Day 16 - Moab, Utah

We finally got a really hot day today. We couldn't believe it...it went as high as 23 degrees in the afternoon.

We left Bluff this morning after getting the results of the elections. We are happy to report that our man won in Pointe-Claire. For the rest, we will just have to wait and see.

We finally got on the road around 8h30 am (would you believe we are up by 7 am ... I guess we are slow morning people...).

After stopping in at Blanding where they had a very nice Visitor Center with a very well done museum, picking up a couple of maps for Utah, we headed for the Canyonlands. We decided on going to the Needles first (see photo). We were rewarded by magnificent vistas at every turn in the road. The snow-capped mountains follow us everywhere even here.

We had lunch at the Visitor Center and then decided on our first hiking trail which was called Slickrock Foot Trail, a 4-km round trip which I am pleased to say took us 2.5 hrs (including time to stop for photos, meeting up with a couple from Revelstoke BC (yes, they knew Cam McCloud...) and amazingly this lady's name was also Claudette and spoke excellent french. Her grandparents moved to Saskatchewan in 1906... We also met up with a lady ranger who was checking the water holes in the rocks for tiny shrimps which develop with adequate moisture and temperature. They can remain dormant in the indentation of the rocks for several years at least until the right conditions prevail. She also found for us a flowering cactus and found ourselves one too later on. We had a great time following the cairns up and down the Slickrock Trail. Our new hiking boots were perfect.

The geological display in this area is unbelievable. We are learning how water has played a vital role in carving this canyon and although precipitation in the park averages only 9 inches per year, late summer flash flooding is common. The impact of these floodwaters as well as water alternately freezing and thawing within rock cracks has worked in conjunction (I am copying this...) with gravity along with the chemical reactions caused by acidic rains to become the dominant sculpting force.

Heading back to the highwway, we drove thru very deep narrow canyons surrounded by beautiful massive walls on both sides. They look like giant cathedrals, castles or fortresses guarding the National Park.

Today we saw many many little lizards scooting over the rocks, a bluebird in a blue flash, a rabbit in the campground, and some livestock in free range crossing the road in front of us.

Tonight we went out to dinner at the Moab Microbrewery and had a nice beer to quench our thirst...not as good as Montreal's but it did the job.

We are read for bed and tomorrow we have more Canyonlands to discover and maybe take on another hiking trail.