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Rockies Rail Tour
(Note: Clicking on any image in this travelogue will bring up a full screen version of the image.)
Friday, July 14: Moab and Arches National Park
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The rail tour included a free day in Moab. That normally would have afforded us dozens of choices on what to do and see, except for the blasted heat. Moab is another tourist town, catering mostly to hikers and bikers and backpackers and trekkers and the like. It is convenient to several National parks, and there were all sorts of sporting goods stores and excursion companies serving the outdoorsy set. Neither of us really fall into that category, but Jenny was keen on visiting Arches National Park. I was OK with that in theory, but the temperature was predicted to top 110°, and I had serious doubts on my physical capacity to del with that.
The day before, Jenny had called from the train to an outfit called Moab Adventure Center that arranged such tours. She found that there was a tour that left at 4:30 PM, and lasted through sunset when it would be not so hot. Also, I had the option of remaining in the bus while the tour group walked if I wasn't feeling up to the effort, so with some trepidation, I agreed..
Moab
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The Hoo Doo Hotel where we stayed was equally spiffy as the Hotel Denver, but of entirely different character. Rather than being a legacy hotel, well maintained and upgraded as necessary, the Hoo Doo was all super modern and glitzy, with lots of chrome and glass and and sharp edges in the decor and the latest gadgets in the room. I preferred the Hotel Denver. In the morning we went out for some breakfast, and then walked a couple of blocks to the Moab Adventure Center to register for the Arches trip, and get some more information. The map shown in Photo 240 was on the wall of the place, depicting all the trips they offered. While I was there I loaded up on some sunblock, and a new sun hat with a brim of sorts, as the old Philadelphia Folk Festival baseball cap i was wearing wasn't doing much to shade the back of my neck. I kinda liked the hat. Raffish. On the way out, my attention was caught by a bat flying around in the shade of the awning. I snapped Photo 241. The closeup inset was not photoshopped from the base image. I was able to get within only a couple of feet from it to take that closeup. It was probably not a very healthy bat. Maybe it was the heat.
Hoo Doo Pool
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Now one thing you should know about me: My ideas of a good time do not generally include lying around the pool and doing nothing. I don't mind swimming, but unless there are some waves to entertain me, I get bored quickly. But with the temperature hovering around 105°, and nothing to occupy me inside the room, it seemed about the best of the choices that involved any outdoor activity. And besides, Jenny wanted to get some swimming in while she was on vacation.
As pools go, the one at the Hoo Doo (Photo 242) had a lot going for it. It was relatively large for a hotel pool, and in keeping with the glitzy nature of the establishment, It had a waterfall, and a whirlpool (Photo 243), and a built-in separate jacuzzi / hot tub. (Not too many customers for that on this day.). The whirlpool really wasn't much to speak of, actually. There were a few underwater jets pointed sideways around the circular enclosure, and if you let yourself float in there, water currents would propel you gently around its perimeter. It would not rank very high in excitement at an amusement park. We appropriated a couple of lounge chairs under an enormous beach umbrella, lathered ourselves up with gobs of SPF150, and commenced to lounging. It was actually fairly comfortable there in the shade with minimal clothing on. A nice breeze helped. Every now and again, when I did start getting hot, I'd jump in the pool, paddle around under the waterfall for a bit, and then return to the umbrella. I would snooze (Photo 244), listen to my recorded book, or talk with Jenny. It made for a pleasant afternoon.
Arches National Park
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Around 4:00, we went back to the room, got dressed, stocked up on water and sunscreen and my new hat, and walked back to the Moab Adventure Center. Maybe 15 or 20 of us boarded a coach, and headed out On the 20 minute drive to the Visitors' Center, our guide, Kim explained to us what we were going to see and do, and some of the ground rules. We would not be permitted to wander off on our own, but must stay within sight of either Kim herself, or the bus driver. The bus was well stocked with a big water cooler and packaged trail mix. We were invited to partake of the snacks, and cautioned to stay hydrated (Does that mean that when we pee, we are dehydrating?), and to not over-exert ourselves. If we felt doubtful of our ability to do the walk, we were welcome to stay in the air-conditioned bus. That last was probably directed at me, as I had expressed some concerns in that department. We would be stopping off at several parking areas throughout the park, and going on walks, ranging from just a few yards to a couple of miles.
Arches National Park (1)
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Now my plan was originally to divide my reportage into separate photo grids, with each devoted to what we saw each time they parked the bus and led us out. (And is "anal retentive" spelled with or without a hyphen????!!) But a number of factors, including my camera no longer reporting the filename of each photo on the display screen (Yet another of the mysterious settings one could turn on or off), and a failing memory of what each arch was named, and at which bus stop it was located, forced me to abandon that idea. So I've just broken it up into three photo grids to minimize the amount of scrolling you'll need to match the image with the description. If there is no description associated with a particular photo, it's just because it's an interesting photo, but I don't remember of what. If any readers can put names to some of the undefined features, please let me know, and I'll add them in.
Our first stop was the La Sal Mountains Viewpoint, just a mile or two into the park. The walk was only a hundred yards or so to an overlook, where I took Photo 248. What struck me was how uncomfortable I didn't feel. It was hot, but there was a nice breeze, and I found it quite bearable. It was a good portent that proved consistent for the whole tour. I found myself quite able to do all the hikes on which we were led, some of them scrambling up some hands-and-feet slopes. I can only guess that the thousand or so feet of elevation lower than that of Denver was significant in how the temperature affected me.
Photo 246, Our guide, Kim: Like most of our guides, Kim was knowledgeable, interesting, and very solicitous of our safety and comfort.
Photo 247, The Three Gossips: An aptly-named rock formation.
Photo 248, The road back: The dichotomy between the obviously man-made structure and the rest of the surroundings struck me as dramatic.
Photo 250, Fallen Arches: An interesting placard I saw. I did not see the actual formation, however.
Photos 252 & 253, Balancing Rock: Also aptly-named. Anything I could have said about it is better-said by the placard.
Photo 254, Cairn: Obviously not a natural structure. Kim says that hikers like to construct these things along the way, although it's discouraged. That's a shame. I kind of like to build them, or add stones to existing ones I find on the trail. The engineer in me. One of my favorite, and most played-with toys as a child was a set of blocks.
Photo 255, Juniper berries: Surprising to find anything growing in this inhospitable place. According to my newfound expert in all things flora and fauna, Amy Hopkins, "The berries are similar to the juniper we have here in the Northeast, though ours is a shrub, not a tree like there." Amy also supplied the link.
Photo 256, Delicate Arch: Off in the distance.
I don't have any info on Photos 257, 258, and 259, but they're pretty pictures worth three thousand words..
Arches National Park (2)
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Photo 260, Unknown Arch: Unknown to me, at least. Photo taken from the bus on the move, as evidenced by the blurred foreground scenery
Photos 261 & 262, Enormous caves:. My uneducated guess is that they were originally enormous blobs of softer rock that formed within the harder rock, and then got eroded out more quickly (Well...less slowly.) than the surrounding harder stuff when exposed.
Photo 263, Elephant: Elaboration unnecessary.
Photo 264, Juniper tree: According to Kim, actually still alive, and many hundreds of years old in a dormant state. It will revive when it rains.
Photo 265, Jenny: She's holding a tiny pair of binoculars.
Photos 266, 267, and 268, Double Arch: This was probably the most interesting formation of the tour. If you're reading this travelogue on a computer, rather than on a phone, take a look at the full-screen versions of those images, and note the scale of the tiny human figures under the left arch. I chose not to make that climb, although I felt capable, figuring it was more impressive a view from where I was sitting.
Arches National Park (3) Windows
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This set of photographs mostly covers the last hike we took on our tour to the Windows Arches. It was the longest and most strenuous hike on the tour, which is not to say it was particularly long (a mile or two) or strenuous. There was some climbing involved, but nothing particularly difficult. I was happy to find that I was not particularly tired or hot or uncomfortable, even during the part of the route that involved clambering over rocks to get to the base of the North Window. It was getting towards the end of the day, around 7:15 or so, and the setting sun lent a beautiful rosy hue to the already reddish rocks.
Photo 270, How arches are formed: An interesting placard on the subject. The time scale of the process is pretty much beyond human comprehension.
Photo 271, The Windows: This pair of arches was the goal of the hike. I would have named it "The Spectacles"
Photo 272, North Window: The trail led us around to the base of a hill, atop which this formation was perched. Some steps had been cut in the rock to ease the path to the North Window itself.
Photo 273, Rocks: The last stage of that climb was over a pile of loose rocks of all sizes. Again, they caused me no difficulty. As a kid I had spent many hours clambering over such terrain in Fort Tryon Park across the street from our upper Manhattan apartment, short-cutting the serpentine foot trails, and heading straight to the top.
Photos 274 & 275, Climbing to the North Window: These are successive photos as I approached the North Window.
Photo 276: As the shadows lengthen... I like this shot of my own shadow, taken at the base of the climb.
Photo 277: View through the North Window: I've already presented you with 1,005 words. No more are required.
Photo 278: Serious photographer: This guy and brought with him a tripod and a bunch of spare lenses, some of them as long as your arm. He can also be seen on the left in Photo 275, which will give you some idea of the scale of these rock formations. I can't help but think of some of the earliest nature photographers in the late 19th Century who had to schlep enormous box cameras with them, along with glass plates, and a laboratory full of developing chemicals in order to capture the beauty of this place.
Photo 280, Sunset draws nigh: It was indeed getting close to sunset. This photo was taken facing westward towards the sun, which was hidden by some arch whose name I don't remember.
Photo 281: Sunset photographers: All the folks on the tour were getting all set up, finding a good place with their cameras and phones to capture the moment of sunset. I remarked, not for the first time, that I seem to be one of the last living tourists to actually carry a camera with me. While most new phones are capable of taking very high resolution images, the shortcomings of trying to frame a shot on a screen instead of a view-finder, particularly in outdoor lighting, make an SLR camera almost mandatory.
Photo 282: My sunset photo.
Photo 283: Happy trails to you.....
We headed back to the bus, and thence to the Moab Adventure Center and the Hoo Doo for our last night in the West.
