Back in Moab

Gopher Flats
Aug 9 - Sept 2. 2018
Moan, UT

I haven't finished posting our trip to the Olympic Peninsula in July, but wanted to do a "real time" post on what we have been doing .  Since our refuge to the Olympic Penninsula, it has been hot here, but the temps are creeping back into the 80s and soon we will relish in the fall weather we love. 

So what have we been up to?

Lets begin at home...

Life at Gopher Flats can be quite lazy and peaceful.  Early mornings and puppy play time go hand in hand.   

Some mornings, Dover rides to town with Joe to do errands.  She loves riding...anywhere...anytime !

Evenings are spent relaxing and sometimes enjoying colorful sunsets.  One evening, though, we had the most delightful visitors...hummingbird moths.  Sometimes referred to as hawk moths, these unique insects hover in midair, hum and drink nectar from the same flowers just like hummingbirds.


A couple of weekends ago, our friends Jeff and Susan who live a couple of houses down the street were out of town.  Guess what I did?

The rooster is black and white.

I fed the chickens !  I've never fed chickens before.  What a funny bunch they are.  One of Susan's chickens turned out to be a rooster.  In the mornings when I let them out of the hen house,  he immediately announced to the world "get the day started". 

  

Next up, trails...

Life in Moab can be exhilarating and adventurous.  In between appointments here and in Grand Junction, we have managed to get in 6 trails which includes a sunset run on Hells Revenge.  Friends from Saskatchewan arrived the second week in August.  We first met these enthusiastic and relentless trail warriors in Aug 2017 and are already looking forward to their return in 2019.

Dee followed by Marc and Janelle, Kelsie and Scott, and us.

Joe and WileE have some "flexy" going on in The Pickle.

Janelle snapped a photo of us climbing out of the Gravy Boat on Mashed Potatoes Trail. 

Dee caught us climbing Escalator on Hells Revenge.  Thank you Rory for the spot!

Sunset on Hells Revenge

And last, the area...

The area around Moab offers lots of opportunities for exploring.  I love exploring !  One morning Scott and Chris invited us to follow along to scout out the Abajo Mountains...locally known as the Blue Mountains.  It's a small mountain range west of Monticello and north of Blanding.  The highest point is Abajo Peak at 11,362 ft was our destination.   We hooked up to a trail in Monticello rode the peak and came out in Blanding...a very delightful 55 to 60 miles.  It was a wonderfully clear day with blue skies and  a good 10 to 15 degrees cooler than Moab.

One morning on the way to City Market, we took the long way through Arches NP.  It's such a nice drive...one we never tire of.

Moab Friends For Wheeling planned a rock art tour for Labor Day.  Our first stop was The Grotto.  The Moab Grotto Pictographs are a collection of rock art hidden inside a slot canyon.  

Melissa, Joe and Ginny in The Grotto

Grotto pictographs

It is a short walk from the parking area to The Grotto.  On the way back we stopped at another panel located nearby.  The art is on the under side of an overhang.

Ginny and Dee

 We took Rainbow Terrace back to Hwy 313. 


There are a lot of manganese outcroppings on Rainbow Terrace.  Due to wind and rain, the desert sand shifts to expose these tubes.  






Most manganese ores come from extensive manganese-rich sediment rocks that formed in ancient oceans.  So cool !





We also saw a section of a cliff wall that recently had rocks sheared off.  


 Back on Hwy 313, we made a quick stop to see Intestine Man.


I see a story of a man mauled by a bear and dies...notice the wings.  The bottom picture shows a large bear claw.





















Next, we made a turn off Hwy 313 into a canyon.  We stopped at a few more sites.  


At the bottom of the pour off is a panel of petroglyphs.

At another stop, there was a really clear and well preserved pictograph under an overhang...


 ...along with some others that were more faded.

Melissa points out a very skinny animal (we think a dog) next to a rather round figure.

There were a couple more panels in the canyon... each had a single figure.    

This turned out to be a longer post than I had planned.  I didn't realize we have been so busy.  So, until next time...

HAPPY TRAILS ! 

No Left Turn

Gopher Flats
Moab, UT
May 24, 2017

Rusty Nail is a hardcore difficult trail.  The trail begins at a left hand turn off the end of Gold Bar Rim.  It heads south then circles east.  It ends where it connects to Golden Spike and exits the entire length of Gold Bar.  The actual trail is only 1.9 miles.  The entire length of the route is 7.8 miles.  There are three major obstacles on this short extreme trail...Riff Raff, The Wall, and for scary fun, No Left Turn.  We headed out with Dee and Warren to tackle the challenges of huge boulders, tall ledges, and narrow switchbacks with views of a canyon below.  It was another gorgeous day with  beautiful blue skies, plenty of sunshine and a cool breeze.

First up was Riff Raff.   Before starting her climb, Dee explained the correct line for tire placement and then we watched.  What you can't see in the picture is a deep hole to the left of the passenger tire.  It's a little tippy and slipping off into the hole might cause a flop.  


Up next is The Wall.  Straddling the crack between the two boulders at the bottom, turning driver and climbing the ledge were the directions.  Warren's climb is flawless. 

Last, we come face to face with No Left Turn.  Joe and I had no idea what to expect and it wasn't until we saw Dee's pictures that our mouths dropped.  The trail at this point is narrow.  Large boulders were on my side.  A bottomless, at least it seemed that way at the time, canyon was on Joe's side.  Its a good thing he keeps his eyes on Dee and the trail.  Dee spotted us down a huge...ummm, enormous...boulder with lots of other boulders all mixed in.  Very tippy!  I'll let Dee's photos tell the story.

Thanks Dee for a successful run on the most difficult trail we have done...so far !

















It was a great day wheeling with Warren and Dee.  Warren waits while Joe and I watch Dee's line on Riff Raff.  

Our last sight of Warren before he drops off No Left Turn.  See how close he is to the edge?

It's always a treat to follow Dee. 

















We could see Jeep Arch from our lunch stop...a zoomed in picture.

We watched the clouds on the horizon...  

...as they moved closer...  

If you look closely, you can see the Colorado River in the center of the photo.

...and then overhead.  So pretty !

Until next time, 

HAPPY TRAILS !