We settled in to the KOA campground just south of Moab for a 4 night stay. Having been to Moab before we knew there was plenty to do and it was worth staying longer than our typical visits on this trip. We weren’t terribly impressed with the campground however, sites were very crammed together and being Memorial Day weekend it was packed. The pool & hot tub had kids swarming both of them night and day. Our first full day in Moab we planned to head south the one hour drive to the Needles district of Canyonlands National Park. We started out on the bike, but found the conditions too windy to complete our journey. We turned around and went back north through town to Arches NP.
We enjoyed a few short hikes there, we saw the landscape arch, and north and south windows and many other interesting formations. Of course being the long weekend meant the park was extremely busy but it didn’t detract all that much from our enjoyment.
The following day we decided to make another attempt at Needles but opted to drive the motorhome there instead of the bike. This seemed to be a wise choice as the wind was even worse than the day before. We went very early to beat the crowds. Our first stop was a hike over boulders to get several nice views of the park. Sure enough by the time we finished our hike the parking lot was filling up. We stopped at a few other sites within the park, but were ready to go by lunchtime. All in all we felt it wasn’t worth the 2 hour roundtrip drive from Moab. If you were already passing by it would be a different story.
Monday morning we headed into town to join a ‘white water’ rafting expedition. It was the least aggressive trip they offered, but we still encountered some pretty good rapids and got a bit soaked. The trip took us by some spectacular scenery along the Colorado River. We had actually done the same trip on our last visit to Utah in 2012 but enjoyed it so much we wanted to do it again. Once again we weren’t disappointed.
After the trip we headed back to the campground for lunch. We came back into town later in the afternoon, had a look around the touristy shops and grabbed a pizza for dinner. Pizza is the one thing we can’t really make in the RV since we don’t have an oven so every once in a while we get a craving for it. The next morning we packed up and headed out of Moab, going back via the same route we arrived to the North and then West along the I70 and south towards Hanksville, turning at that point to head into Capitol Reef NP.
We arrived late afternoon but not late enough to grab a couple homemade pies from the Gifford House store. We camped here for just the one night. The skies were dark and threatening rain but it never really materialized. Some other campers told us there had been a large hail storm 20 minutes before we arrived. In the morning we did the scenic drive to the end of the Capitol Reef which only took about 45 minutes round trip, and then stopped at Gifford House again for some cinnamon rolls which they usually sell out of by 10am.
From here it was further south and west towards Bryce Canyon. We wanted to get an early start as the campground at Bryce was first-come-first-served and we wanted to make sure we got a site. We arrived just after 12pm and the campground was already at least half full. Sure enough it was full by 4pm. That afternoon we took Misty on a walk along the rim of the canyon. We can’t really say she enjoyed the view as much as we did but she always likes a good walk.
The following day we got some work done in the morning and then headed off for a longer walk into the canyon floor. Sadly Misty wasn’t allowed to come along, but we had good weather for the hike. We used the shuttle to get a ride to the furthest point along the ‘amphitheater’ and walked along the canyon floor back to the campground, about 7.5km total.
As we got back we saw the skies getting darker, but the forecast wasn’t calling for any rain for a few more hours. After lunch we hopped on the bike and went to the far end of the park to check out the view. The weather didn’t seem to be getting any better though so we quickly headed back to camp. It never did really rain other than a few drops. When we got up the next day we took our time packing up and clearing out of camp but opted to stay in the park for a few more hours, taking Misty for another rim walk and then taking the bike to do a waterfall hike just outside the park boundary.
After lunch we headed out for our next stop, Jacob Lake on the road to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We knew there wouldn’t be much in the way of services down there so we stocked up on groceries and filled the gas tank along the way.
