Looking into New Corners in a Long-Loved Place

             "This is the most beautiful place on earth.

          There are many such places. Every man, every woman, carries in heart and mind the image of the ideal place, the right place, the one true home, known or unknown, actual or visionary. A houseboat in Kashmir, a view down Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, a gray gothic farmhouse two stories high at the end of a red dog road in the Allegheny Mountains, a cabin on the shore of a blue lake in spruce and fir country, a greasy alley near the Hoboken waterfront, or even, possibly, for those of a less demanding sensibility, the world to be seen from a comfortable apartment high in the tender, velvety smog of Manhattan, Chicago, Paris, Tokyo, Rio or Rome--there's no limit to the human capacity for the homing sentiment….  For myself, I'll take Moab, Utah. I don't mean the town itself, of course, but the country which surrounds it--the canyonlands. The slickrock desert. The red dust and the burnt cliffs and the lonely sky….”  Ed Abbey, Desert Solitaire

We’d never been to Dead Horse State Park or Island in the Sky in Canyonlands, and we hadn’t hiked in Arches since the 1990s.  It was time to go back to Abbey Country, and, with Sylvie, the Prius Utility Vehicle, we could bring our bikes and a whole lot more.

Staying in one of the three yurts--huge wood-frame tents--at Dead Horse Point State Park requires planning (we reserved in January for May), but they make an excellent home base for hiking and biking in the state park and at Island in the Sky. 

 The three yurts share outdoor water spigots and restrooms, and each has heat and air conditioning, a ceiling fan, double-mattress-sized bunk bed, a futon, and a table and chairs.

Looking East toward...

...the La Sal Mountains

Their decks have gas grills, tables, lounge chairs, big skies, and views of the La Sal Mountains and out into canyon country.  

At the Buck Canyon Overlook

Wonderful to have bikes with us!  We met someone riding an early-80s-vintage, lovable Bridgestone bike like mine making the long ride from Moab to Island in the Sky’s Grandview Point (70 miles round trip), but we drove from the yurt to the Mesa Arch trail head and biked from there to Grandview Point—12 miles round trip with a wide margin in the day for moseying.  Out in Canyonlands, we walked to Mesa Arch and to Grandview Point.  Back in the state park, we walked along the mesa edge.

Biking Back toward Mesa Arch

Mesa Arch

The White Rim from the Grandview Point Trail

Looking toward the La Sal Mountains from Dead Horse Point

Our home base for wandering around town, hiking in Arches, and biking the Potash Road was the greenest motel we have ever seen, with not only the usual compostable coffee cups and prominent recycling bins but also more than 280 photo-voltaic panels (we tried to count).   
And, endearingly, their wind vane has a bike on it.

Near the End of the Potash Road Pavement

Colorado River and Potash Road

Jug Handle Arch

For biking the Potash Road (Utah highway 279), we drove to the end of the pavement at the Intrepid Potash Mine and then rode back upriver until we were ready to turn around, taking our time in the neighborhood of Jug Handle Arch, the Colorado River, and lots of red rock.

Pine Tree Arch

At Arches, we watched storms circle and blow through the park, learned some sandstone/siltstone geology from a ranger, remembered Ed, and walked between the sandstone fins and arch-itecture.

Landscape Arch

Between the Fins