Finish: Torrey, Utah
Distance: 285 miles Total to date: 3082 miles
Campground: Wonderland RV Park, Torrey, Utah, Moab, Utah; $32.50 for a tent site. This is the nicest site we've been to. Owner is very helpful, the park is absolutely spotless. Our site is next to a ranch, so there are a few horses near by looking for attention. There is a cute Sheeps Wagon, a replica of a wagon used by sheepers when they were out in the pastures
Gas: Blanding, Utah 2.17 gal @ $2.899/gal $6.50; Hanksville, Utah 3.970 gal @ $3.40/gal $13.50
Park Fees: Natural Bridges National Park $3.00 for motorcycle
We headed south down Hwy 191 towards Blanding, Utah. As we left Moab, the scenery changed to more of a plain, with the red rock outcrops appearing every once in a while. There was a nice arch along the highway at one of the outcrops.
On the west side of the road, we rode past Canyonlands National Park. As we were on top of the bluff area, everything looked basically flat. If we took a side road, we could have toured a spot called Needles, to see rock formations of the canyon, but we decided to keep going down Hwy 191. The east side of Hwy 191 was a large prairie and you could see mountains way in the distance.
When we got to Monticello, you could see the Abajo Mountains, or the Blue Mountains.
At Blanding, we took Hwy95 West, a scenic route. We went thru some amazing colourful country. The brown ground, covered with sage and other small bushes. Soon we came to and went down a huge canyon with bright orangish-red rock cliffs. The canyon was very deep and went for miles. It was a spectacular view.
Once we climbed out of the canyon, the scenery changed to reddish hills dotted with dark green plants. The contrast was very nice and colourful. We went by Salvation Trail, a trail used by settlers during a very cold and harsh winter.
A bit past that, we took Hwy 275 to Natural Bridges National Park. It was a scenic, small route that had some rock arches. For the time it took, I would not do it again, even though it was a nice motorcycle route.
We continued down HWY 95West and came thru White Canyon. This area had deep, deep canyons on a white rocky floor and featured many large red monuments like the Cheesebox and Jacob's Chair. We touched the north end of Glen Canyon incredibly huge, with bright red high cliffed mountains and monuments and deep caverns. The Colorado River runs thru this area. It was breathtaking. These areas made the day!
At one point, we could see a massive rain storm on the horizon which had huge bolts of lightning. Luckily, we were able to skirt around it.
Once out of the canyons, we hit a stretch of prairie that went as far as the eye could see, with monuments in the far distance. Luckily, there was a small town, Hanksville that had a gas stop.
It was getting late, so we had to quickly move on towards Torrey. We went thru a variety of landscapes where the mountains had huge dunes at the base. Some were colourful, but one spot, the mountains and dunes were a dark, dirty gray colour.
We went thru Capital Reef National Park, but because we were heading west and the sun was setting, we could not see much. We had to concentrate on seeing the road, but some side glimpses suggest we missed a very scenic, massive mountain and cliff area.
Tomorrow, we are off to Bryce Canyon.
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