Road Trip: Day 34

Wow… today was an exhausting day; and it had nothing to do with the drive!

I woke-up at a reasonable time and packed-up my hotel room before heading out on the road. I considered grabbing a photo of the G8 at the local airport (sample), but decided there would likely be better photo locations on today’s drive.

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The first place of interest for the day was Colorado National Monument. The road was well maintained and I climbed quickly up the plateau on Rim Rock Drive. This road is properly named, as it winds its way around the rim of several deep canyons. The lack of guard rails kept the speed limit down, but I was too busy looking out at the scenery to notice.

I really wanted to setup a photo of the G8 with the canyons, but after trying… and failing… at several locations I was starting to give-up hope. One place I had a great photo in mind, but needed a couple to move their car. I waited… and waited… and waited… but they didn’t move. When they broke-out the pretzels I gave-up hope and moved-on, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

The next pullout was at Monument Canyon and I got some incredible photos, including several of the G8!

After my fill of photos I descended the switchbacks that navigated down the nearly vertical walls of a canyon. I’d have loved to really push hard here, but I kept it reasonable… only doing 10mhp above the “recommended” corner speeds.

From here I jumped on I-70 until my GPS instructed me to drive into the middle of nowhere. I knew I was on the right road, so just kept going, but it seemed like I was going to get lost in the desert. I passed through the ghost town of Cisco before seeing the signs guiding me towards Moab, Utah.

The road to Moab, Utah 128, was great. Following the Colorado River meant there were lots of sweeping turns, and the speed limit was just right for some “spirited driving”. The views were also incredible, so I again found myself stopping frequently to take photos.

While I loved being in the G8, this area really deserves to be driven in a Jeep. There were so many great looking trails leading from the road, it would have been awesome to go explore… too bad the G8 has zero ground clearance!

I needed to get gas, so quickly stopped by Moab before heading out to Arches National Park. For anyone that hasn’t been to Arches; you need to go! The scenery is just breathtaking.

My goal for Arches was to find an arch to take a photo of. I’d programed a few places (that looked good online) into my GPS, so figured it would be a “slam dunk”. Boy was I wrong…

The first planned stop was at Devil’s Garden to see the Landscape Arch. I parked the G8 at the trail head and grabbed my camera/backpack and set-out for a “short walk”. Well, the “short walk” was actually a 1.5 mile hike… and I was not prepared for it (no water, worn-out tennis shoes, long pants, etc.). After getting about a half-mile in I still hadn’t seen any sign of the arch… so turned back. In hindsight I should have kept going, because then I’d have met my objective and not needed to suffer any more.

Since I failed at my first attempt, I stopped at Broken Arch and again set-out to get a photo. The trail wasn’t difficult, but I could see the arch in the distance… and wasn’t impressed at this point. I put on my telephoto lens and snapped a few lousy photos before heading back.

After two strikes I had to get an arch photo… no matter what it took. I headed to the Delicate Arch viewing area, but was not happy with the photos from the lower viewpoint. Not wanting to leave Arches a complete failure I pushed forward to the upper viewpoint!

Yikes… what was I thinking!?! To quote the park guide “a moderately strenuous hiking trail climbs one-half mile (elevation profile) toward Delicate Arch and ends at the rim of a steep canyon that separates the viewpoint from the arch”. I survived, but won’t be climbing Everest any time soon! Fortunately the photos were worth it.

Before heading out of the park I stopped one last time to get a photo of the G8 in the golden light produced by the setting sun.

I had planned on going to Dead Horse Point, but the sun was getting low in the sky and I was wasted after all of the hiking… so called it a day.

Tomorrow is a bit of a “recovery day”, as I’m driving a direct route towards the Grand Canyon. Maybe if I’m feeling refreshed in the morning I can swing by Dead Horse Point, but based on how my body feels right now… just getting out of bed before noon is going to be an accomplishment!