Shabbos was a big weather day, with periods of sunshine, rain, and even hail.  The road turned to mud, and it was fun to watch trucks and OHVs slip and slide as they went by.

We packed up the RV and said goodbye to our dispersed camping spot near Moab for the last week:

We drove north and east to find a dispersed camping area in the Rabbit Valley area just across the Colorado border, a few miles from Fruita, Colorado:

Tomorrow we hope to visit Colorado National Monument and Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

Today we visited Arches National Park.  We were last here on Day 17 of our 2011 Vacation, so this time we focused on areas we didn’t get to see last time.  Our first stop was the area called Wall Street:

Next we drove to the Delicate Arch trailhead and hiked the trail to the arch:

A portion of the hike follows a ledge above the canyon below:

We had a bit of company at the arch:

M watching from a distance:

Delicate Arch seen through Frame Arch:

Hiking back to the truck:

Near the parking lot, there’s a 16th century pictograph site:

We also found this bird feeding its young:

Cabins from 19th century homesteaders are also on display here:

We drove on to the Windows section of the park.  Our first hike was to Double Arch, the highest arch in the park:

Next we hiked to Turret Arch:

…And then on to North Window and South Window:

B photographed the view towards the Fiery Furnace:

South Window:

North Window:

Balanced Rock:

Looking South up Wall Street:

This structure is called The Cathedral, I think:

Arches is an amazing park, but both Trish and I agreed that after five weeks in Southern Utah, our appetite for red rock vistas has been sated, and we’re ready to move on.

Good Shabbos from Moab, Utah!

It rained for most of the day today, so we decided to homeschool today and go to Arches National Park tomorrow.  Towards evening, the clouds eased up and we were treated to a nice rainbow:

Today we stopped at the tourist information center in Blanding on the way our of town.  We refilled the RV’s water tank and checked out the museum in the visitor center:

Driving north, we passed Church Rock:

We found a dispersed camping spot on BLM land a few miles from the visitor center at the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park:

Good Shabbos from near Canyonlands National Park!  See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.

Today we drove into the greater Blanding metro area, also known as Blanding, and did grocery shopping and laundry, as well as filling up the truck and having an RV tire replaced.  Tomorrow we will leave our dispersed camping location here and head North to Canyonlands National Park: