Utah (Part 1)

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Historic hikes continued to be the theme of the week as our route to Utah took us through the Canyon of the ancients where there were yet more cliff dwellings and Kivas.



Over the border in Utah in Hovenweep National Monument we braved the heat (34°c) and took the short hike around the canyon rim to observe some interesting original stone towers from the 13th century. 






The ravens were behaving oddly here, turns out they get themselves drunk on the local skunk berries! The temperature rose as our journey progressed and soon we reached 99°f (37°c, a new high for us!).

The barren and arid landscape seemed endless, dead horses along the roadside did little to improve our mood or our first impressions. After successfully dodging dust devils we made it to the reservoir we planned to camp at. A dip in the water left us much cooler (and significantly more gritty) so we settled in to watch yet another storm roll in.

The next day we headed North into Moab, famed for unique landscape and awesome mountain biking. Desperate to escape the heat (113°f/45°c) we headed for altitude at Canyonlands national Park. Unsurprisingly there were a lot of breathtaking canyons, some even inside other canyons! 



We thought we had missed out on another sunset due to the dust storm headed our way but as we left the park we were happy to be proved wrong!




Camped nearby the need to keep a door open for ventilation overnight meant we woke with the entire van, and us, coated in dust. This was not the end of the world however as we planned to get even more dusty that morning as we had booked onto an UTV tour!

After meeting at the designated parking lot we were (briefly) shown how to drive the vehicles - stop, go, go faster - then headed off road. There aren't many pictures of the drive as Amy was mostly too scared to let go of the safety handles! 




Our first stop was at an area FULL of dinosaur footprints! Nowhere in the world has so many footprints of different species and the length of them allows you to see exactly where the dinosaur was headed. 





Next stop was at a natural rock tunnel with some ancient petroglyphs and fresh tracks from a kangaroo rat. 





We ended the tour as dusty as promised and convinced that we need one of these UTV's, especially as Mike was forbidden to drive the van in the same way!

Going off a tip from our UTV guide we headed for a peek at some more petroglyphs which were past some uranium mine tailings (complete with radioactive area warning signs!) before we travelled up into Arches National park. 



It was no cooler than yesterday and after enquiring about some short hikes a ranger just shook his head and reminded us that people die in this heat. Happily for Amy this meant a car-based tour of these natural wonders.

We saw lots and lots of rocks, some even had holes through the middle of them. Some of our favourites were the 3 gossips, sheep rock and balanced rock. 








After yet more canyons, rocks and even petrified dunes we headed back to the reservoir for a swim and to camp. 
 
Next up: Utah (Part 2)

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