The city of Moab with its famous Nationalparks

After the golf course at River Valley Ranch and a four hours drive we reached quite late in the evening the city of Moab, which lies among the famous Nationalparks called Arches and Canyonlands. As soon as we arrived in this town we realized, that there are a lot of things to do because of all the billboards next to the Main Street. There are several possibilities to explore this area. You can rent some bikes, go with an ATV offroad or with a boat on the Colorado River…

Actually our plan was to rent some bikes the next morning to explore the Arches N.P. with them. Luckily we decided to go initially with the car, which appeared lately as a very good decision. We tell you shortly why…

Arches Nationalpark is a great park with foot trails to many features. There’s a lot to see from the car, but the special aura of time, the silence and the scale of this stone-sculptures may elude if you don’t walk too. Below you will find some pictures of the different arches we visited: 

The first short hike guided us to the Double Arch where a lot of people climbed up these beautiful stones. It was impressive how huge these Arches are.

After that short visit we went further on the way and saw the north and south Window as well as some other beautiful landscapes:

After that section we took our car to the next one which was about 8 kilometers away. That is one of the reason why it was a better idea to take the car instead of the bikes. (but don’t worry, this section wasn’t the last one we visited).

 

From the Upper Delicate Arch Viewpoint we could see from far away the beauty of the Delicate Arch. After that sight we decided to climb later up the hill to see that Arch up close. (this hike uphill to 1’474 meters above sea level took us about two and a half hour and was very exhausting although we are quite in a good shape ;-))

This is this famous Delicate Arch

A further highlight was the visit of the Sand Dune Arch:

 

We were so exhausted at the end of that day that we decided to take as well the car to explore the Canyonland N.P. the next day.

In the evening we ate our well-deserved dinner at Buck’s Grill House where we enjoyed the evening next to some country live-music. This was quite a chilling place.

The next morning we moved off to explore the Dead Horse Point State Park as well as the Canyonland N.P.

The Dead Horse Point State Park which we visited first provided us with a breathtaking panorama of Canyonlands’ sculptured pinnacles and buttes. It is towerd about 2’000 feet above the Colorado River. In this area we took the long hike (about four hours to walk) from the visitors center to this point. On the way we saw a lot of different animals and once again some scenic landscapes:

 

Finally we reached this Dead Horse Point, but why is it called like that?

According to one legend, the point was once used as a corral for wild mustangs roaming the mesa. Cowboys rounded up these horses, herded them across the narrow neck of land and onto the point. The fenced off with branches and brush, creating cliffs. Cowboys then chose the horses they wanted and for reasons unknown, left the other horses corralled on the waterless point where they died of thirst within view of the Colorado River, 2’000 feet below. A really sad story:

As everywhere you come up against some people which know everything better… A man asked us, why it is called the Dead Horse Point. We told him the story mentioned above. He said that this is not true (although it stands in every travel guide) it has to do with old stones looking like a dead horse. After that, Oli could see something like a dead horse in the stones, that is the reason why we took this picture as well…;-)

 

After another exhausting trip we only drove through the Canyonland NP and didn’t make any other hiking-tours. Some impressions below: 

Towards another very impressive but also demanding day we headed off to eat at the local brewery called Moab Brewery. This place was really crowded and we were told by a waitress that we had to wait about 20 minutes to get a table. At the same moment somebody called Sindy’s name and we were astonished as we saw another couple from Niederönz. Oli knows Ueli from the streethockey-time and I know Meli from the University. What a coincidence that we met them. Luckily we didn’t have to wait longer for a table and had a good time with them. We hope to see you both in Vegas again!