We have been in Moab far longer then we planned. We arrived early to beat wind and cold weather and the next day we had to move campsites. The next day we moved into our Slick Rock site for 5 days (plus our extra night that we came in to beat the storm), and got comfortable. We went out on a 4x4 ride with David and 4x4 Xtreme, which is more fun then you should have with your clothes on! I am so proud of David. He is the epitome of career success. The old saying is if you do what you love, you never have to go to work again. That is David! He is a self taught 4x4 extreme engineer. He has built from the ground up a machine that know one else here can rival. When you ride with him you pass up all the other 4x4 tours in the area. Just smile and wave because they are NOT having more fun then you! If you can come to Moab, go see David and have the time of your life.
The next day we did Negro Bill Canyon with Remi. Perfect hike for dogs. Cool and plenty of water, though it was plenty cool anyway. The next day Sean and I did the hardest day hike in Arches National Park. The first part was a little challenging, but the hike home was on a primitive trail that literally you had to climb over boulders and look for for the trail cairns. I was ready for the hike to be done after six miles but it went on for over eight. Between the 6 mile hike in Negro Bill Canyon and the 8 mile extreme multiple arch hike in Arches National Park, I was WOOPED! So to top off the already exhausting day we went out with David again! This time I sat shotgun and got the heated seat and it felt good on my sore muscles. I have never felt so pooped, so the next day was a ride in the truck and check out in more details some of the cool places David showed us on his tours.
Arches primitive trail
After a day of driving and recooperating, we either had to leave Moab or find another campsite. Slickrock Campground is not very nice and we don't recommend it. Very little space and dirty, but it was the only place we could get a site when we were looking. During our drive, we found a BLM campground on the Colorado River that would actually fit our rig. We kept driving through and found a rig that was due to leave the next day. We claimed our spot and moved over the next day. This required us to "dry camp" which means we don't have any hook ups. No electricity and nowhere to dumpy your grey and black water. We had only planned to stay two days so we knew our batteries would hold up and we didn't need to worry too much about dumping, as two days was a short time and our tanks could hold all the waste. We had filled our water tank 2/3 full so we were good to go! We have never "dry camped" before because we don't have a generator yet, (though we have one ordered) and we are not sure how long our batteries would last.
The next day we did a 32 mile bike ride. The longest ride we have gone on so far. Sean says the whole 32 miles doesn't count because on the last five we stopped and got a beer and a few slices of pizza but hey, even our truck gets fuel and we needed those calories to get home! The ride was all paved but there were many trails you could take off on. We chose a very easy one mile trail ride so we could claim to have mountain biked in Moab!
Since we don't have electricity, we had a campfire every night and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery. And of course we had to eat roasted marshmallows.
We decided to do a local hike the next day so we could take Remi. The national parks don't let you take dogs on the trails or even at the scenic overlooks which really stinks for us. So we chose to hike to Fisher tower which though under 3 miles one way, it was pretty difficult. At one point we had to climb a ladder to get over a crevice. We hoisted Remi up the ladder but we couldn't figure out how the huge dogs before us had crossed. At the end of the trail we asked one of the hikers with a big dog and she said there was a trail that went over the ridge so you didn't have to take your dog over a ladder. Duh! Remi did great but the day was in the 80's and he tried to rest in the shade whenever possible, which was rare. He drank plenty of water and as always was the littlest dog on the trail. He is small and cute but tough as nails! We were all glad to get to the truck and crank the air. It was hard to believe we had been freezing a few days before.
On one of our off days, David and his girlfriend Stephanie, invited us on a trip up the canyon with a few of their friends and guides. We had a great day cruising up to a place called Base Camp Advebture Camp, a bed and breakfast that unless you have 4 wheel drive, you have to take a boat or a helicopter to get there. He is out in the middle of nowhere and yet he still stays busy with visitors. In guess if you want to get away from it all, that is the place to stay. He keeps as a giant tortoise as a pet. He is over 150lbs and only about half his eventual size. Unfortunately, it was cold and the tortoise would not come out of his cave to say hi. Everyone brought their dogs and they all just ran around the Base Camp area having a great time. We went up to some caves and decided to let Remi off his leash too, so he could be like the big dogs. He did great. Running around with their dogs and yet staying pretty near us, and returning when he was called. This was a big first for us since we know he tends to run away. But where could he run to in the middle of nowhere? I think he realized that he would be coyote bait if he left. Hopefully it was just because he loves us so much. Lol!
On another drive day we did the Canyonland National Park. It was kind of boring compared to Arches, but we drove home on a back road called Shaefer Trail, that was very frightening in our big truck! The road was rough but it was very skinny and at times it felt as if we were going to fall off. Sean even had to stop and back up a few times to make it around a few corners. I felt sick to my stomach looking over the edge! Sean loved it as it was as close to 4-wheeling we got in our big Silverado.
Look! Another Arch!
By this time we were past our two days and had decided to extend another two at the BLM campground. Sean was worried that our batteries would drop too low so we asked David if he knew someone who had a generator we could borrow. Luckily he did, and we borrowed it and charged our batteries. We thought we were fine with our grey tanks and water but since none of our sensors ever works, we had no idea. On the last day I was washing Remi because we were getting ready to leave and I wanted him clean for the trip, when the water stopped! We were out and we still had one night to go. Sean brought a gallon of water we keep in the truck and I finished with Remi. Up the road a few miles is a natural spring where we saw people filling up their water containers. Sean headed up there to fill up our two five gallon water containers. We siphoned the water into our tanks and were good to go! The next day we hitched up and headed to Grand Junction Colorado!
