segue out of summer

 When we went to Moab for a long weekend towards the end of September, we definitely noticed an uptick in how many people were there.  Labor Day weekend was still quiet but three weeks later, there was lots more traffic, both vehicular and foot varieties.  This is good for local businesses, many of whom have said that this summer was really slow.  Well, it's busy season now and not slow anymore.

Last of the flowers

On Friday, while H did a four mile trail run, A and Milton did their now-patented Millcreek loop.  We didn't quite as early a start as we have been, mostly because the sun isn't coming up until after 7 a.m.  We were still early enough to be ahead of the heat - which wasn't all that hot, relatively speaking, only in the low 90s - and the people, and there's still a good amount of water for the dogs to splash and wade in.  After everyone's trail time, H and A did a 20.85 mile road ride from the house: out along the river and back, up to Arches National Park and back to the river, out along the river again and back home.  We noticed more traffic on the bike path too.

Oh, no, maybe this is the last of the flowers

When we had arrived Thursday evening, we popped over to our neighbor's house.  She mentioned that she wanted to do the Grandstaff canyon top-down hike and was getting a small group together for Saturday morning.  Did we want to go?  We did!  At least, A and M did as H had a twelve mile trail run planned.  So Saturday at 6:45, A and Milton piled into her truck with her dog and met the crew at the Grandstaff trailhead, after a quick stop at the Love Muffin Cafe (where A got a vegan apple/cinnamon muffin).  We arranged to shuttle vehicles and then drove up to Sand Flats where six people and five dogs commenced the hike.

Most of the crew

Funnily enough, for a group where five of the six are fulltime Moabites, A was the only one who'd done this hike before.  We opted to walk in the wash the whole way instead of the bench trail; this was because there's so much water for the dogs.  The canyon creek is spring-fed and everyone was amazed at how much water there was.  We were also amazed at how quickly the one golden retriever got completely covered in burrs.  There was a little bushwhacking and a little scrambling, and we found a little pool of quicksand and a little snake (non-rattling).  But everyone got out safely, aside from a few scratches and burrs, and it was a great hike with the canyon to ourselves until we rejoined the main Grandstaff/Morning Glory Arch trail.

Snek

On Sunday, Milton only got an extra long neighborhood walk so that H and A could do another road ride (duplicate of Friday's) before heading back to Salt Lake.