Click for a large map of the trip
After 3 weeks at Zion National Park, I think we had done everything we wanted to do in the park. There were a few thing outside the park that I had originally planned to do but we never got around to it. We could probably have stayed another week and kept busy.
I have already booked all our campgrounds so we have to move on. I Am glad I did because the Zion campground was full just about every day and I had a hard time getting a place at Moab, even in January.
The drive to Moab takes about 6 hours so I broke it up into two days with a Walmart night in between. We needed to stock up anyway.
On our way out Jennie wanted to stop at this gift shop that we had passed by a few times.
It has a very fake little western town and petting zoo attached to it.
$1 to get in and $1 for 3 carrots.
Once we got out to I-15 it was pretty smooth sailing, although, when planning the trip, I forgot that this was Easter Sunday so there was a lot of traffic heading home after the long weekend. Most of it was zooming by me at 75-80 mph while I tried to do around 60 mph.
The morning was mostly a gentle climb with nice sunny skies.
You can always tell when you are getting near a town or city.
We stopped at a rest area for lunch and noticed some darker clouds in the direction we were headed. Also there were some snow capped mountains in the distance.
We had two passes to go over, 4000 to 6000 feet and the 5000 to 7200 feet, and we just plodded up them with our flashers on. I was not the slowest thing on the highway though. I did pass one pickup truck towing a huge 5th wheel trailer.
Although there seemed to rain off in the distance we only got sprinkled on for a few minutes at the top of one of the passes.
Once we got off I-15 and onto I-70 to head east there was a lot less traffic. At the end of the day it was a nice long downhill into the city of Richfield, Utah to spend the night.
Jennie spied a BBQ place nearby called Dickies BBQ Pit so we had some great pulled pork.
I am glad we took two days to do the drive because the scenery from Richfield to Moab was very beautiful. We stopped at every viewpoint and it took us around 6 hours to get there.
Outside of Richfield we drove along side the mountains we would have to eventually climb.
We did a long gradual climb up to almost 8000 feet and then a wonderful long coast back down. I am sure I went at least 10 miles without using any gas. Starting at this section of the highway there were no towns or services (ie gas) for 110 miles.
Once we got down it was back to desert country.
At three of the viewpoints there were people selling jewellery and pottery. It was all very beautiful but what would we do with it.
I am not sure how far they have to drive each day to get here and unpack everything.
This guy really wanted a picture of himself. Here he is lining up his camera.
It almost looked like he was going to fall off.
Onwards.
The next viewpoint was called Devil’s Canyon
Back on the highway again.
The next was called Ghost Rock.
I can see why it got its name.
The last was called Spotted Wolf Canyon. It was located mid way down a very long and steep 6% downhill.
This was the exit to the viewpoint. I am always a bit leery of going up these small roads in case I cannot turn the RV around but the GPS showed a nice loop at the top.
The highway zigzags down through the rocks.
A couple of people walked out to the end of the point. I was tempted but it was pretty hot outside.
We sat and had lunch while enjoying the view.
Down we go with the transmission screaming to keep us going slow enough.
Then we were in Jeep country. It seemed everything we saw was either an off road vehicle with massive tires or was towing one.
Turning off I-70 we headed south towards Moab.
We are in Moab to visit Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park and some of the surrounding areas. We are approaching the canyon lands in the distance.
And down into Moab.
We are at a campground just south or town. We will be here for 2 weeks. I forgot to take a picture of our site before dark but it is quite nice in that we are next to a large tree that will shade the RV from the hot afternoon sun.
Last week there was a huge Jeep rally here and most of the people in the campground have one of some kind. We are definitely in the minority with our poor little CRV. We will see if it can handle any of the 4wd roads.
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