desert trip, part 5

Monday found us with the same routine as the day before, perhaps ten or so minutes later.  Armed with our weird little book, this time we drove into Arches National Park - not very busy yet - and out to Balanced Rock.  We turned left onto the dirt Willow Springs Road and went in about a mile to another intersection (Salt Flat Road) that had a wide turnout for parking.  The south rim of the Eye of the Whale mesa was our goal.

Heading up the wash

After another in-the-truck breakfast of bananas, bagels and peanut butter, we left a "just gone hiking" note on the truck's dash and started off down the Willow Springs Road around 9:30 a.m., noticing the tons of small critter tracks (lizards, mice, squirrels, rabbits and coyotes) in the undisturbed dust.  We walked down to where a wash crossed the road and found a flap pole with an arrow pointing up the wash, indicating foot traffic only.

At the old dam

So up the wash we went, past the remains of an old dam to the first of three cottonwood trees.  It may sound vague but this is verbatim how our book (this time, Forty More One-Day Hikes in the Moab Vicinity) describes this part of the hike: "... into the wash above the damn, then hike up it toward some cottonwood trees, to where it is feasible to climb out on the left to the higher sandstone slopes there.  Explore these at any level, continuing generally toward the northeast, finally ascending to the highest sandstone level."

This is, in fact, the "trail"

And that's what we did, scrambling up on the rock at the first tree.  Once up there we had to watch our step a bit to avoid dry potholes, crevasses, cryptobiotic soils and lichens; we also tried to minimize stepping in any sand to maximize "leave no trace."  There was plenty of sandstone to safely walk on, however, even if we did have to do some backtracking to get around gaps in the rock.

Big spaces in the desert

We worked our way up the terraces as high as we could to the northeast, finally stopping at sandstone domes where we had views of the Klonzo MTB trails, Routes 313 and 191, the LaSals, the Henry Mountains and various features at Arches - truly amazing panoramic views.  We poked around up there for a while, peeking into little oases and gullies among the domes and noting what we presumed were desert bighorn tracks in the sand.

An oasis among the domes

Having kept those cottonwood trees in sight, we were able to make our way back into the wash and out again.  A couple of jeeps passed us as we walked back on the Willow Springs Road, and a couple more went by as we had our post-hike beers.  But that was it: a whole half day in Arches National Park and only seeing a handful of people.  Awesome.

Nice spot for a snack

To be completely honest, we weren't feeling all that inspired to double-session it on the MTBs, so instead we drove out Route 128 and found a spot where we could sit and watch kayakers on the Colorado River and MTBers finishing up the Porcupine Rim trail.  It was a beautiful afternoon, sunny but not hot, and just pleasant to be outside, even if we weren't exerting ourselves all that much.

Our signal cottonwood tree

Our evening plans consisted of getting cleaned up, chatting with the motel staff about living in Moab and finding a place to eat.  We'd intended to go to 98 Center and were disappointed to find that they were closed for a private catering event.  Miguel's Baja Grill is always a good option (if you can get in) but they tend to be a little expensive, especially if margaritas are involved; Peace Tree Cafe was a bit pricier than we were looking for as well.  So back to the brewery which, while not fine dining, gets you a good amount of bang for your buck.  And you can't go wrong with their Johnny's IPA.

Awesome sign (even if "boundary" is spelled wrong)

Hike stats:  6.72 miles with a whopping 700 feet of elevation; 2:23 hours moving, 2.8 avg. speed. 

Great afternoon for a float