Moab, Utah

Moab is a region that I fell in love with last June.  My dad and I went to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and decided that we wanted to go back.  The number-one-thing on our agenda was to take Shafer Road down into Canyonlands.  We went from our campsite to a jeep rental company.  It was pretty expensive and there wasn’t a varying price from spring (with less daylight) to summer and you could only rent them for 24 hours.  So I was a little annoyed with that.  That we had to pay for 24 hours in this thing and only had 10 or 11 hours to see things, but we did it anyway.

We set off in our jeep and it was A BLAST!  My dad did all the driving (which is probably a good thing because I struggle enough on paved roads).  We drove down Potash Road until it wasn’t a paved road anymore and then kept going.  We saw red rock cliffs, crazy formations and even salt mines.  The ride was really, really bumpy and we were jostled around like crazy!

We got about 2 miles inside Canyonlands only to find that Shafer Road was closed.  We were beyond bummed and a little frustrated with our outfitter.  We felt like, especially after specifically mentioning that we were there for Shafter road, and this is their business, that they should have known that.  Especially after I called Canyonlands when we had service and they had been closed since November.  We later found out that we were the first jeep that our outfitter had sent out all year, and that Canyonlands closes that road every winter.  Learn from our mistake and call ahead if it’s early spring or late winter and you want to take a 4-wheel- drive road.

We returned the jeep and moved along to Arches National Park.  We didn’t really have a ton of time to do a big hike and had done the smaller hikes, but we drove the loop, had a picnic and we did go back to Double Arch.  It was just as beautiful as last time, and the La Sal Mountains made a beautiful backdrop.

Moab is definitely a must-see and I’d love to go back again, with more time and hike to some of the areas that aren’t in the national parks.  There are so many other formations and arches to see out there, and I want to explore them all!  This was our last day of really seeing things with my dad on this trip, and we had a blast.  I think that the frustrations of travel are experiences that you can learn from, and I’m glad that we got to at least experience 2 miles of Canyonlands in a jeep.  This just leaves something for my dad and I to do the next time we take a father-daughter trip!

To read more about my past trip to Moab where I spent more time there read here:

Arches National Park: Part One & Part Two

Canyonlands National Park

Moab and Potash Road

Newspaper Rock

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