DAY 10, Grand Junction UT to Arches NatPark to Park City UT

Wednesday July 20, 2022

Woke up in Grand Junction CO, and today our goal is to get to Salt Lake City, UT. On paper that is a 300 mile trip and straight up non stop driving would be 5 hours. But we'll make a few stops. The main stop we will take today is ARCHES NATIONAL PARK in MOAB, UT. There are several National Parks in MOAB Area. We are short on time, and Arches is the closest and has a great driving course in the park and can be completed in about 2 hours. We signed up last night on the web for a "timed entry" and we were scheduled for an 1100 entry. It was fast, easy, and not many cars. We also had to make reservations for Salt Lake City hotel. We wanted a nicer hotel and were going to relax for 2 nights there. Searched the web and found a nice one but was 26 miles from downtown salt lake city in Park City. Made that reservation.

Arches National Park

Used my National Park Senior Pass. Morfy was allowed in, but not on unpaved trails. No problem, we were not gonna be hiking anyway. The temperature was about 105 degrees. We are off the rockies in wide plains and rocky buttes and mountains off in the distance. Coming into Arches was magnificent. We stopped at the Visitor Center, just inside the gate. Bought a photo book of the park. My photo skills are just to jog my memory of the trip. The books of a visited park add the next level awe of what it really looks like in your living room or bedside. Then onto the park. It is laid out so that the first 30 minutes you are climbing the mountain in between rock mesas and outcroppings, the road turns frequently and you are always facing some new awesome. Shock and awe on the first part of the drive. There are numerous pull overs to stop and get out of the car and view something. Or just stay in the stopped car for an extended look at something. You could imagine an alien world. It is something I have never personally experienced until now. Nature and the universe is awesome. Best 2 hours of the trip so far. As for the Arches, I was not that impressed with the actual arches. The other types of rock faces all are beautiful and far outnumber the arches. The bigger arches could not easily be viewed from the car, and would have required us to walk a mile or two. So, our bad, we didn't. But the park is more than interesting and satisfying without getting up close to any of the big arches. Watch a National Geographic or other documentary on the park. The resources and photos even on the web, don't give you a proper feel of the park.

Salt Lake City Route

From Moab, it was generally a flat ride through Utah towards Salt Lake City on ROUTE 191/ROUTE6. We have been hovering up and down around 5000 feet for most of the day with Mountains far off on either side of the highway; but things suddenly change around Carbonville. We are set to cross another group of mountains and we are at 5650 feet in carbonville. Thecanyon ins narrowing down on the road as we pass Castle Gate, Soldier Summit at about 7450, and started down the winding narrow canyon to Spanish Fork and the plateau at 5000 feet.
That last leg through the mountain was scary driving, but beautiful. Seemed completely different types of rocks and mountains from earlier today. It was getting dark and we could pick up speed on the way to Salt Lake CIty through the wide flattish plain. S we got near to salt lake city, following directions to PARK CITY and our hotel reservation, we realized we were gonna have to finish out the day climbing back up 2800 feet of elevation through a different mountain windy road in the dark again. UHGG.

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