Fourth of July

Fourth of July. We woke up early to go back to Canyonlands National Park to see the Mesa Arch and do one of the longer trails. The section of Canyonlands that is accessible from Moab is called Islands in the Sky – it is a 45,000 acre section of the park raised about 1500-2000 feet above the Green and Colorado rivers basins that converge at the southern tip of this area. The access road is the only way onto the “island”. Otherwise you have to walk down switchbacks in the canyon walls. The Neck Spring trail led us about 400 feet down and around the edge of the canyon then back to the rim and around back to the car. The park is very rugged and less trafficked than Arches. And the views of the canyons in both directions are amazing.

There is also a gravel road leading down from the rim to the river. We went to the visitor center on the way back and I asked one of the rangers about my prospects in the low clearance, all-wheel drive element. He said he thought I could do it once. And then he told me about a few sections where I would have to get out and build a temporary rock ramp for the car before proceeding and gave me some pointers on how to avoid losing my oil pan on some jagged rock sections. Christine was tired but she was paying enough attention to quickly veto this idea, so we went for a swim.

In the evening, we went downtown and listened to the cubs beat the cardinals 2-1 then watched fireworks.

Saturday morning we are leaving moab, heading for Nevada via Salt Lake City. The objective is Winnemucca, NV. Roullette and Craps.