothing but sandstone and make a home out of it. It was a nice day out even though we ended up with an inch of dirt and sand in our hair. You can actually see the sand in the air.
We also passed a park that had this needle like passage that you can climb up into. You are in between two huge rocks for about 100 feet and it is only 4-5 feet wide. On the outside of the same rocks are petroglyphs. Very cool. Very old. On the ground you can physically see the cotton from the cottonwood trees. They are in full bloom and my allergies do not like them at all.
Today was the first hike Tommy and I have done since a year ago. Ivan and Gloria took us out to 'Behind the Rocks Trail'. This was a new trail for us. It is endless, the amount of trails you can either hike or jeep here in Moab. Endless.....
We left home at 10am and ascended approximately 1000 feet within 2 miles. The beginning of the trail is pretty rough. I cannot believe that jeeps actually climb these 'steps'. That is what they call the rocks that contort your vehicle into almost a vertical position while continuing motion. CRAZY!!!!
We walked the trail. After getting over the hard part the rest was all uphill but relatively easy. Once on top we sat for a while and ate our celebratory green and red apples. The weather was in the high 80's and the sky was so clear. Not a cloud in the sky. The LaSalle mountains in the background were so crystal clear. The sky deep blue, the snow pure white and the trees a deep hunter green. Absolutely beautiful. I hope the pictures portray what we witnessed.
Along the path we passed two arches. One, the littler one, looked a lot smaller than we thought it was. We wanted to go off the beaten path and climb the rocks up to it but we could not figure out how to approach it. We discussed it and we might try another path on the opposite side of it later on in the week.
On the way down we stopped to see a pretty lizard who had the most beautiful colors. He allowed me to get pretty close to him for some great pictures.
After the trek back down to the jeep we headed to the Moab Brewery. One of our favorite places here. PJ came with us all day and he enjoyed his beer and nachos along with us. (he had it easy, he stayed in the cooler/backpack the entire trek up the mountain.)
We then headed home, napped, showered, and headed over to Gloria and Ivan's for dinner. Tommy had made his famous chili and that was on the menu for dinner but we were all still so full from the brewery that Gloria stuffed some jalapenos and made shrimp to snack on that we never ate the chili. Maybe tomorrow.
Tomorrow we plan on going out to the Arches National Park and doing a trail called the end of the Arches. It is 6-7 miles long and were excited. PJ will stay home. On a trail that long we need to pack and carry several bottles of water each so he wont fit in the backpack.
I hope the pictures come out as nice as the scenery truly is here. thanks for reading.
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