ARCHES, MOAB, AND THE SCOTT MATHESON WETLANDS PRESERVE

Mesa Verde to Moab UT, the gateway to Arches NP is a fairly short hop, giving us time to do some laundry in Moab—we were getting desperate. Moab appears to be made up entirely of some elderly tourists like us, living in uneasy tension with thousands of cyclists, rafters, hikers, kayakers. Everybody in town has some kind of rack on their car, hard bodies everywhere you look. Actually we kind of liked the feel of the place.

We arrived in town in time for lunch and saw a great picnic area, but: “No dogs, on or off leash.” So we asked and a very counterculture-looking guy told us to take a turn a couple of blocks away and we would be in the Colorado River Canyon.  Damn! This is so like the west, you can be a mile from an absolute gem of a place and not know it: here’s the view from our picnic spot.  

There were hundreds of violet-purple swallows, a beautiful bird.

Just outside Moab is a famous birding place, the, Scott Matheson wetlands preserve, apparently the only wetlands area like it on the entire Colorado River.  After doing the laundry and dinner we went there but it was too late, so the next morning I pulled a “Doug” (meaning leaving your wife’s warm side and bed at an ungodly hour to try to catch a few birds at the prime time)  here’s what it looked like:

There were 4 mule deer that practically walked into my blind.  The Preserve was good: saw a Western Tanager, Yellow Breasted Chat, and a Lazuli Bunting, all prime acquisitions.

Then we “did” Arches: a one-day driving tour with a little hiking.

When I told Mary I wanted her to see the Southwest, Arches was the main thing I had in mind. I had passed through here in June of 1972 with Lois and Glen and Neal, and it was the most magical place we stayed—camping in 100+ temperatures, but so beautiful.  Arches was pretty harsh then but this time we had days that were warm only, and cold nights.  It is well organized by the NPS but even this early in the season there was a lot of traffic and it was hard to find parking some places. 

Arches has striking, very individual stone sculptures, including some famous balanced rocks, and of course arches, all carved from a warm reddish rock which forms sensuous curves. A few examples:

The Three Gossips

The Great Wall

Balanced Rock (the rock is HUGE, the size of a house)

And of course, the arches, which people find irresistible:

Double Arch (note people under it)

Arch with person sitting under center

And the most famous: Delicate Arch which is on the UT license plate: a shot in context and up close:

Note the crowd of spectators.  Ah me. When I was 30 I knocked off the 3-mile trail to Delicate Arch in a couple of hours and it was one of the great hikes of my life, along narrow ledges on high cliffs with the occasional tiny cliff dwelling in a cave mouth. And nobody else was there.  Look at the crowds there now, and this is not the peak of the season. 

Mary did the Park Place trail, which goes along beside a high cliff that looks like the Manhattan skyline; I stayed with Bella because dogs are not allowed on most NPS trails

For lunch we took an unpaved road out into the desert to get away from the crowds (Mary rolling her eyes as I quote Sandberg about taking the road less traveled) and hit a small knoll with views of the rocks and the distant snow-covered mountains. The temperature was about 65, we dug out the PB&J and it was about a perfect picnic experience. Spent a little time on my much neglected horn.

Arches is still magic, a sculpture garden set in the desert. It was such a pleasure to share it with Mary.