Part 8 May 8 to May 14

Day 48 Saturday May 8
After breakfast we headed to the city park to see the farmer’s market which at this time of year was mainly crafts. There were some interesting pieces there. Mailed a box of polished rocks to the rock shop in Escalante. We drove to the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park. We went to the Upheaval Dome and found a nice place for lunch. Judy and I walked the 1.6 mile round trip to the view point.. We drove all the way to the end stopping at all the viewpoints along the way. The mesa is about 2000 feet above the Colorado River. To get home we decided to take the infamous Shafer Trail back to Moab. The road was rough in many places and goes down a cliff in a series of switchbacks. It makes the Burr Trail switchbacks seem like a piker. It was a very beautiful drive with about half of the dirt road on the White Rim trail. Spectacular views all along the way. The road goes by the Potash plant ponds before getting pack to a paved road along the Colorado River. Near the potash plant we saw our first snake, a gopher (%) on the road. Goldie did fine being in low range and first gear much of the way down the switchbacks. She was happy getting a new coat of dust, this time mostly white instead of red. We had pizza for dinner and then headed off to the old city park for free music concert. Band played rock and we enjoyed watching the people dancing and listening to the music.

Judy’s word
Another day in paradise… sun and blue sky a bit windy, tho. We could not have fitted in another thing today. I did my best not to distract the driver by shouting as we drove down the cliff. An experience of a lifetime for sure. We are pretty tired kids tonight. J

Day 49 Sunday May 9
We had crepes for breakfast.made by me, you know, the world famous ones. Judy spent the morning doing some beading and I played with my rock stuff. I was making some more pieces for the guy in Escalante on the assumption he will like what I sent. In the late afternoon we took a jet boat ride down the Colorado about 21 miles. The driver was making sure we in the back got a shower once in a while. When we got back we were fed a nice dinner. Fun evening on the river.

Judy’s word
Happy Mothers Day to all this greeting is meant for. I spent the day being spoiled, as you see. The jet boat was great, and after an evening of fun, there are no dishes. We will be here for another week. J

Day 50 Monday May 10
Headed north from Moab to do some rock hounding. We went to a place listed in the rock hound book but of course some of the roads were changed but we found the site anyway. There were some nice agates there and two types of septarian nodules of which we only found a few of each. Fun to be out in the boonies. Goldie did a superb job of going over some deep rutted washes. We finally saw some famous Sego lilies. In fact the rock hounding area was covered with them. What a treat. After dinner, I polished one small piece of septarian nodule and it came out nice. Then the Pixie polisher quit. I think it is in the ground fault plug. Will see about getting a new one later.

Day 51 Tuesday May 11
We went on the La Sal Mountain loop road today. The road was all paved. At the start of the drive we went to Ken Lake, a reservoir, which is fed by a diversion from a river. In doing so they made Faux Falls which seemed very out of place, which is was. We had a very nice drive through the mountains with aspen and conifers. No red rocks except when we were coming out of the mountains to the Colorado river. On the way we had snow flurries, saw a ptarmigan, a deer, the Pinhook Battlefield (Indians killed eight settlers in 1881), and snow fields along the road. Once back at the river we drove up to Fisher Towers which we had pass the other day. Very windy. On the way home from there we watched some river rafters. Just before town we stopped and walked across the new pedestrian and bike bridge over the river. Fun day again.

Judy’s word
Once in a while we experience a phenomenon of nature and I must tell you how much fun we are having with this one. The RV park we are in is quite nice, but older. This means that the trees here are quite mature. Nice shade!!! In the Spring, sometime in May, the cottonwood trees spawn, so to speak. For some reason, they have triple the usual amount of tiny feather like seeds this year. So it seams as if it is snowing. We have drifts of soft downy seeds that float and drift everywhere… What a sight..J

Day 52 Wednesday May 12
We boxed up some of the rocks we have collected and mailed them home. The storage area was getting full and was worried about the extra weight. They were flat rate boxes and each weighed about 36 pounds. After lunch, we went rock hounding north of Moab again off highway 313. The first site had lots of agate but a lot of it was fractured. The second site was not very good and nothing good was collected there. There were a few misty rain periods today and the temperature was in the low 50’s.

Day 53 Thursday May 13
Goblin State Park today. We went North on 191 , then West on I-70 to Hwy 24 exit and headed south. We enjoyed walking among the goblins. Instead of taking the same route back we took a back route through the San Rafael Swell. It was a very good road until the last few miles which were muddy. Goldie got some dirt globs on her. We decided to go to the Black Dragon Canyon which required some backtracking on I-70. We started into the canyon and the road deteriorated rapidly. Apparently water had come down the canyon and washed out part of the road. Big rocks in the way so we decided not to subject Goldie to them. We saw some of the pictographs from the Barrier period but it was to far a walk to see the other one. Fun day.

Day 54 Friday May 14
We drove south of Moab to the Needles area of Canyonlands National Park. We saw Joe Wilson arch not too far south. The side road off 191 hwy goes by Newspaper rock which is a rock face covered with petroglyphs. Fantastic number of figures and symbols. In the park we went on three short hikes as well as driving to all the sites. Nice weather while we were there. We saw some new flowers too. It started to rain a little on the way home. Rained after dinner. There was a Hi-Lo trailer parked next to us when we got home. It was a 2007 and the nice couple let us come in and enjoy it. Some thing were definitely improved over the one I had.

Judy’s word
As time has gone by.. I have thought,“oh,no , not another park.. Not another canyon“ but the last one did not fall short of any of the others. We even looked into the camp host program.
Who knows what will be. They had a hike to go all around this one area where the ancient people once lived. It was done so well, you could almost feel their presence. The sandstone rocks here are somewhat like huge mushrooms, and have large cave like areas where they lived. We hiked all around and had to climb huge ladders to get to the top of their homes. There were wild flowers growing in the cracks of their huge white sand stone rooftop patio! So fun! I thought it might be fun to sit and weave baskets up there. J