Monday, May 13, 2024 The Wanderers: Canyonlands National Park

For the beginning of our Southwest Tour, start here: Arches National Park

After our morning at Arches National Park, we had lunch and then drove over to Canyonlands National Park and stamped our passport, etc. By this time I was SO TIRED. We decided we would drive to the overlooks, take photos and skip any hikes. In short order we stopped at Buck Canyon, Grandview Canyon, and then Schafer Canyon on the way back.

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At Buck Canyon, a family standing next to me spotted a cute little mouse just below where we were standing. I’d been getting photos of wildlife such as chipmunks at Arches, which Kris had been teasing me about. I get the point, but can’t seem to resist.

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Anyway, as we were leaving the overlook, I told Kris about getting a photo of a mouse, and to ward off any teasing, said, “Panoramas out here are a dime a dozen, but who else got a photo of a mouse?” Speaking of teasing, earlier that day, Kris told me that I was looking very European, which mystified me. He went on to explain that European people often like to wear black. I was dubious about this and accused him of making it up. Anyway, I took a few jabs at that comment here and there as we saw people wearing black tee shirts. “Oh, look, more Europeans!” Kris had the last laugh because it turned out there were a lot of tourists from Europe and other lands wandering about.

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When we got to Grandview Canyon, I became fixated on some tiny cars below that were slowly driving the White Rim Drive right around the rim of the canyon. I was wondering, first of all, why they were driving so slowly. The answer to this question was made manifest to me when we went to Monument Valley the next day (a little foreshadowing for you). Secondly, I wanted to know if the drivers would stop and get out where the road went closest to the canyon rim. Many tourists came and went, admiring the view of the whole vista while I looked through my telephoto lens at the little narrative that was going on below. Sure enough, when two cars finally made it to the rim, the teeny tiny drivers got out to have a look-see. Now I could finally tear my attention away from that and move on.

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At the Schafer Overlook, we were standing with a small group of people who were fascinated by a car and bike making their winding way over the Schafer Trail, another rough road with switchbacks down below. I asked a few questions, since it seemed that our little group was “in the know” about this trail. One of the guys spontaneously decided to drive the trail back to Moab. “Wish me luck!” He called out as he left.

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We drove from there to the R-pod (the Air B&B we were renting) and then back to Moab  for supper at the Moab Brewery. Good stuff.

Next stop: Monument Valley

I’ll probably delete this on the Blog Rim Road in the morning.