Retirement Road Trip 2011: Day 57, Friday, 10/21

154 miles and still camped at the Moab KOA.

I had every intention of camping at Dead Horse State Park tonight, but alas, apparently a lot of other people wanted to do the same thing.  That campground was full, so we are back at the KOA.  Darn.  I have heard so many positive recommendations about it.  Oh well, next trip.  :-)

Like every other National Park I have seen on this trip, the views are outstanding!  I guess that's why they are National Parks.  Our first stop was Arches National Park.  This park contains the largest concentration of natural arches found anywhere in the world.  Over 2,000 arches have been cataloged.  The largest is over 300 feet long.  In addition to the arches, the rock formations are out of this world.  I was not prepared for the amount of people and traffic.  I just assumed that this is the off season.  Wrong!  We arrived about 8:00 in the morning, and all ready there was a busy line of traffic.  When we left about noon, most of the vista parking lots were full and cars were parked along the road.

After lunch in the camper, Karen, Zoey and I headed for nearby Canyonlands National Park.  Again, the views were incredible.  But this time it was the huge, deep canyons that created the stunning views.  The confluence (joining or merging) of the Colorado and Green River occurs within the park boundaries.  Now, if two rivers join, which one keeps the new name?  I've always wondered about that.  Well, in this case, it was a political decision.  Congress decided that the combined rivers would be called the Colorado, even though the Green River had a larger drainage basin.  Unfortunately we could not see the confluence on the drive we were taking.  One more thing to add to my bucket list.

Moab is a mountain bike/off road vehicle mecca.  There were mountain bikes everywhere!  As far as I can see, Moab is to mountain bikes as Sturgis is to motorcycles.  In fact, I met a group who had just completed a six day mountain bike camping trip along the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands.

It was a wonderful day.  The sky was blue, the air was crisp, and the views were stunning.

Saturday we plan to head toward Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.  Ever eastward........