An Afternoon By The Colorado River
On Saturday, May 24, 2008, I
traveled west and north from
Hovenweep National Monument to
Moab, Utah, a distance of 120 miles. Once I
got past the ancient
Bureau of Indian Affairs
(BIA) roads, the trip north on
US Highway 191 was easy, even with while
towing my travel trailer.
Arriving at the
Moab Rim Campark, just south of Moab a day
earlier than expected I found that there was no
RV space available that night in all of Moab.
Thinking that the remote
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
Horse Thief Campground would surely have
space, I drove thirty miles up
Utah Highway 313, only to find that there
was no vacancy at any campsite within fifty
miles of Moab.
With gasoline right at four
dollars per gallon, my sixty mile sojourn to
Horse Thief and back cost me around forty
dollars. Although high gas prices are supposed
to be a deterrent to travelers this summer, it
seemed like everyone within driving distance of
Moab had decided to give it one last gasp before
mothballing their camping equipment.
With nowhere else to go, I drove
back to Moab, then south on
Spanish Valley Drive to the
Pueblo Verde development, where I have a
deposit down on a residential building lot.
That night, I camped by the curb at Lot #7,
where I plan to build my dream home in the next
couple of years.
With
only six of the twenty-eight lots currently
occupied, the setting was tranquil and quiet.
Since my coach is self-contained, I had
everything I needed to “dry camp” on the
street. The added bonus was to wake up and see
the 360-degree view of the
Spanish Valley as it will look when my house
stands on that site. To me, there is no better
residential view in America, centered as it is
between the
Moab Rim and the peaks of the
Manti La Sal National Forest.
For those who are interested,
there are
one-third acre lots still available for less
than one hundred thousand dollars. If you come
upon this entry in later years, do not blame me
for not telling you sooner. The window of
opportunity might last into 2009, but after
that, prepare to buy at the higher rates that
baby boomer retirement purchases will inevitably
dictate. As my father used to say, “Get there
early and get a good seat”
On Sunday, I moved to my reserved
site at the Moab Rim Campark, where I spent the
next six nights. Meanwhile, my love flew from
Burbank, California to
Grand Junction, Colorado, known simply as
“Junction” to the locals. Picking her up at
Walker Field Airport in Junction, I noted
that their parking and traffic circulation
upgrade was still not completed. To my dismay,
it features a main access point that few if any
large RVs or busses could negotiate without
overriding the curb. This is what we in America
used to call “Progress”
with a capital “P”.
After driving west on
Interstate Highway I-70 back towards Moab,
we
cut
off at
State Route 128, which goes through the
abandoned cattle and railroad town of
Cisco. Cisco is famous for a nearby
uranium ore strike in the early 1950’s.
Today, it is a crumbling wreck of buildings,
many built from surplus railroad ties. It looks
too new to be a ghost town, but to old and
decrepit to resurrect as a quaint tourist trap.
cut
off at
State Route 128, which goes through the
abandoned cattle and railroad town of
Cisco. Cisco is famous for a nearby
uranium ore strike in the early 1950’s.
Today, it is a crumbling wreck of buildings,
many built from surplus railroad ties. It looks
too new to be a ghost town, but to old and
decrepit to resurrect as a quaint tourist trap.
From there, the old two-lane
highway wends its way across open prairie, then
through ranch land and finally to the
Colorado River, near the site where the
historic
Dewey Bridge was destroyed by fire in April
2008. It was a classic case of a child playing
with matches in a nearby campground. His
“science project” got away from him and rapidly
burned the wooden bridge-deck of the old
suspension bridge, a now lost
.jpg)
treasure
on the
National Register of Historic Places.
treasure
on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Pyromaniacs of the world take
note.
Karma will seek its own resolution, whether
here in this life, or at some future time and
place, as determined by the confluence of
fates. There is at least one young boy
somewhere in this land who will long remember
his lack of judgment that windy April evening.
After crossing on the new bridge,
the subsequent automobile trip down the Colorado
River is its own reward. Entrenched in a deep
canyon
along
this stretch, the river was only a few days past
its springtime,
2008 peak flow. To the delight of the many
rafters, there were rapids where usually one
found only sandbars. As the waters slowly
receded, rushing water swept the banks clean of
candy wrappers and plastic bottles, leaving the
river looking much as it did in primeval times.
along
this stretch, the river was only a few days past
its springtime,
2008 peak flow. To the delight of the many
rafters, there were rapids where usually one
found only sandbars. As the waters slowly
receded, rushing water swept the banks clean of
candy wrappers and plastic bottles, leaving the
river looking much as it did in primeval times.
Along the way, we stopped at the
Castle Creek Winery at
Red Cliffs
Lodge
for an early and satisfying dinner. The winery,
billed as “Utah’s first and largest commercial
winery” produces good, if a bit light wines that
are consistent from year to year. If you stop
there, be sure to take a look at their
Moab Museum of Film & Western Heritage,
featuring “100 years of Cowboy History”.
Because of its undeveloped remoteness, yet
easily accessed services in Moab, many
classic western movies were filmed here and
in nearby
Castle Valley.
Lodge
for an early and satisfying dinner. The winery,
billed as “Utah’s first and largest commercial
winery” produces good, if a bit light wines that
are consistent from year to year. If you stop
there, be sure to take a look at their
Moab Museum of Film & Western Heritage,
featuring “100 years of Cowboy History”.
Because of its undeveloped remoteness, yet
easily accessed services in Moab, many
classic western movies were filmed here and
in nearby
Castle Valley.