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| Moab Brewery |
As luck would have it we hit Moab at lunchtime. We decided to make a stop at Moab Brewery. A beer (Dead Horse Amber) & hamburger sounded really good after spending the day driving. Surprised that we found a spot to park Cliferd & the Tin Can right at the Brewery. The beer was most excellent...the fries were much better than the burger, but no where near as good as Bridger Bowl's fries. After eating we gassed up & headed toward the Needles District of Canyonlands.
This was our first time visiting this section of the Park & man is it in the middle of nowhere. The turnoff from Hwy 191 onto Route 211 is still a long 30 miles of driving at the posted speed limit of 40 mph through a portion of Bears Ear National Monument before reaching the Needles entrance.
The campground's fairly small with only 11 reservable sites & 16 first come sites. Most sites were set rather far apart which was an unexpected treat. Temperatures most days were low to mid-90's and the sun was pretty hot. With no neighbors we were able to leave the shady side shades up all night to help cool the interior.
For a National Park we will say that it was not crowded anywhere we went...trails, roads, campground. The most people could be found at the Visitor Center checking their phones, otherwise pretty sparse in the Needles District.
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| Our site via the NPS |
At least the site had plenty of shade options over the course of the day. We spent the hottest part of each day on the cliff set into the rocks at the back of our site. Lots of birds, lizards, chipmucks, rabbits to keep an eye on from that perch. It took some getting used to being in camp during the heat of the day. We planned all of our rides & hikes for early mornings when it was much cooler. Afterwards we'd head back to camp for lunch and hang in the shady areas until the sun dropped enough to venture out for a late day activity.
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| The start of pass access only... Elephant Hill Road |
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| Elephant Hill Road from camp |
On our first morning we rode the bikes out as far as the gate closure on Elephant Road without using our batteries. We proved that it can be done as long as the hill climbs are not to steep. I will say that you definitely know you're pedaling a heavy bike. Past the gate requires a permit...some discussion was made if we wanted to try for one. We did check & it was possible to get one while we were in camp, but decided to wait until the next visit since it was quite an 'extreme' ride.
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| The Needles from Elephant Hill Road |
Since the day was starting to heat up & the forecast was for mid-90's we decided to drive to Moab & call the bike shop in Grand Junction, CO. It was going to be much too hot to do much so why not take a drive?
As luck would have it the shop had a battery charger in stock so off to Grand Junction for a 90 minute drive in air conditioning. We got our charger! Thank goodness we could now do all of the rides we'd planned.
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| Colorado River along Dinosaur Diamond Byway |
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| View along Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway |
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| View along Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway |
Heading back to Moab we decided to take the Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway. What a beautiful drive. The road took us along the Colorado River for several miles with lots of red rock cliffs along the way. A much more relaxing road than I-70 with lots of turnoffs for photography.
Since it was dinnertime when we got to Moab we stopped by the brewery for another Dead Horse Amber Ale, some pork BBQ & bang bang shrimp tacos. Absolutely a fantastic dinner!
Tomorrow we tackle the Colorado River Overlook Road...the last mile should be 'interesting' based on the reviews of those that have tried to drive the 7-mile road to the Colorado River Overlook. The Park Service claims that the last 1.5 miles one should park it & walk to the Overlook to avoid the 'stair-step drops & large rocks'.
*Click to enlarge any picture
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