May 13 - Dead Horse Point State Park

I hardly know how to record our wonderful adventure today. In 2006 we first visited Moab and Canyonlands. While standing on the rim on the canyon at Islands of the Sky, we saw a jeep driving in the canyon a couple thousand feet below. We were fascinated and discussed how much fun that would be. Well, four years later, here we are experiencing that for ourselves. We jeeped the famous White Rim road in Canyonlands National Park. It is a 68 mile partial loop that drops from the rim down into the canyon; it runs along the plateau and also in the bottom of the canyon along the Green and Colorado Rivers. There are a few primitive campgrounds along the trail and it is recommended as a two-day trip, but we are not equipped to camp out (and aren't very fond of the idea, either). So we opted for a long one-day drive. Now 68 miles doesn't sound like a long trip, but at 6 mph max it takes all day.

We were on the trail at 6:25. It starts at Shafer Point by dropping precipitously down a sheer canyon wall in a series of steep, narrow switchbacks. And it only got more exciting from there! We spent all day driving rough, rocky, sandy, steep one-lane trails and loving every minute of it. Around every curve was an even more breath-taking sight. We stopped several times, took short hikes, and snapped pictures; but we had to keep moving to make our 68 miles. We sure didn't want to be in the canyon after dark. There turned out to be much more daring parts of the road (and I call it that with a smirk) than we had expected. There were quite a few “on my gosh” moments. But I am learning how to come to the top of a steep hill and just head over into the abyss—trusting that there is a road down there somewhere. The person who rated the trail 4 out of 10 must have missed Hardscrabble Hill and Hogback Mountain! A few times there I thought we might be staying here longer than planned—maybe permanently, but my driver was great and really come through in a pinch.

As we turned one curve, we came upon a group in distress. Four bikers with a support truck (one- ton 4 door Ford) had a flat and no jack. We were able to loan our little Jeep jack and get the spare on the truck. It looked like the little jack might bend and give way, but it held. There was little traffic on the road (we only saw 2 vehicles all day) so they were really glad to see us come along. After another hair-raising switchback climb up the sheer cliffs, we made it back to a graded gravel road that felt like a super highway. Our little step-child Jeep had done another superior job which is wonderful since the towing fees start at $1,000 on this road. Every muscle in our bodies ached, but we slept great. Can't wait for tomorrow.

Pictures are from the White Rim road, Last picture is Gary on the Musselman Arch on the White Rim.