Days 6 and 7 - National Parks are Amazing!

SOUTHWEST ADVENTURE - Days 6 and 7
Day 6 Starting Point: Mount Carmel, UT
Destination: Moab, UT
Day 6 mileage: 383.5
Day 7 mileage: 153.0
Cumulative mileage (GPS): 3748.2
Cumulative mileage (Odometer): 3819.0

First of all, I've combined Day 6 and Day 7 updates for two reasons: one, I just didn't have time to update while on the road - and two, because we spent these days cruising through some of the most amazing national parks our country has to offer. Yesterday, as Trent was taking some pictures at Arches National Park, he remarked, "Pictures just won't do this justice." He was correct. The grandeur of it all can't be captured digitally. We must simply gaze upon the beauty of it all and allow God to imprint what He has created on these finite minds of ours. Try we shall, though! I uploaded more than 2,000 images to my computer the night before last, and still have to import the pictures from our experiences yesterday. It will be a while before we have sorted through all of those. But we'll share the best ones.

Having visited the Grand Canyon National Park and Zion National Park on Day 5, Day 6 saw us experiencing the beauty of Bryce Canyon National Park, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, and Capitol Reef National Park before landing in Moab, Utah for the night. This ride was spectacular, to say the least.

Moab offered something we don't get to do often on these trips: we stayed in one place for two nights. This meant we didn't have to pack the bikes for our Day 7 ride through Canyonlands National Park and what I viewed as the highlight of the 2015 ride, Arches National Park. These places were absolutely stunning. We only rode 153 miles on Day 7, spending much of our time off the bikes hiking to arches and taking in the sights. These two days were awe-inspiring, for sure.

While on the road, I wrote the following: Today we will spend a bit more time in this area before setting off for Colorado. Our Day 8 destination is Durango, CO. As I said earlier, I just don't have time to sort through the images to grab the best ones, and I certainly don't have time to edit the video I would love to share. That will come in time. For now, just a few images of what we have experienced on Day 6. I share Day 7 pics as soon as I can. Now... we have to pack and ride! Colorado, here we come!!

Here are the pics I shared from the road. A more-detailed account of these days on the ride, along with more images that most would care to see, I'm sure, will follow.

Our ride track through Day 7.

Just one of many from Bryce Canyon.

This is a short taken during the drive into Capitol Reef National Park.

This was stunning - looking down on the road at The Grand Staircase.

Our day started with a hearty breakfast at the Thunderbird Restaurant, home of the Ho-made Pies. After eating, we set out for Bryce Canyon National Park, where we would spend our entire morning taking in the sights and enjoying the time together. We have hundreds of images of this masterpiece of God's created order. Here are some highlights:

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving Bryce, we set our sights on Moab via Utah Highway 12. Randall saw a report on this road on television somewhere along the way, and we made this road a cornerstone of the ride from the beginning without really knowing exactly what to expect. Riding UT12 resulted in our making Moab a destination - two key components of the ride that served as the real highlights of the entire experience.

UT12 took us through the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Honestly, this proved to be be an unexpected treasure. I can take no credit for great planning in getting us here. I was surprised in the best of ways to find UT12 to maybe be the most scenically-diverse road I have ever ridden - and the Staircase proved to be, for me, perhaps the most visually-stunning sights I have seen on all of our rides. I guess this has to do with the fact that I enjoy seeing roads in the distance that I have just ridden, or that I am about to ride. The Staircase was this and more. Words can't describe it. I'll let the pictures do the job for me.

 

Seeing all of this in one day would have been enough, but we weren't finished. We finished up our ride on UT12 with the Harleys running on fumes... pulling in the clutch and coasting downhill when we could to save every drop of gas, as we were a long way from fuel. Fortunately, we made it Torrey, Utah, at the intersection of UT12 and UT24, where we were able to get fuel and Gatorade - and find a bathroom for us all.

Leaving Torrey, our GPS had us routed to another scenic wonder: Capitol Reef National Park. And the sights just kept coming! We headed turned onto Capitol Reef Scenic Road and went the 18 miles or so into the park to the point where the paved road ends, then turned around and came back out. This boy and his Road Glide try to avoid off-roading at all costs. I'm sure there was much more to see - but I was determined to stay on the asphalt, and we needed to try to get to Moab. Here are some pics from Capitol Reef. Please excuse my fascination with red rocks. It seems every formation is different... uniquely fascinating...

 

 

 

 

Riding back out of Capitol Reef, we continued east then north on UT24 to I-70, where we used the interstate to get us to 191 south to Moab. We checked in, caught a shuttle to an excellent (though a little pricey) restaurant called Sunset Grill, where we were able to enjoy a colorful sunset over Moab to finish an eventful day.

Day 7 was unusual for us. We were able to get up, have a leisurely breakfast, and ride - without have to pack the bikes. In a departure from the norm, we were staying two nights in the same place. This was nice, and has us thinking about doing things differently in 2016.

Anyway, the plan for the day was to ride to Canyonlands National Park, head back to town for lunch, then visit Arches National Park in the afternoon. This day proved to be a highlight of the trip for me, as I had never visited this part of the country.

Both of these parks required getting off the bikes and hiking some - which I am not fond of. The result was we ended up having a really long day (worth it, though) and blisters from hiking in riding boots, and needing to change the next day's plan because we didn't see everything in Arches NP we wanted to see - but all in all, Day 7 was an awesome day.

Here are some pictures from Canyonlands National Park:

 

 

 

After lunch, we headed into Arches National Park and spend the rest of the day - as well as the morning of Day 8 - there. Here are a sampling of our pictures from our time in this park.