Picked blindly off a map, Moab turned into one of the best trips of my life.
7am, Traditional Southwestern breakfast
The day began at the Jailhouse Café with a hearty non-Utah breakfast of Eggs Benedict Mexicana with chipotle hollandaise and chorizo instead of ham.
9am, Moab Information Center
I dodged the proverbial bullet with my timing, as the days before my arrival the desert town of Moab experienced historic torrential storms that flooded the streets with several feet of rushing water.
The downtown area was dry when I arrived and with perfect weather for my stay, but some businesses were still closed and tractors continued scraping red dirt off the streets onto curbs and sidewalks like heavy snowfall, now caking as it dried. Every vehicle and outdoor surface was covered in a fine rust-colored dust, continuously kicked up by highway traffic through the center of town.
10am, Scenic river drive #1
The Colorado River flows directly through the town of Moab, and two scenic drives follow the river into and out of the city to the east and to the west. The views are deep red-rock canyons along a thin highway with the occasional arch formation and ancient indigenous petroglyphs, legally protected but most now defaced by human activity and the so-called “desert varnish” (the dark coloration, a natural combination of bacterial action and chemical oxidation).
The road heading west is the Potash Road, a winding river highway ending in a private commercial potash mine operating here for decades.
12n, Pho in Utah
Dining options in the small town of Moab were surprisingly robust, as I settled on Vietnamese pork egg pho with homemade sauces at 98 Center just a block from my accommodations downtown.
1pm, Canyonlands National Park
My overall intent was to visit the Arches NP (saved for tomorrow) but Canyonlands National Park nonetheless proved unexpectedly impressive. Formerly a uranium mine, the area is comparable to the Grand Canyon with scars dug into the earth by human efforts that are dwarfed by those vast, open vistas dug by time, wind and water.
The primary park entry point is named Island in the Sky Visitor Center after the large, relatively flat high mesa that extends out and into the wide, expansive valley that makes up much of the park. With the Rocky Mountains and Wasatch Mountains framing both sides in the distance, this vast basin is as big of a sky as one could hope to encounter on this planet.
7pm, The only local brewpub
Moab has only a single outlet for craft beer in the Moab Brewery located in an ordinary strip center on State Highway 191, which forms the main commercial backbone of the town. Good food, but only mediocre beers.
9pm, Famous local hangout
The town of Moab is dominated by recreation, tourism and the national parks, which collectively make up most of the commercial base. Local nightlife is limited even in the downtown area, with the exception of the “World Famous” Woody’s Tavern. A true dive bar located just a walkable block or two from my stay, it is where I spent evenings passively watching locals play pool and listening to jukebox classics before I retired for the night.
7am, Fresh French bakery
Unexpectedly, around the corner from my stay was the very authentic Bonjour Bakery & Cafe, where I found a fresh apricot bomboloni and rich French coffee.
9am, Scenic river drive #2
The road heading east out of Moab is the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway (State Highway 128), and recognized as one of the most impressive drives in the continental US. River canyon walls are so deep that direct cell coverage is often lost, and the relatively narrow passage eventually gives way to a broader basin and floodplain with low rolling hills and even lower population density.
12n, Food truck park
A dedicated Moab Food Truck Park is located downtown, stocked with some surprisingly great offerings. Today it was the Papichi (capicola ham, salami, pepperoni, provolone, mozzarella, pepper jack, roasted red peppers with pesto and house sauce) at Paninis Plus.
1pm, Arches National Park
My most anticipated destination was the Arches National Park, located almost directly opposite the highway from Canyonlands NP. I doubly reserved a time slot to ensure entry (controlled times to cut down on crowds) and spent the afternoon in a truly otherworldly environment of astonishing sandstone landscapes carved out by the elements.
The park has over 2000 natural arch formations—all of which are in the process of ongoing erosion, which lends an added gravitas to the geologic yet transitory view at literally every turn. Without the distraction of any available cell phone signal, the otherworldly landscape resembled more of a movie set than any terrestrial setting, especially with the massive yet delicate formations that surely will vanish sometime within the next few millennia.
I wanted to visit the most famous view in the park, the landmark Delicate Arch used as a icon on many state logos and tourism advertising, but the location was only accessible by a mile-long uphill hike, and thinning air and my growing fatigue would not allow any more than photos at a distance.
7pm, Quality pie
For such a small town and remote location, the food in Moab proved to be shockingly good for what I sampled. Tonight’s dining option was a local wood-fired pizzeria named Antica Forma (“The Old Way”) and their signature pizza of the same name (tomato sauce, homemade mozzarella, caramelized balsamic onions, fresh basil, imported prosciutto).
9pm, Same famous local hangout
Karaoke night at Woody’s Tavern. My eyes were too full with the unbelievable sights of the past two days to cognitively digest much else. C48
City Forty-Eight 