Utah Vacation–Rainy Day

Today, our favorite little grocery store was closed, so we stopped at Shady Acres Gas & Groceries for gas, buns, and M&Ms. The weather was predicting rain today for the past several days, so we really didn’t have a solid plan. We were in impromptu mode, hoping to see some water in the many dry river beds.

We started by heading east. Outside Moab, we turned west and drove towards Canyonlands National Park. Along the way, we were treated to some distant lightning strikes and cloud to cloud lightning. In a few cases, the rain actually made it the ground and we got the opportunity to use the wipers.

At the intersection with the road to Dead Horse State Park, we entered an open range area – one of many we’ve driven through – but this one was different. We crested a small hill and were confronted by about a dozen cows near the highway. Considering the lack of any signs of life, it was shocking to see an animal, let alone a small herd.

We continued along the highway towards Canyonland. While still a mile or two out, we came to the end of the line a cars waiting to get into the park. We sat and watched the light show in the sky for a little while, then decided we’d come back on a less crowded day, after the holiday weekend.

On the way back towards Moab, we stopped at Moab Giants. This is a little tourist trap that has a café, a dinosaur exhibit, and most importantly, a bathroom.

With everyone comfortable again, we continued towards Moab. As we approached, we thought it would be nice to have lunch at the Lions Park again. We pulled in and found an empty picnic table close to the parking spot, and under a shelter. We ate lunch while a group of mountain bikers waited out the storm. 

With Susan awake, we decided to explore the Colorado River valley to the east again. We followed it up to Sandy Beach and beyond. We passed Red Cliffs Lodge, which looked like a nice place to stay if you are into riding horses. Then we turned right and headed towards Castle Valley. We continued on the La Sal Loop Road up to La Sal lookout point. As the road climbed higher, the environment changed dramatically from dry desert to vibrant forest. The temperature continued to drop as we climbed and we started to wonder if we would see snow on the ground.

On the route, we saw a sign for Forest Service 0076 to Oowah Lake. This sounded interesting, so we turned off the loop road and headed up. At this point, I started feeling like I was no longer in Utah. We were very close to the bottom of the cloud layer and driving through a forest. On the side of the road, we noticed a small stream cascading. We stopped and Andrew and I ran down to get a better look at a set of small waterfalls.

Water cascading down a mountain stream

The road ended at Oowah Lake. There were a few campsites nearby and hiking trails leading higher up into the mountains. The lake was formed by an earthen dam on the small stream we saw earlier. We explored the area briefly, then returned down to the loop road.

David standing near Oowah Lake

Back on the loop road, we saw a sign for Geyser Pass. We turned onto Forest Service 0071 and followed it until the road became too muddy to continue. We were now above 10,000 feet and inside the cloud layer. It was 38 degrees and there was snow on the ground. In one spot, there was a patch of snow on the edge of the road. I swerved to the right a little to drive through it. Man, was I surprised by the jolt we took after hitting it. It was as solid as a rock.

We turned around and again headed down to the loop road. There was another branch off to Gold Basin, so we followed it for a short time, only to be turned off by the worsening conditions.

Back on the loop road, we continued to wind along the face of the mountain. At one pull-off, we saw a funny sign. It said something about climbing required; no hiking. Makes me wonder just how bad that trail is.

Finally we descended back into the valley. Andrew had a pin on the map for Faux Falls, so we headed up to the overlook. Here we met some folks in off-road vehicles. The guy told me that in Utah, there should be a law requiring everyone to have one. He loves his and takes it everywhere, including many places that are inaccessible by normal vehicles.

The view of the falls was nice, but Andrew wanted to take some pictures from below, so we continued down to the trailhead in Ken’s Lake campground. Andrew go his shots, then we continued on to Moab.

David and Susan at Faux Falls

On the north side of Moab, we turned to follow the Colorado River west to Dinosaur Tracks and Petroglyphs. We took the short hike up to see the tracks and petroglyphs, then continued to follow the trail. We soon realized that it was too long to continue, so we turned back and returned to the car.

David pointing to one of the petroglyphs

It was now late afternoon, so we decided to head back to Green River. The route passes the Moab Airport, and I decided to stop and have a look. Our timing turned out to be perfect. There was a Delta Connection CRJ-200 preparing to depart to Salt Lake City. We could see it parked on the ramp just on the other side of a large window. We stuck around as the crew shut all the doors, started the engines, taxied to the far end of the airport, then took off in front of us.

Delta Connection CRJ-200

On the drive back in Green River, Andrew checked the Amtrak train locator and discovered that it was nearly to Green River. Of course, we stopped to watch it come into town. While stopped, we met another railfan and he told us that a BNSF train was expected to pass through within the next 30 minutes. We watched the Amtrak pass, then raced west on I-70 to the next exit to try to catch the BNSF train with the sunset. We successfully got our shot, the raced east on I-70 to catch the train passing through Green River.

BNSF train at sunset

In the end, our impromptu day turned out pretty good. We saw a thunderstorm, explored an unexpected forest, found a waterfall, did a little hiking, and watched planes and trains doing their thing.

Click the image below to see all pictures from the trip.