After passing a tiny little corner through Colorado we arrived in Utah on Saturday afternoon (08/20/2022) accompanied by bad weather.
The state of Utah is located in the middle of the mountain ranges in the western United States. The Beehive State, as Utah is also known, is surrounded by five other US states: Idaho and Wyoming to the north, Nevada to the west, Colorado to the east and Arizona to the south. We only visited the eastern part of this state, which I truly underestimated; the area around Moab. Moab is Utah's adventure epicenter - a place where world-renowned natural destinations are scattered throughout the city. We drove directly to Canyonlands National Park, but the road (211) leading into the park was impassable due to flooding; the remaining masses of mud gave an idea of what a storm had happened the day before. A friendly elderly gentleman, whom we met at the roadblock, informed us about the alternative route; so it was time to go back to where we came from, to a place called Monticello. Fortunately, a road also led from there into the park.
Overall, the detour cost us about 1 hour, which meant that we didn't arrive at the park's first historical monument until 6 p.m.: Newspaper Rock.
It remains to be seen whether the scribble, er, excuse me “Petroglyph Panel” is really about the transmission of a story or whether a few Stone Age boys and girls just let their creativity run free. 🤷♀️ One or the other modern-time doodler probably couldn't let his stylus off the rock either.😏
In any case, the park was hardly visited which made the visit quite relaxed. On the remaining 40 km of the road through the park, we hardly encountered any cars and only a handful of people at the pullouts and parking lots.
The weather was mixed, but that didn't detract from the impressive rock formations in a landscape like from another planet. The "Needles, the "wooden shoe" and other stone structures proudly presented themselves.
When we left the park it was already after 9 p.m., but still not dark. Countless deer we encountered on our way back to Monticello, which almost robbed me of my Thai curry, which I had been craving impatiently since I saw it that there was a Thai restaurant in town. After a successful take-away order, we parked in front of the community center and let the rain wash over us during the night. The next morning there were only a few harmless clouds in the sky and the day promised to be sunny. Perfect for exploring the northern part of Canyonlands, which is not connected to the eastern part "The Needles" and can only be reached via the north entrance. There was already a lot to admire on the way there, such as this comrade along the way
and "Hole n'the rock" - the souvenir shop integrated into the rock.
A little later we crossed Moab. A truly beautiful town whose local charm makes you fall in love, despite having suffered a nasty flood 2 days earlier; the worst for 100 years as we found out later. Hard to imagine what had happened here. In the morning we reached the part of the park called "Island in the sky". I find it difficult to describe this landscape simply because it is so uniquely different. Canyons, arches, needles... amazing what nature has created over thousands of years. Our self-guided tour lasted several hours.
Photos can hardly reflect the flair of this unreal world, but I'm sure the moving pictures will help you to get a better impression. 📽🔊
For the afternoon (Sunday, August 21st, 2022) we had obtained a permit for Arches National Park online the day before. Located just a few miles from Canyonlands, the park owes its name to the myriad arches formed by water, ice, extreme temperatures, and underground salt movement.
Have a look
at Double Arch,
Delicate Arch,
Skyline Arch,
In addition to the arches, there are also fascinating "balanced rocks" that you would like to give a little push to see how stable the structure is.
But with this magnitude you would have to be a good climber and also suicidal. So it's better to enjoy these balance wonders. Also the different viewpoints like La Sal Mountains,
Courthouse Towers,
Tower of Babel
Petrified Dunes
Panorama Point
etc. offer spectacular views.
We stayed until sunset in this wonderful "other" world... follow me. 🔊📽