Looking for some desert adventure in the cooler weather, Moab had been on my family’s bucket list for some time. The resort town atmosphere, stunning red rock landscape, beautiful Colorado River and the proximity to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks made Moab the perfect choice for a week of adventure.

May 2015- We chose to stay off the grid at Morris Last Resort. Their mountain cabins were located about twenty minutes outside of town on the La Sal Mountain Loop Road.   My mouth dropped open when I peered out the window the next morning to see the sun rise over the red rocks. It was stunning! While the town was bustling with crowds for Memorial Day weekend, we were enjoying the solitude of this remote location.

We headed into Arches National Park our first morning to hike the Devil’s Garden Loop Trail, one of the longest maintained trails. Not long into the hike, we were rewarded with some beautiful red rock formations and arches. To complete the loop required some scrambling on narrow ledges with significant exposure. The crowds thinned out quickly providing great solitude. After a half-day of hiking, we stopped at Sweet Cravings Bakery and Bistro for some of the best sandwiches and treats in town! As it turned out, we were grateful we did this hike the first day, because they periodically closed Arches over the weekend due to high capacity.

The next day we headed to the south entrance of Canyonlands National Park to the Needles District. The solitude and vastness of this park were superior to Arches! After researching, we decided to hike the challenging Chesler Park Loop of 11 miles. This became one of my son’s favorite hike of all times. We all agreed it was like we were in Mars ascending and descending “through an amazing landscape of stunning multi-hued sandstone pillars, fins, spires and knobs, eroded by wind and water into fantastical shapes” as described by http://www.HikingWalking.com. While completing the hike proved too much for me, those that finished bragged of the rewards!

Canyonlands was such a large park that we visited the northern Island in the Sky District on a separate day. We stopped at the visitor center to watch the film and gather information before exploring what seemed like another Grand Canyon! While the hikes were not as interesting along the trails, the views at the end were magnificent. We did the Murphy Point Overlook, Hogback and Mesa Arch Trails.

The highlight of our time in Moab for my boys was renting full suspension mountain bikes from the Chili Pepper Bike Shop and riding at the Moab Brand Trails on slick rock in the desert. I decided to keep my feet on the ground and hit the shops in town instead.

Moab offered plenty of adventure besides the biking. The Negro Bill Canyon Trail, a favorite of the locals, made for an easy morning hike with multiple stream crossings. By starting the hike by 7am, we were able to walk in solitude. Another surprising drive for us was Potash Road. The cliffs were dotted with prehistoric paintings in a few spots and we enjoyed watching the locals climb and boulder. We stopped to hike Corona Arch and then drove to the end of the road for lunch where there were picnic tables with rewarding views.

Thankfully, our final day was planned months in advance. Arches National park has an area known as the Fiery Furnace, which is a natural labyrinth of narrow passages between towering walls of sandstone. Because there are no trails or signs, the failure of GPS systems to work in the towering formations, and the complexity of the passages to navigate, the National Park requires a hiking permit or a ranger-guided tour for this area. Since tickets for this tour often sell out, I knew to order months in advance for the holiday weekend. Upon checking into the visitor center, they made us browse through photographs depicting the difficulty of the hike to make sure we willing to commit. While the three hour hike was somewhat strenuous jumping or squeezing through narrow places or pulling ourselves up to ledges, it was so much fun! This was truly a hike less traveled and the ranger was a wealth of information on the history, geology, and wildlife and plants of Arches. We left Moab reminiscing about our red rock adventures!