Every day's a holiday in Moab

We went back to Moab last week. This post is largely photos (a lot of photos!) with very little story, since nothing dramatic happened and I've probably already talked about the geology of the Colorado Plateau ad nauseum.

It was a chilly, dreary day as we left home.

We even had some snow as we headed up into the mountains:

We arrived at our intended campground (most campgrounds in the Moab area are not reservable) as it started to rain, then pour and hail. But by the time we found a site it had stopped. Water was still pouring down the sandstone fins, creating pools and waterfalls everywhere which were extremely cool.

It can be difficult to find a place to camp during the warm season in Moab. This campground had several loops and over 100 sites total, but I only saw 6 open sites as we drove around most of the loops. And it was Wednesday. We took the best open site and walked around on the fins.

It began to rain again right after we got the tent set up. We decided to go out to eat and sat eating Thai food while watching hail come down. The next day, we went to Canyonlands NP.

We had brought our cooking stuff so we could make dinner and watch the sunset from nearby Dead Horse Point State Park. (However, I think the viewpoint we watched from last year on the west side of Canyonlands was better.)

Below, the lumps in the distance are where our campsite is located...

I got to watch the sunset with my favorite person:

I may have taken too many photos of K. as she looks good in any light. Plus, it's awkward asking strangers to pose for me.

We again made it back to the campsite very late and did not have a fire as we were too tired. We decided to take it easy the next day.

We hung around the campsite all morning and it was really lovely. All the other campers, including the children who had been riding their bikes through our site, had left and we swung in the hammock for a while in peace and quiet watching the birds and lizards. We played some badminton. It was possibly the best part of the trip.

Why we decided to go for a hike, no one can say.

I had been wanting to do a particular waterfall hike since I'd read about it before last year's trip. But we hadn't been able to do it last year. And this year, we wouldn't be able to do it either -- my physical therapist told me to avoid doing anything that hurt my knees for the time being, and an 8+ mile hike probably wasn't a good idea -- but I wanted to at least see it. Plus, it was an out-of-the-way hike that shouldn't have too many people. This would allow us to keep enjoying lovely peace and quiet.

Wasp on tamarisk:

The trail followed a creek as its bed slowly turned from gully into canyon, the walls eventually soaring to over 200' high. There were many side canyons to explore and we had to walk in the water for a lot of it.

I had meant for us to turn around after a couple miles, but it was very hard to not want to see what was around the next bend... then the next... soon we were passing someone who told us we were less than a mile from the falls. (And yes, sadly, my knees were aching.)

Soon we could hear a very deep rumbling -- actually, feel it in the chest more than hear it. This video, devoid of the lower end of the sound spectrum, doesn't quite do it justice:

It was like a jet engine was idling nearby. We rounded a final bend and could see a small split waterfall plunging into a pool. It seemed way too little to have generated that noise.

By the time we found the waterfall, it was after 5pm. So much for getting back early and relaxing before dinner. We were resigned to a 4 mile hike out in the dwindling light and getting back after sunset once more.

We got back to camp as it was getting too dark to see without a headlamp. But after dinner we still had a small fire (3 little logs) and K. was kind enough to play me a song on the guitar. But we couldn't keep our eyes open much longer than that.

That night, we slept out under the stars. I woke at 5am to find the moon illuminating the landscape.

Our friend D. had arrived during the night with her young son. That day, we all went to Arches.

At Sand Dune Arch, Q. had gone around taking other family's shovels and was trying to give them to strangers.

We visited Delicate Arch and Sand Dune Arch. The fact that we visited shadeless Delicate Arch in the middle of the 88-degree day made the cool, shaded Sand Dune Arch feel like heaven and we spent a long time there.

We slept under the stars again that night, and it was good. Though there is a surprising amount of condensation for the desert. The next morning, Q. got to enjoy a neighbor's ATV:

And his new camp chair.

He also loved the parachute we brought (which K. had bought as a toy for me)...

We took one final hike to see a creek with another waterfall.

People were jumping and other people were cheering on people who were nervous about jumping.

We found some rock art on the way out.

We stopped for burgers at Milt's before heading back home.

One final video: while we were in Canyonlands, a woman offered to take a photo of us jumping with a view of the canyons spread out before us. Somehow, she managed to change my camera to the video setting. This is the result: