Colorado/Moab Part 2: Where Was I?

When I last wrote for this blog I was sitting in a rented Ford Edge in Arches National Park watching the sunset with a bunch of photographers. Then I came home and got bummed out about being away from all that mad beauty and didn’t feel like writing about how awful it was to be back in real life, so utterly disconnected. So I posted some filler, good writer filler, but nonetheless… 

Now I will attempt to put myself back in that place, to recall without longing, where I was when I wasn’t here.So where was I?

I never finished writing about Estes Park, the climb up to Dream Lake on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon in October with the sun shining and just enough clouds to make pretty pictures. It was our first day of hiking so we had to stop every fifty yards or so to take in the incredible mountain vistas and catch our breath as we panted noisily from the thinness of the air at elevations reaching 10,000 ft.

There were stunning lakes and trees, rushing streams, yellow leaves, colorful birds, pebbled paths, and some other folks enjoying the day. A light breeze, about 70 degrees, really couldn’t ask for anything more perfect. 

In the evening the elk gathered in the pastures to feed, the not so tiny young bumping against their mother’s undersides to get milk. They seemed unconcerned with the picture snappers lining up along the road standing sometimes within 5 feet of them while the sun turned the fields to gold as it set behind the mountains.

 Greg and I had come to Estes a few years earlier in the spring and weren’t impressed. I don’t know what the hell was wrong with us, but fortunately we came back and because there was so much we didn’t get to do this time around, we are planning to come back and stay for a whole week next year. The fall colors were lovely, we enjoyed our small hotel on the Fall River and found another great restaurant in “Ed’s Cantina.”

But this time around, after just one Saturday night and full day Sunday, we left for Moab,Utah on Monday morning.

We love Moab, though it’s not easy to get to, about an eight hour drive from Denver through curvy mountain roads, mostly highway 70, but that’s part of the attraction. You have to work to get there! And once you do, it’s like you’re on some crazy rock-walled planet, walking to the ends of the earth, seeing how explicitly a river formed a canyon. So how could that possibly be reasonably close to any airport?

Colorado River on Rt. 128 towards Moab

Our first digs upon arriving were at the Moab Valley RV Resort where we rented a small cottage. By small, I mean tiny, but it had everything we needed, including beds, a kitchenette, and most importantly, a toilet! It’s about the same price as a crappy hotel room in town (think Motel 6) but I love being in the campground without really having to rough it and it also has a pool and a laundry room which we’ve made use of when visiting in seasons when it was too hot to hike mid-day. 

View from Moab Valley RV Resort...seriously!

 We got in late Monday and headed to "Zax" for all you can eat pizza and salad which we were able to eat outside on the terrace on this warm desert evening. The town was full with half marathoners and whoever else has reason to come to Moab in October. With all of its parks and extreme sports, that could mean anybody, including Greg and I.

            After staring at the stars for a bit at our picnic table back at the camp we went to sleep with the windows open to let in the cool night air. Then Greg got up early and took the five minute drive to Arches for sunrise shots while I stayed back and enjoyed the kids and dogs and rocks and trees at the campground.

            Later on we hiked on a path named “Park Avenue” for its skyscraper sized red rock walls, taking both photos and video on another perfect weather day when, oddly, we were the only ones on this wide trail marked by cairns and loaded with small cacti, desert grasses, and twisted burnt looking trees. We’ve been to this same place on several occasions, but every time feels new and humbling and gets us into the proper mindset for connecting and acknowledging this ancient land that belongs to no one, but was fortunately preserved by the U.S. National Park Service.

            We then did a few of the more popular hikes, “Windows,” “Devil’s Garden,” (short version) and “Delicate Arch View” loving the strange formations but feeling a deep awe and reverence for every monumental rock that extends toward the sky and every pebble that rotates under our boots. This happens the next day when we head to Canyonlands and hike the “Grandview Point” in “Island in the Sky.” When we pull over to an unmarked stop and look out over the Green River winding its way through the canyon, we’re in touch with something extraordinary, like no place else on Earth.  

Unmarked pull-off in Canyonlands towards Grandview Point

 There are wonderful restaurants and side trips and fun places to stay I could tell you about here, but the heart of what happens when we go on these trips, is not in those details. It's a transformation of thought and presence and being that transcends travelogue. It's an awakening to an extraordinary past, an understanding of how small we are in the scheme of things, and a window,an arch, a bridge and a canyon that invite us to countless possibilities.
Greg’s way of staying connected is through his photos that he lovingly edits and perfects when we get home. For me, there is no photo that quite embodies the essence of being there and it’s the closest I get to feeling something spiritual. The god thing, I don’t really get, but being lost in nature is where I feel something mysterious, ancient, deep and connected. I haven’t quite figured out how to bring that essence back home with me yet and maybe I never will. So I guess I'll just have to keep going back!

There’s something out there and for me it’s a place. I just have to keep following that path and see where it leads.

           

All photos in this post were taken with my Nokia Windows Phone. Greg's are much better, trust me! Or better yet, get out there and take some of your own!