I was pleasantly surprised and the scenery, but it was only a precursor for what was to follow the rest of the day.
I continued on to Arches National Park, and as usual the scenery was breathtaking. This picture was taken near the entrance to the Park in the area called "Park Avenue."
This is called (you guessed it!) "Balanced Rock":
This is called the Double Arch:
I decided to work up a sweat, so I hiked up to Sand Dune Arch, which wasn't real big but was up a narrow canyon. Here's what the canyon looks like:
Actually, a pretty tight squeeze. And this is what the arch itself looks like:
A leisurely stroll away (about a 2-mile hike!) is Broken Arch:
After Broken Arch, I headed on out the Park and on to Canyonlands National Park, about 40 miles away or so. Canyonlands has two entrances, one from the south and the north entrance near Moab. The two roads don't connect, and I went into the Park from the south side the last time I was in this area in 2011. Well...boy, is the Park from the North entrance impressive. The Park sits basically on top of a very large mesa and is surrounded by canyons that I would guess are 1,000 to 2,000 feet deep. Check some of these areas out:
And, of course, no Park is complete without its own Arch. This is Mesa Arch which is in Canyonlands and was about a 20 mile hike all up hill both ways:
As I was travelling down Utah 128 heading toward Moab, I passed through the ghost town of Cisco. A little further down the river, I came upon a service station that looked a little down in the dumps, but I stopped anyway to get some gas:
Well, I couldn't find the attendant anywhere, but they did have about the best gas price I've seen since Gerald Ford was President:
I couldn't find the slot to put my credit card in anywhere. Darn!
Tomorrow, I'll be leaving scenic Green River, Utah and heading northeast through Green River, Wyoming to Kimmerer, WY for for the night.
Miles today: 279
Total: 3,568