Adventures in Moab – Part 1

Posted 2 years ago by Mike

We made it to Moab, Utah. It is one of those places, I’ve heard about in outdoors websites and magazines as being an outdoors mecca. But that is about all I knew. I really had no idea what to expect or even what type of climate. When we first pulled into town, we saw endless sandstone cliffs, rock formations from tan to deep red to purple and even green. We also saw a huge alpine, snow-covered mountain range in the background. Right away, I knew this place was special.

After a bit of research, I realized this place was not just focused on mountain biking but also had some great road bike routes too. And most routes I could start right from camp — score! My first ride was on a Scenic Biway known as Potash Road. Named as such because the road dead-ends (or turns to a 4WD trail) at the Intrepid Potash mine. The route was low on traffic and high on scenery. Winding road along the Colorado River with huge red cliff canyons on either side. A great start to our month in Moab.

Moab is probably best known for having lots of sandstone arches. These natural arches look impossible as if they had to be man-made or created by aliens ?? 🙂 We hiked to Corona Arch — a huge arch. Walking underneath it felt as if you may be walking thru a gateway to another dimension 🙂

Moab is connected with bike paths and bike routes all over town. It is great to see a small town dedicated to investing in cycling infrastructure. I have seen a few new housing developments that have a bike path in front along the main street — seems like this is by city ordinance which is excellent. Emi and I rode along the Mill Creek Parkway which cuts through the middle of town, following its namesake. Along the path are several city parks, each one unique — one with outdoor musical instruments, one with a little mountain/BMX bike track, one a community garden specially for kids. Like I said, Moab is a special place. But I digress. This ride had a mission — donuts, brews, and bike paths. We stopped at Doughbird, a little spot along Main St that does donuts and fried chicken sandwiches. A tasty combination. The donuts are incredible. After some sugary fuel, we rode the bike path out of town and along the Colorado River. I really enjoyed this stretch. We retraced our route back to the start for one more stop — the obligatory post-ride brew 🙂 A simple day with simple pleasures yet hard to beat in the happiness index.

In our quest to visit as many National Parks as possible, next up was Canyonlands National Park. Most people only go to the Island in the Sky District but since we were going to be staying awhile, we decided to start with the Needles District. The Needles is more remote, less crowded, and features hundreds of tall stone spires, known as, you guessed it, Needles 🙂 We hiked to a spot called Chesler Park. It is a challenging half-day hike but so worth it to walk amongst the Needles. The hike also features a very narrow slot canyon and a climb up between a row of Needles to a wonderful viewpoint of Chesler Park which is an open, grassy “garden” where the Needles appear to grow.

Moab is the gateway to not one, but two National Parks. Next up, Arches National Park. Arches is a heavily visited park and we were expecting crowds on the level of Zion. This year, the National Park Services decided to pilot a timed entry system to limit the number of visitors. It seems to be working because we were able to find parking at all of the trailheads or viewpoints on our itinerary for the day. Our favorite place in the park is Delicate Arch. It is one of the world’s most iconic natural sandstone arches. It seems to defy gravity and the laws of physics. Truly a wonder. The only downside is the trail to the arch and the area around the arch is super crowded. If I had a choice between a slightly less scenic hike but few to no people on the trail, I would take it over the crowded, more scenic trail.

After driving thru Arches National Park, I thought it would be cool to bike it. I knew it would be super challenging, and it was 🙂 The 40 mph monster downhill into Salt Valley was both thrilling and demoralizing because what goes down, must go up. Not once, but twice. Climbing out of both sides of Salt Valley, eventhough only a 900 ft climb, really sapped my energy reserves. And I definitely didn’t drink enough water. It wasn’t hot but it was sunny and warm and two liters of water just doesn’t cut it for a 60 mile, 4000 ft elevation ride. But still, it was one of those bucket list type of rides — I survived and did enjoy most of it, so I’ll take that as a win.

Not all the best hikes are in National Parks. The Hidden Valley Trail is only a few miles from our camp. It starts with a steep climb and a bit of rock-scrambling, but once you reach the valley it is like you transported to a lush oasis in stark contrast to the rough, rocky, dry terrain. A flat pasture of green grass wedged between two rock walls with beautiful views of the La Sal Mountains on one end. Hike thru the valley and it opens up into the Moab Rim and views of the Colorado River. Incredible.

Stay tuned…more Moab adventures to come 🙂