Arches and the Colorado River.....what a pair

We traveled I 70 from Richfield to the Moab turnoff. One hundred miles of no services, not a house, not a building, nothing, but there were unbelievable canyons and huge walls of stone, desert, and heat. Over 100 degrees all day.

After a very long day of heat and sand, we turned off onto 191 and headed south to Moab. It is the gateway to both Arches and Canyonlands and an oasis after
what seemed an eternity of oppressive heat.

Moab was made famous by the discovery of Uranium in the 1950's and by the movies as early as the thirties, which came to this region because of the awesome scenery.

Many of the most beloved Hollywood westerns were made here and John Wayne is a local hero, for bringing so many films to this area and expanding their economic base from ranching to the lucrative motion picture industry.

There is a museum at the Red Cliffs Lodge, which used to be the ranch of George White, the founder of the Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission, the longest on going film commission in the world. His ranch was the key location for nine of the biggest Westerns ever made and many of them starred John Wayne and were directed by John Ford.

We enjoyed a wonderful day at the lodge looking through the hundreds of pieces of memorabilia and posters of the golden age of Western movies. We are both such fans of "the Duke" and really enjoyed seeing some of his personal belongings.

In Moab,there is a motel, the Apache, where he always stayed and that is now on the National Historic Register and I, of course, had to have a photo of it for the scrapbook.

DOWN THE COLORADO
The group enjoyed a dinner and evening ride down the Colorado to see a very unusual sound and light show on the walls of the red rock canyons . It was relaxing and beautiful and will be a high light of this segment of my trek.

The walls take on an ethereal look when spotlighted and each crag and crevice looks mystical when viewed from the river. The night was balmy and
the river placid. I loved hearing the history that was covered by the voice in the night and inspired by the beautiful music which accompanied it.

This morning because of the narrative on the river ride, we went looking for the petroglphs, which we were told could be seen on Potash road along the river. So off we went in search of these historic pictures from the earliest residents of this wonderful region of Utah.

And there they were...a hand print. a bear... many human figures, large and small..it was so incredible to see these messages from humans who passed this way thousands of years ago. How wonderful it would be to be able to leave such a mark on our world when we pass on to the next life.

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK
Arches was a day like all the others in Utah National Parks. It was inspiring. It was incredible. It was beautiful. Every one of the parks so far as been different in ambiance and vistas.

But this park is bounded on the south by the La Sal mountains, snow capped and majestic, so the look is different than the others and the red rock formations inspire your imagination to run wild.

We enjoyed searching for the icons of the park. The Three Gossips, Balanced Rock, the Elephant Parade, and Windows. We found them and much more. There are 2000 arches in the park and you see everywhere and from the comfort of your car. I like that.

We did not see Delicate Arch, the symbol of Utah, however, because it was a mile trek into the canyon and I was not able to do that. So I bought a postcard.

I love Moab and it's massive red walls and winding river. I would love to return next year. There is so much more here to explore.

On to Salt Lake City tomorrow and our last three days in Utah.