SE Utah, Spring 2021 ~ Travel
We broke free! This was our first major family trip after over a year of pandemic isolation, and we were quite thrilled. Of course we picked a camper trailer trip for a reason, still trying to stay fairly isolated from hotels and crowds, avoid air travel and spend time outdoors. We had done a fairly extensive canyon trip 7 or 8 years prior, visiting Zion, Bryce, Antelope and Grand Canyon parks in a great loop that started and ended in Las Vegas, with a rented RV. This time we returned to the red rock country by driving over 18 hours through eastern Oregon and Idaho, by way of Salt Lake City.
Arches National Park is fantastic. It’s an 18 mile road that snakes through some of the most spectacular arch formations in the park, which are in the thousands in this region. We made several trips in and out of the park, including one outing long after sunset to view the stars. Arches is certified as an International Dark Sky Park, and it makes a huge difference, even to a naked-eye observer, or someone equipped with only binoculars or a basic telescope.
Skyline Arch 
Double Arch 
Delicate Arch 
View of the La Sal Mtns.
For more geology, history and just general awe, there are several other fascinating places worth a visit in the area. We spent three days 2.5 hours south of Moab, in Monument Valley, on the Navajo Tribal Land. About an hour north of there is a short side trip to Newspaper Rock, a cliffside covered in hundreds of petroglyphs from some 1,500 years ago. It appears to have been a central information gathering place for semi-nomadic tribes living in this area, with drawings representing various cultures, hunting methods, and a variety of spiritual and religious images. Since we couldn’t quite drive through Monument Valley itself, due to COVID restrictions by the Navajo, we had a very dusty, bumpy and overall super fun Jeep ride through Valley of the Gods just a few miles to the northwest. There are quite a few free standing mesas and buttes, with fun names like Lady in the Bath, Setting Hen Butte and Rooster Butte, De Gaulle and His Troops, Rudolph and Santa Claus. Someone with a sense of humor was in charge here!
Another great short drive from Monument Valley is Goosenecks State Park. On approach, one can’t even tell that there is anything but more dry, sparsely inhabited, rocky desert ahead. But as soon as one steps out to the edge of the observation area, they are blown away by the sinuous river meander known as a gooseneck, and impressive views of one of the most striking examples of an entrenched river meander on the North American continent.
Newspaper Rock 
Famous Forrest Gump view of the Monument Valley
Just a few more shots of impressive colors and shapes throughout the region.
Inside Arches NP 
View of Monument Valley 
Near Mexican Hat 
Shafer Trail descent 
In the valley of Shafer Trail
Moab itself is a fun little town, one of very few in the general area, with plenty of options to eat, play, shop and enjoy a break from hiking and slick rock biking. We visited two wineries, and totally recommend the smaller, vine to bottle Spanish Valley Vineyard and Winery over the more prominent, but less personable, Castle Creek Winery. Spanish Valley has a small tasting room right on the vineyard, with inviting outdoor seating, and 7 very unique and tasty wines grown, aged and bottled on the premises. Vineyard employees are very personable, and share as much or as little information about the wines as one requires. All the wines we tasted were quite interesting and delicious, and the atmosphere provided for an intimate and relaxing experience. Castle Creek just served us three samples in dixie cups, in a brightly lit, concrete-floored basement storage facility, then sold us a few bottles and sent us on our way.
There are also a couple of great options for family biking, including a biking trail hub at Lions Park that straddles the Colorado river, as well as Bar M slick rock biking area a few miles north of Moab, where we got our first taste of this off-road experience.
