Day 3 – May 22 Moab!

Today’s drive was a short one – it’s only about 100 miles from Grand Junction, CO to Moab, and the campground where I stayed last night was just a few miles from Grand Junction. I planned to stop at REI in Grand Junction to pick up a few last things, and when I got there, they weren’t open yet. So I used that time to do some research for campgrounds around Moab.

The La Sal Mountains - Backdrop to Moab, Canyonlands

I decided on Windwhistle Campground, a BLM campground about halfway between Moab and the Needles District of Canyonlands. This seemed the wise choice for hiking both the northern Island in the Sky District and the southern Needles District of Canyonlands. With the approaching Memorial Day weekend, I needed to find somewhere I could set up camp for the duration of the holiday weekend.

The campground is very nice. The vault toilets here are wonderfully clean and don’t smell at all. It’s been that way in almost every national campground I’ve stayed. When I compare them to the facilities at the state parks in Nebraska the difference couldn’t be stronger. In Kearney the other night I opted to pee outside the second time I had to go instead of using that filthy vault toilet, and I’ve used the vault toilets at Ponca State Park and they were also filthy. I don’t mean to pick on Nebraska, it’s just those are the only ones I’ve used and that’s my experience.

Enough about toilets. It feels good to be back in this part of the world. The desert here is one of my favorite environments. I’m not sure why it feels so different from desert farther south, but it does. I didn’t like the desert wilderness around Phoenix – the Superstition Wilderness seemed very inhospitable and didn’t speak to me like these orange landscapes in southern Utah canyon country. Here and a little farther south into Monument Valley are some of the most striking and welcoming lands I know – every time I drive in it takes my breath away.

So I spent most of today just getting my bearings and getting settled. My camp is set up, and I poked around Moab for a while this afternoon, picking up maps and getting ideas for hiking. I splurged and bought a book of Tom Till Photography of the area, and indulged in a little Gelato at an Espresso shop. It was hot – around 90 degrees – for an hour or so, but it quickly began to cool off as evening approached. I pulled on my sweatshirt just as the sun began to go down, and it’ll be wonderful sleeping weather.

View from Needles Overlook. A little hazy at sunset.

I did make a trip up to the Needles Overlook before returning to my campsite, and the view was lovely. I pulled on my hiking boots to make the short trek around the overlook, and it made me eager to get out on the trail tomorrow. I’m going to begin with a fairly easy 9.7 mile hike at Dead Horse Canyon State Park – it is said to be well-marked and fairly flat. I figure I’ll get my hiking mojo going, getting used to the higher elevation and putting some gentle miles on these recently healed feet. From there, I’ll tackle a few harder hikes as the week progresses.

So now it’s time to read a little as the fires burns low, and wait for whatever arises. As Adyashanti says, “Relax and let it happen.”