Jeep Arch Trail

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Happy end of spring. The summer solstice is tonight! YAY!

Tuesday Tommy and I took Ron and Judy for a relaxing ride to the Red Cliffs Lodge. It is an exquisitely manicured lodge that is positioned on the river of the Colorado River.

It has 40 individual cabins for rent and offers horseback riding, rafting, canoeing, kayaking, jeep trail rides, hiking and much much more.

Just inside the lobby and down a few steps is a movie museum. It houses pictures and props from most all of the movies filmed out here in Moab. There are so many more than you ever imagined. Can you believe part of Forrest Gump was filmed here? All of MI -2, along with Breakdown, but the most popular is Thelma and Louise.

The Red Cliffs Lodge also has a winery on property. They offer free wine tasting and sell the cleverest, unique gifts you can envision. We purchased 4 bottles of wine and ate a lot of their sample cheeses.

After spending some time on the riverbed we drove up the La Sal Mountains Loop. We wanted to show Ron and Judy the beauty that we always speak of when we talk about Moab.

We stopped at a historic sight of which there are 8 men buried from one of the bloodiest battles against the American Indians. It happened in a valley called Pinhook, and it was all about control of the land. (What a surprise).

Later on that evening we met up with Gloria and Ivan at the Brewery and completely stuffed ourselves on  $.25 wings for dinner.

The next morning, Wednesday, we again met with Gloria and Ivan, along with Ron and Judy and hiked up the Jeep Arch Trail.

This trail is 5.2 miles in and out. It is very challenging at times but amazingly scenic. Along the way to the arch we climbed vast boulders, scurried under some of them, and ascended 958 feet.

Once underneath the arch, it was enormously windy and bone-dry, but at the same time, irrefutably beautiful.

The journey took a little longer than we predicted. We took an altered trail back out of the canyon than we did going in. It was one of the better hikes we have done. And guess what? We ended up back at the brewery afterwards. LOL

We arrived back home around 3:00 and had a quiet evening. It was a great day spent with great people.

Today Judy invited us for a grouper dinner at her basecamp. We, Judy and I, will spend the afternoon in town doing errands and enjoy the evening together with the boys. Thanks for reading.