The Moab off season is getting shorter and shorter. It's really just December, January and the first part of February now; we were there for the long President's Day weekend and have already noticed a slight uptick in tourists. It didn't hurt that the weather was really nice: chilly in the mornings but reaching into the 50s with good sunshine. It was still cool in the shade and the wind was cold when it picked up, but generally very pleasant. We did have a small system move through Saturday night, leaving Sunday a little more overcast to start, but no complaints from us.
We had driven down Thursday afternoon and so were ready to go Friday morning. As soon as it warmed up. But the sun was out so that didn't take too long and we three went out to the Moab Brand trails so H could MTB and Milton and I could hike. There were a handful of vehicles in the parking lot but the trails themselves were pretty empty. While H did his Rusty Spur/Arches overlook/Bar M/Lazy-EZ loop, the dog and I walked out Bar M (from the parking lot cutoff) to Circle O. We encountered four MTBers out there and that was it. The potholes were quite full from the recent storms - Milton even got to go "swimming" in the biggest one. H rode out a little ways from the northern trailhead and as soon as Milton saw him (from about a quarter mile away), he took off like a rocket, running back to the truck with H and leaving me to finish the walk by myself.
Saturday was again clear and gorgeous, but with a light and cold wind. H wanted to do a longer trail run so this time we went to Amasa Back. Since it was the weekend, there were a fair number of vehicles in this parking lot and while we did see more folks out on the trail - five side-by-sides and a number of MTBers - it was still peaceful for most of our time out there. H and Milton did the loop clockwise (out on the MTB trail and back on the jeep trail) while I did it reversed (out on the jeep trail and back on the MTB trail), with the thought that we would probably cross paths near the Cliffhanger junction/river overlook. That was exactly what happened and Milton sprinted up to say hi to me before continuing down with H. Since I now had the longer portion to do, H ended up waiting about a half hour for me back at the truck; he brought a camp chair and his book, and he and Milton were making friends with all the other dogs in the parking lot by the time I rolled in.
Sunday was slightly more overcast so we just did the quick Slickrock practice loop (H and M running; me walking) to get our exercise in. By the time we finished, the clouds were breaking up and the afternoon was lovely. And then Monday we just did an hour and a half town walk: along the bike path, out to and up 500 West, back down Main Street to make a loop. Things are definitely picking up in town: restaurants and shops are starting to reopen and there were lots more folks walking around. Local businesses will be thrilled for an increase in tourists - we'll just have to pick our trails more carefully if we want to find quiet.
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