Day 19--From Vernal, Utah to Moab

Rock art along Hwy 139 south of Rangley

Possible solstice marker

Last night we stopped in Vernal, Utah, rather than trying to get all the way to Moab in one day. Today we left Vernal wondering whether this was going to be a day when we just drive on by everything and arrive at our destination early, with time to relax.

That was before we plugged our Moab address into the GPS and found that it suggested a different route than what we had been planning. Considering the GPS usually chooses the quickest route, we decided to alter our plans and take Hwy 40 out of town. We crossed into Colorado just before the town of Dinosaur and stopped at the town's visitor center. Two staff members were most helpful, suggesting that we take Hwy 139 from Rangley south and then pick up I-70 back into Utah. This road has a number of sites that are within the Canyon Pintado National Historic District (read more at this website), several of which have easily viewable ancient rock art of Native Americans. 

We had hoped to have a chance to see some rock art on this trip. We had not even entertained the notion that we would get to see some away from crowds of people! East Fourmile Site (mile marker 61.3) included a marked trail leading visitors to a number of instances of rock art. This is a beautiful, well-maintained area with Ute and Fremont petroglyphs and pictographs. And we were the only visitors on the trail!

The cactus are a sure sign of
desert Southwest!

   

Cactus blooming.

Further down the road, we came to the Waving Hands Site (mile marker 53.5) where we saw more Fremont characters and Ute figures (horses, arrows, outlined hands).

We also realized today for sure that we were entering the desert southwest--we found cactus plants and some were in bloom! 

By the time we left the Rangley area, it was around 2 pm, and we still had several hours to drive before arriving in Moab. Obviously, this did not turn into a "drive-by" day, but we had some terrific exposure to rock art!

Surrounding Moab are several beautiful parks and recreation areas. We are planning to visit Arches, Canyonlands, and Dead Horse Point. When Smoky took a second look at the map with our revised route, he realized that we would have time today to visit Castle Valley, a location he had seen back in 1971.

View from Castle Valley

View from Castle Valley

To get from I-70 to Castle Valley, we took Hwy 128, one section of which follows the Colorado River into Moab. This was a beautiful drive through a red-rock canyon. I was breathless with the stark beauty of the area. Then we made a turn and into view came some of the formations of Castle Valley. Wow! 

Castle Valley and some of its "residents"

Castle Valley is about 8 miles by 3 miles, and has a population as reported in 2000 of around 370, not counting the cows, many of which seemed to have free run of the valley. It is a truly lovely, peaceful place. We didn't have time to drive around the entire loop, but we are both so very happy that we had time to visit this special place.

One final photo (by Smoky) of the Colorado River, which I loved.

Colorado River near Moab

Till tomorrow...

Shann