Day 5 - On the Threshold of Adventure

Elevation = 5500ft

Distance = 246 mi

Song of the Day = "Circles" by Soul Coughing

And off to Moab! I spend the morning repacking – turns out that the temperatures in Moab are supposed to be in the 30’s (damn it!) which required moving the warm weather stuff to the bottom of the bags (I will later just start throwing clothes all over the back of my car in a filing system to seems to work better, anyways. Have you ever seen my office?)

So... I wrote on the tent. Makes it easier to set up.

That's a whole lot of stuff...

Oh my sweet friend, how I have missed you!

It’s down the familiar route of 82, past Basalt, past El Jebel, past Cardondale (pronounced “car-BON-delay” by the same people who call Target “Tar-jhay”) and through Glenwood. I feel a frisson of excitement – I’ve never been past Glenwood Springs on I-70. 

Well, I should have, because the drive from Glenwood to Grand Junction is stunningly beautiful. The mountains give way to mesas and plateaus, and the valley slowly widens. I drive staring with amazement. This will be the last true interstate I take on this trip (hopefully). From now on, it’s side roads and the byways.

Hello Utah!

View from Route 50 towards Cisco

I exit at Cisco (NO SERVICES, the sign proclaims) in the middle of nowhere, following Rt 50 around to the beginning of Utah 128. No wonder there are no services – Cisco is a ghost town of tumble-down buildings and hulks of automobiles with broken windows. Elsewhere this would be tragic, but here, set against the backdrop of open plateau and distant mountains, it seems somehow right. I turn left onto 128 towards Moab, leaving the ruined buildings of Cisco behind. 

And I thought I-70 through Colorado was amazing. Utah 128, winding its way through the open plateau then following the Colorado river towards Moab, is amazingly gorgeous. It begins with views of the distant La Sal mountains set against high desert plateau, then drops into the red rock canyons along the Colorado River. I drove in silence, mouth agape, forehead almost touching the windshield. I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life. Sheer red cliff faces rose up to from the tumbling red waters to meet an intense blue sky so liquid, so pure, that photographs cannot do it justice.

The Colorado River

View of distant rain and Fisher Towers from Hittle Bottom

Of course, there is the issue of finding a campground in Moab on a Saturday (did I mention there was a classic car rally in town? No. Well I didn’t know either.) Everything, and I mean everything, was full. I tried every campground on 128, starting with Granstaff (used to be Negro Bills, but sensitivity and all that shit), working my way upriver past Hal’s Canyon, Oak Grove, Big Bend, Lower Onion, and Fisher Towers. Finally, the camp host at Hittle Bottom allows me to camp in the “overage” lot (perhaps I was a bit wild-eyed by this point). But no campfires, only one night.

It worked just fine, but isn’t pretty. It’s a large, flat, open expanse with only a few bushes to break the wind. I set up facing the river (and the wind, incidentally, bad move). Soon I was joined by a nice couple named Dorothy and Bill, who had traveled up from Arizona for the week. Bill had built a homemade camper on the back of his pickup, and they invited me in for a look. It was snug and cozy (as in tiny), but it worked for them. Another couple, Cornelia and Robbie, from Aspen soon joined the group. Interestingly enough, Robbie grew up in Scranton near where I will soon be working. They recommended some hikes in Arches, then quietly set up their tent. 

Campsite at Hittle Bottom

As darkness fell the temperatures dropped to freezing (damn you and your no campfire rule). As I decided to call it a night, a car filled with college students rolled up. They set up RIGHT next to me, and immediately the girls started whining about not be able to build a fire. Loudly. (“I’m wearing 8 layers right now, and one of them is my bra and another is my thong!!!” “How are we supposed to cook our food without a campfire?” “Let’s do Jaegar bombs to keep us warm!” and so on) It didn’t matter, though. The adventure has begun and nothing can bother me.

Cliffs at sunset