First things first, Moab is not the place to be if you are wanting a nice relaxing week but it is heaven for anyone who loves to be active and loves adventure. I only got to spend 3 days here so I had to choose what I wanted to do carefully!
The one thing you must do is visit Arches National Park. It is ranked one of the top national parks in the USA and it is great to see the 2,000+ sandstone arches that have been created with just a little bit of rain and wind.
The temperature in Moab is like the rest of Utah, very very hot. So, if you are planning on doing some hiking here, early mornings and later in the evening are the best times to go. Unfortunately when we went to the park on my first night there had been a lot rain so the trail to the hike we were going to do up to Delicate Arch (the most popular and most famous) was closed. Instead we did a smaller hike (which involved crossing over water and getting wet feet) and then going up to the see the Balanced Rock (its name kind of explains what it is) and pigging out on some fried chicken so turned out not to be a disappointing evening after all.
The next night we each packed a bag of snacks and water, headed for the park and tried again. Luckily the trail was open so we got our hiking boots on! There were so many photographers at the top trying to get a good picture of the arch at sunset.
Another one of the best hikes to do is the Devils Garden; I really wanted to do this one but I’m not going to lie, after the hiking the night before I was knackered and didn’t fancy getting up at stupid O’clock to do a 7 mile hike in 35 degree heat so I gave it a miss. Looking back I do kind of regret not doing it even though I know I probably wasn’t physically up to it.
While I was in Moab I managed to cross another thing off my bucket list; White Water Rafting. This has always been something I wanted to do so I was happy when we decided to make a day of it! Getting to ride in an old American school bus to get to the river was just a bonus.
We went with A company called Adrift Adventures and the day was split into 2 parts (to give us chance to dry off before getting soaked again) with a BBQ lunch by the riverside in between. The trip was 14 miles in total down the Colorado River and we went through rapids from class 1 to class 3. For anyone that doesn’t know about the classes of rapids, 1 is easy that anyone can go through and 5/6 are practically impossible sometimes even for professionals. The rapids we went through were just strong enough to have us gripping on for dear life but not strong enough to throw us out the dinghy.
I must say after spending a day on the river I half expected to look like a tomato but I didn’t get that sunburnt!
My final day wasn’t a disappointment either! After getting to know the town, packing up camp and a Pizza Hut lunch we headed through Canyonlands and up to Dead Horse Point State Park. There is a reason behind the name of this place; legend says that a long time ago cowboys herded horses onto the narrow point at the top of the sandstone cliffs which left them trapped as they were surrounded by sheer drops and branches/bush so they couldn’t escape. The cowboys then chose the horses that they wanted and at one time for some unknown reason the rest of the horses were just left at that point and died of dehydration as they were teased with the view of the Colorado River below them. It’s quite sad really.
I’d love to go and spend some more time in Moab just to do the things I didn’t have time to do like Mountain Biking, a Hummer Safari and Canyoneering. Make the most of the time you’re there, there is no time to rest!
Travel, Trek, Tour 