On to Moab

October 3, 2018

After two wonderful days at the Calf Creek Campground it was time to move on to Moab, Utah, where we will spend our last three or four nights in Utah before heading south to Route 66. On the road by 8:30 AM, we headed north on the spectacular “Million Dollar Highway” which traverses the top of a canyon with steep drop offs on both sides.  The scenery is spectacular, but you have to keep your eyes glued to the road or it will be your last drive.

Last night at our campground we spoke with a woman who grew up in Boulder and attended school in Escalante. She shared that every day her school bus followed this route.  She said it was especially terrifying since the road was much narrower in those days.

Arriving in Boulder around 9:00 AM, we stopped to visit a fascinating museum dedicated to the culture of the Anasazi Indians.  The remains of this particular Anasazi village, which was occupied by about 200 Puebloans for about 50 years around 1100 AD, were discovered in 1958 on the Coombs family ranch where the museum now stands.  The Coombs donated the property and all the artifacts to the museum which provides a great picture of the Anasazi culture.  Similar to Mesa Verde, this small village, why this village was abandoned after such a short period is unknown.  Before getting back to the car we grabbed a couple of churros from Magnolia’s Street Food, a food truck run by the perky young Maggie.  Her menu looked enticing, lots of Mexican items, but we’d already had our daily does of Cherios “go power”.

Leaving Boulder, we followed Route 12 as it climbed over a 9600’ pass near Boulder Mountain.  As we did so the scenery changed quickly, now resembling Colorado more than Utah, with plenty of green pines and yellow aspens. During this climb we passed through open range country with plenty of cattle grazing right on the edge of the road. We soon joined Route 24, which took us back to village of Fruita, where the Visitors’ Center for Capitol Reef NP is located.  The original settlers of this tiny village which maxed out at 8 families, planted apple, cherry, and peaches around the fertile lands along the Freemont River.  That is why they called it Fruita.  We separated from Alex and this point, he drove on to Moab, and Joni and I took another scenic route into the canyons of the park and back.  The orchards are still thriving, and there’s a small store from the original settlement that sells a variety of homemade pies, which we had for lunch.

Leaving Fruita, we drove straight to Moab, about 150 miles away, arriving around 3 PM.  We stopped for a few groceries and gas, and then drove onward to the same campground where we stayed last year along Kane’s Creek Canyon. Moab is a bustling city, a mecca for off roaders, but the 9 mile gravel road to our campground, which is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, discourages most, and our campground had only one other site occupied.  Such a contrast to the campground at Capitol Reef , which was full at 11:00 AM.

We reunited with Alex at the campground, set up our shade dome tent so that it would be obvious that our site was occupied, and headed back to Moab for a delicious dinner of Mexican food.

We were back at our campground just before dark, and spent the rest of the evening enjoying a campfire under the stars.