Moab is an outdoors recreation mecca. There are mountain bike trails galore, plenty of hiking, a river for rafting and kayaking, mountains for camping and climbing, a lake for swimming. It’s a remarkable spot. Which explains why the town is overrun with sporty looking tourist types during the summer. Even with the tourists, though, Moab has managed to keep a pretty low key vibe.
Sean says: I’d like to dedicate our tour of Moab to Norbert Fortin in memory of our good times mountain biking in the Fells Reservation near Boston. Thanks for the good times, Norbs.
PICKS:
Love Muffin Cafe
Love Muffin has good coffee, great chocolate chip cookies, and beyond nice employees. So nice that even when I left my wallet in the car when Sean dropped me off to go on his solo mountain biking adventure, they gave me a big mug of coffee and cheerfully let me stay to hangout and use wi-fi while I waited for Sean’s return. Needless to say, their tip jar got a little something extra from my wallet that day.
For a grocery store in such a touristy place, City Market had incredibly reasonable prices (Kroger’s affiliate) and was well stocked with everything we needed (including the Dr. Bronner’s soap we couldn’t find anywhere else). Three cheers for a grocery store that doesn’t rip people off. Hooray!
Cheapest showers in town. It costs $3, but there’s no time limit and plenty of warm water.
NFS campground at Warner Lake in La Sal Mountains
The La Sal Mountains are the cool, green yin to the hot, dry yang of Moab. Despite the threatening rain, we drove up into the mountains to camp at Warner Lake. And I am so happy we did. I was starting to feel desert burnout, but the meadows of wild irises, the crisp mountain breeze, the crystal clear lake and the aspen grove surrounding our campsite quickly cured me.
Even if you’re not planning on spending time up in the La Sal Mountains, it would be worth it to drive this 50 mile loop. It takes you on a scenic roller coaster from Moab, up into the mountains and back down through Castle Valley.
Another good coffee, wi-fi and baked goods spot in Moab. The pumpkin almond muffin I had was scrumptious, and Sean’s blueberry muffin didn’t look half bad either. Plus, they played the local radio station’s bluegrass show while we were there. Coolio.
Dead Horse State Park gives yet another opportunity to check out the geological wonderland carved by the Colorado River. It’s not really a great hiking destination, but there are some incredible scenic overlooks. We parked Arvan just outside the park gates and rode our bikes out to all the vistas. It was a fun ride and we saved $6 by pedaling rather than driving. There’s also a campground, which was full when we were there, but we did stop to get some water (a hot commodity in these parts). Thanks Autumn for another good recommendation.
Since the Dead Horse Point campground was full and we had already been able to replenish our water supply while on our bike ride, we decided to stay at the primitive BLM Cowboy Campground. They had the very minimum (open air pit toilets, picnic tables and no water) but it was enough for our purposes. The one downer was that the gnat population was significant enough to keep us in Arvan and without dinner until after dark, when the gnats mysteriously disappear. I’ll take dinner by headlamp any night over fighting off a phalanx of gnats while I’m trying to eat.
Festooned with outdoors gear from all the local outfitters and serving up their own brews, Moab Brewery is packed with the Moab summer tourist crowd, but for good reason. During happy hour, you can get a pitcher of beer for $9.75 and their burgers and sandwiches are pretty reasonably priced as well.
It’s air conditioned, clean, open 24 hours, has a bathroom and wi-fi. The perfect laundromat, if ever I saw one.
Syncline Loop with Upheaval Dome spur at Island in the Sky at Canyonlands N.P.
This was our last big desert hike, and, boy, was it a doozy. The first 9 or so miles were the typically spectacular desert landscape with the added bonus of lots of fun rock scrambling. But the excitement didn’t really begin until we were about 2 miles from the end. Based on our last several hikes (largely shaded by clouds), we decided to take 3 liters of water, which we thought would be sufficient. The desert sun, however, had other ideas. With our last sip of water gone and a good couple of miles remaining, we had an eventful afternoon. Our mouths got drier, our lips cracked, our irritation grew and the desperation was palpable. In retrospect, we wish we had a movie, but in our fog of water-filled Nalgene bottle daydreams we weren’t thinking of the future beyond the liquid goodness waiting in our van. We don’t remember much of the last 2 miles, but it must have been a sight for the ranger that found us outside our van furiously drinking about 1.5 liters each of mixed water, juice and emergen-c. In the end, we had a great hike and now we know a little bit more about our physical limits.
Sean says: A good recommendation from Josh and Steph. Brew was a little lighter than my standard, but they washed the camping homebrew grounds out of my cup for me and got me juiced up for some awesome mountain biking.
Mountain Biking on Moab Brand Trails
Sean says: Super fun mountain biking. A big easy “Bar M” loop connects you up to three smaller, more technical loops. Overall the smaller loops aren’t so difficult. I have good balance on a bike and a lifetime of casual biking experience but no real skills and I didn’t have much trouble. Only a couple of spots where I had to slow down to think about how I was going to approach and two times where I should have because I had to dab (mountain bike lingo for putting my foot down) or do a gravity check (over the handle bars face plant), but these were really due to lack of attention.
– The “Bar B” loop is probably cool, but definitely one way and if you miss the “in” trailhead like me you’ll have to turn around about halfway through when it gets to more technical drop offs (or inclines if you go the wrong way).
– The “Rockin’A” loop might be more aptly named “Arthritis A” because if you’re like me and don’t have any suspension, it’s a bumpy (but fun) ride for your fingers. Nice views in the distance over the slick rock (which isn’t really slick at all, unless it has loose sand on it, and then it can be quite slippery), but bring your front suspension and gloves if you got ’em.
– The “Circle O” is also a bumpy, but fun ride.
Whirlwind tour of Arches National Park
By the time we arrived at Arches, we were already done with the desert (for now). Done with the clouds of gnats, done with the dry scorching sun, you know, done. So when we got to Arches on a Tuesday afternoon to find the parking lots full, the trailheads crowded with people and the shade-less picnic tables surrounded by gnats, we may not have been in the best state of mind to appreciate the beauty of the arches. And although the natural beauty of the park is remarkable, it is simply too small to accomodate all the traffic it gets (it’s only 10 miles from downtown Moab). There are really only 2 hikes of any mentionable distance (Devil’s Garden and Delicate Arch), and therefore both seem to be continuously packed with people. We did make all the requisite stops: the Windows, Balanced Rock, Garden of Eden, Delicate Arch, Double Arch and Courthouse Towers. And we saw enough to know that we would like to return, but only in off season and as early in the morning as we could possibly stand.
Oooooohh, I want a summer yurt on that Warner Lake! This place is over the top amazing. 🙂
I’ll go in on that time share!
By the way, Sten and I are little surprised that Denver’s at the top of the list, but thrilled all the same. Twice daily direct flights from Helena!
Yeah, we were a little surprised how much we love Denver, too…but once you see the blog post, I think you’ll understand.
The Warner Lake pictures look completely out-of-place among the red rocks–very cool. And explain the “Got Mustard?” photo. What was going on there?
I would think that you, having known me and my messy eating habits my whole life, would understand that picture. Let’s just say I may have had mustard on my face for the better part of an hour before I noticed and did the only logical thing….licked it off.