“Utah 🇺🇸 ~Third Stop of Five in Green River/Moab for Arches and Canyonlands National Park and Much More!”
Third Stop of Five:
Green River, Utah for Moab Area Visits ✅
Take note: Green River KOA is nice, but it’s 45 minutes beyond Moab, where Arches National Park is only five minutes away.
But, Green River is the very next town, and not much in between. This stop will be a bit more inconvenient, compared to the other stops, but we will make it work.
Apparently, I needed to make Moab camping reservations, six months or more, in advance, not at four months.
Green River and the KOA Journey
What I did, as soon as we set-up camp in Green River was, I got us an overnight hotel in Moab. First try I found a vacancy. This way we could spend two full days doing Arches National Park and other area visits, plus get over to Canyonlands National Park quite easily from Moab, without so much driving time; extra time we did not have.
I actually got a good rate on a motel, right in Moab. It came down to this: we were either going to spend the $ on fuel, or a motel! AND, in the Motel, mama got a bathtub. Bonus! It worked out perfectly!
Furthermore, just to make things even more challenging for the Arches National Park visit, be advised: “Between April 3 and October 3, 2022 Arches National Park is implementing a new Timed Entry Reservation System.”
They say this new system will provide reliable access to the park and result in a higher quality visitor experience.
Planning “only” four months out, there were no more morning entries left for Arches. I did make reservations for a 4PM entry, which was available 😏and we hoped for the best.
After all was said and done, we are not big fans of the “timed in” program. It felt very unwelcoming. A lot of National Parks implement a shuttle service that run, constantly, thus avoiding the parking issues. This service does not take away from the “spontaneity” of the Park visit, imho.
With higher temps, obviously 4PM was not an ideal time to hike any trails, and especially the famous “Delicate Arch,” inside the Park. I felt very disappointed, but that was short-lived, as we saw much better arches outside the park, during a morning hike. I just had to get creative.
What we DID do, inside Arches, was the beautiful scenic driving loop, with pullouts. What an experience! And, we saw the famous Delicate Arch that way, which we didn’t find to be all that after all, compared to the many other arches we got to see.
Here is the link for reserving entry times at $2 per entry: https://www.discovermoab.com/reservations/
As afore mentioned, we did hike on the morning of our choosing, to see amazing arches, AND for free, with no reservation; “near” Arches National Park, I devised a great plan, and I can soon see these hidden gem “Arches,” becoming more widely known.
Corona Arch: 3 miles round trip. This excellent hike above the Colorado River Canyon leads to three arches, including Corona Arch; one of the largest arches in the Moab area. Get as close as you like. (No climbing on arches, Please) This is an excellent hike for those who want to enjoy arches, without any of the crowds.
Corona Arch is a natural sandstone arch near Moab, Utah in a side canyon of the Colorado River, west of Moab in Grand County. It can be accessed via a 1.5-mile hiking trail from Utah State Route 279. The arch is located within the same rock formation as Pinto Arch and Bowtie Arch.
Spring just skipped to summer this year in these parts, and at 5AM it was already 80 degrees. By 10AM it was into the 100’s. Drought is very real and there are no easy hikes in these temps, anywhere. Bring plenty of water, wear a hat, and rest in the shade when you get some. The cacti and trees are dying, so humans will fare similar, without precautions. This hike is more challenging and longer than Delicate Arches,” with a steady incline. Coming back was easier.
First view of the Corona Arch on the right. Pinto Arch on the left
That is a chain to help pull thyself up and to help from slipping down the rock side, upon returning
A permanently placed steel ladder
Pinto Arch
Arches National Park ✅
I found this link helpful, when planning our time in Arches:
https://www.visitutah.com/places-to-go/parks-outdoors/arches/adventure-guide
Arches National Park has the largest concentration of natural stone arches in the world. Examples of developing, complete, and collapsed arches are all evident within the park’s 114 square miles. Several arches are particularly noted for their outstanding size and erosional history.
Arches National Park contains the world’s largest concentration of natural sandstone arches. Although over 2,000 arches are located within the parks’ 76,518 acres, the park also contains an astounding variety of other geological formations.
On this day, we had 101 degree temps and gusts of winds up to 55MPH! NOT ideal to be walking the rim trails like we wanted to, but being blown off the cliffs was avoided, and we still managed some great photos.
After entering the main gates of Arches, there is a switchback drive for a bit, with great views
I see a “Falcon” shaped Bird
“The Windows”
There are several “Fins” like these in the Park
There are also “petrified sand dunes;” something I’ve never seen before
“Balanced Rock”
La Sal Mountains
That figure looks like a “ghoul” to me
Viewpoint to see “Delicate Arch”
“Courthouse Towers”
Potash Road
Potash Road or the Lower Colorado Scenic Byway is a quiet and less traveled state motor route, which runs along the Colorado River just north of Moab, and ends at the border of Canyonlands National Park.
The scenic byway takes approximately two hours for the 34-mile round-trip drive to Jug Handle Arch.
Half a mile up from Jaycee Campground will be the start of the Wall Street climbing area. You can see climbers scattered along the enormous slickrock wall on various routes at all times of the year.
Out of everyplace we’ve visit in Utah, to date, this scenic drive was really special. We drove all the way past the salt mine, where the paved road ended and gravel began.
Colorado River
The lighter colored rock used to be underground, before the road was cut in. This way, the drawings are up pretty high, now, and protected from vandals
There is also a mesmerizing rock art panel available along the Wall Street area. Take the riverside pullout. The sign indicating “Petroglyphs” will show the exact parking location, to view this historical masterpiece
Much of Utah’s rock art has been credited to the Fremont Indians, who practiced a farming-based culture and occupied most of the state between 800 and 1,500 years ago
These petroglyph panels feature a large animal that looks like a bear, several smaller bighorn sheep, other animals, and lots of gringoglyphs
“The Jug Handle”
Canyonlands National Park ✅
Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah is known for its dramatic desert landscape carved by the Colorado River. Island in the Sky is a huge, flat-topped mesa with panoramic overlooks. Other notable areas include the towering rock pinnacles known as the Needles.
The park covers 5,362 acres of high desert at an altitude of 5,900 feet.
There were parts of this park that reminded me of the Badlands National Park in South Dakota… just missing the Bison.
I loved what this park has done with all the dead trees; making cool fencing.
Like a small-scale Grand Canyon
Park Ranger giving a Geology talk
Dead Horse Point State Park
We drove about 27 miles from Moab, to visit this State Park
The park covers 5,362 acres of high desert at an altitude of 5,900 feet.
Before the turn of the 19th century, mustang herds ran wild on the mesas near Dead Horse Point. The unique promontory provided a natural corral into which the horses were driven by cowboys. The only escape was through a narrow, 30-yard neck of land controlled by fencing. Mustangs were then roped and broken, with the better ones being kept for personal use or sold to eastern markets. Unwanted culls of “broomtails” were left behind to find their way off the Point.
According to one legend, a band of broomtails was left corralled on the Point. The gate was supposedly left open so the horses could return to the open range. For some unknown reason, the mustangs remained on the Point. There they died of thirst within sight of the Colorado River, 2,000 feet below.
Today, Dead Horse Point provides a beautiful mesa where you can look for miles into Canyonlands National Park or 2,000 feet down to the Colorado River. There are a few short hikes around the edge of the mesa with stunning views into the deep canyons.
The Intrepid Trail System offers 16.6 miles of hiking and biking trails with varying degrees of difficulty. The easiest and shortest loop is Intrepid, and Twisted Tree is the most challenging. The trails offer opportunities for visitors of all ages and abilities, and provide breathtaking views.
The National Park pass will not help here. $20 per car for entrance. Well worth it!
Incidentally, The final scene of the “Thelma and Louise movie; which is supposed to have taken place in the Grand Canyon, actually takes place at Dead Horse Point State Park.
When Thelma and Louise are “driving through New Mexico” and get pulled over by a police officer, they were actually driving through the beautiful state of Utah. You can see views of the La Sal Mountains, Moab, Arches National Park, and Canyonlands National Park
Cliff Scene: https://youtu.be/WnZWACO4OOc
Daryl trying to stay upright, walking against the wind. It was crazy!
This reminded me of Horse Shoe Bend in Page, Arizona, but this is much bigger. It was too windy to get any closer to the rim edge for closer-up pics
If anybody knows what these blue areas are, please tell. Is it water or paint?
We are feeling very accomplished, especially after these last two days of two more National Parks, a state Park, hiking in and up to; 55 mph gusts of winds with over 100 temps, sporting “hat hair,” doing scenic driving, and only stopping to eat and sleep.
We are now happily heading home to The Whale in Green River!
Please note, I’ve had to upload a smaller resolution photos into our blog, due to poor internet. For some reason, my photo website uploads my higher resolution photos without issue. So, if you want to view the Petroglyphs photos much clearer, or any of my photos for that matter, here is the link to my photo website:
for example: Click on “photogalleries” click on “places” Click on “North America” click on “United States” and there will be a list of all the states in the USA. Click on Utah.
Here is the link for our next blog on this amazing road trip: Part Four of Five, as we continued in Utah, on the National Parks Loop:
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Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More