Second First Anniversary in Moab

Last weekend A few weekends ago A little over a month ago (I’ve been working on this post for a long time – new rule: short posts only!) we took a celebratory Second First Anniversary trip to Moab. On the way down, instead of taking Highway 6 all the way to Green River we took well traveled dirt roads across the San Rafael Swell to I-70.

Along the way we had lots of adventures. Luckily those roads were well traveled because our first adventure was that the car battery died while Willis and I were out looking for a treasure. We waved someone down to give us a jump and were on our way to new adventures in no time.

The next adventure was finding the Little Grand Canyon. Yes, Utah has a Little Grand Canyon. And what a view! We also found another treasure there.

Ready for more? So were we. The next stop after the Little Grand Canyon was a real dinosaur footprint. Willis, not into dinosaurs quite as much as he used to be, thought it was cool but I think we got a bigger kick out of it. And you guessed it, there was indeed more booty nearby.

Our final adventure of the day was a steep climb up a desert spire in search of, yes, treasure…

…followed by a long dusty drive out Buckhorn Wash to I-70 and on to Green River for dinner at Rays. We got into Moab pretty late so it was quickly off to bed to rest up for the next day’s adventures.

The next day we had big plans in Arches. It was cool but mostly sunny, although we did get some rain. The plan was to do an ambitious hike through Devil’s Garden. It was a 6 mile day and the Willis was a trooper. Although he was tired at the end (we all were) he hiked the entire trail on his own 2 feet! The trip report for the hike is here:

The next day, the last day of our weekend roadtrip, we took it easy. We drove from Moab out Kane Creek, over Hurrah Pass, and toward Lockhart Basin and Chicken Corners. This is a spectacular area with amazing red rock scenery and views of the Colorado River below. The 4WD road is very fun and not too technical. Our destination was some natural caves we read about in a geocache description (bonus, caves + treasure hunting). We explored the caves…

…found the treasures, and enjoyed the drive back to town.

We topped off the weekend with dinner in Moab before settling in for the 3 hour drive back home. It was another great trip to one of our favorite places in the state and a great way to celebrate our Second First Anniversary!