I wake at 6:00AM – yes it is still VERY hot – and decide to go out for a walk to see if anyone has a gas can. I take some pictures of the sunrise, and talk to some people who are up and around. No one has extra gas. There is a group a couple sites down that looks promising. He has an excavation business, and has a large tank in the back of his pickup. 100 gallons of diesel. Drats. He said his crew took out his 5 cans of gas just before he left. I run into the campground host, and his advice is to call AAA, but it will probably be hours before they can make the trip up here. I decide to try plan B, and cut our fresh water hose as a siphon. It’s been a LONG time since I siphoned gas and all I remember is getting a mouthful. I rig up a couple of water bottles in between so I can see the gas as it comes down the hose. Works like a charm and I fill the two empty gallon water jugs and then empty the hose back into the tank. I put the 2 gallons in the Jeep and check. The low fuel light is off, and I have 65 miles to empty. Looks like I could have made the trip back to town after all, but better safe than sorry.
We discuss moving to an RV site in Moab that has electric and showers, but decide we can all hack it one more night. Not sure what to do today, as it is going to be very hot again. I decide a ride in the Jeep (not off road) to the Needles district of Canyonlands will give us time in the A/C. I remembered seeing a sign in Moab that it is 35 miles to Canyonlands. I plot out some very short hikes and check out some sights to see. We pack up the Jeep and reluctantly (for some) head out for the day. A stop in Moab for gas and then we head south out of town. 35 miles later, and we make the turn. A sign right at the turn says 33 miles to Canyonlands. We are at the edge of the park, but 33 miles to the visitor center and hikes.
Much further than I had planned. We take in the breathtaking sights around us.
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| Mammary Mountains |
Some pictures of the formations in the distance and then a short stop at some petroglyphs left by the Native Americans of this area. They left drawings and hand prints in the rocks – kind of an ancient form of graffiti. Some are thousands of years old, some just a few hundred years.On to the visitor center where the ranger says my decision to do the short hikes (especially the ones in shade) is well advised. It is over 100 again today. We head to the end of the road to take some pictures of the needles formations.
Then back to a short hike around Cave Spring Trail. This is a hike .6 mile loop that is covered in overhangs much of the way. It takes you past an old cowboy camp and some caves that the Native Americans lived in years ago. More petroglyphs and a study of the ceiling showed the stains from the smoke of fires. We continue on around the circle, climb a couple ladders and then trek back to the car.
Charlotte opted out of this hike, still worn out of the lack of sleep and long days before.
We are not looking forward to long the drive back. In hind sight, we should have opted for the north portion of Canyonlands Park.
Another stop in Moab for some groceries and then rush to beat the clock to get time with the generator. We pull into the overlook for Delicate Arch as this is something we don’t want to miss on this trip. We talk about doing the short hike later after dinner, and then head down a 4-wheel drive trail to see if we can get a good photo vantage point on this road. The arch is way off in the distance, and the viewpoint from the parking lot was probably better, so we head back.
After taking some pictures, we continue back to the campsite to pull a “buzzer beater” as Jackson calls it getting dinner down before 8:00.
We pull in around 7:00 and try to get the RV cooled down. The kids want to do a short hike to Skyline Arch before dinner which is in our campground. There is a half mile trail to the arch from the main road, but we have a very short walk (about 100 yards) to get there from our RV as we are parked right on the back side. This hike requires a little climbing, though I think much of it is just the kids trying to show us a FUN way to get there. We take some pictures, take in the sunset in the distance and then head back to the RV.
Wendy has to do some cooking on the stove, so it will be a losing battle getting the RV cooled down. After shutting down the A/C, we open the windows and hope for a breeze. Jackson starts a fire and we have a couple glasses of wine by the fire. There are no mosquitoes here, but there are gnats that are very annoying. The smoke from the fire makes it bearable, but we are again very tired and opt to head in to get some rest. We take off very early in the morning to return the Jeep by 7:30AM. It needs to be washed and fueled, so we target 6:00AM to head to town. I pack everything up and shut down so we can just pull out and go, then off to bed.
