Day 18 – We went off-roading

I took a couple of pictures of the view we have from our camper.  Looking one direction you see the La Sal Mountains, turning to the right is the wall of a canyon.  We have enjoyed our stay in Moab so much we extended our stay for two more nights.

Rick wanted to drive the canyon floor by the Elbow Bend in the Colorado River we saw from Dead Horse Point, so we took off around 10:30.  We turned off the main highway on to a paved road – Potash Road.  The first thing we came to were people climbing the bluffs beside the road.

 

In the same area are some Indian paintings on the stones.  There are two groups of paintings on these bluffs marked by state signs.

Soon the pavement ended and we were on dirt road.  From Dead Horse Point State Park we had seen some salt evaporation ponds – they force water below ground into salt deposits and then pump the water back to the surface into ponds were the salt is recovered after the water evaporates.  We had to drive around the ponds – the sign said it was five miles but it seemed longer.

On canyon floor

From Dead Horse Point State Park

We had a few rough spots to go over, but it was mainly on the floor of the canyon.  At one spot Dorrie took this picture of a rock she said looks like a butterfly with its wings up.

Dorrie's butterfly rock, even can see the small head  on the right side

We were passed by a motorcycle and met another SUV going the other way.  Finally we got to the bend.  Even on the canyon floor the river was about 150 yards below us.  It was a cool sight.

From the canyon floor

From Dead Horse Point State Park overview

We continued on the Jeep trail and the going got much rougher as we started the climb up the canyon wall.  We went up about 2,000 feet and ended up in Canyonlands National Park.

 

Just a note, we may be in areas where I will not be able to post daily.  In fact when we move from here we may stay in a campground that does not have cellphone, TV or WiFi reception.