June 3, 2010
Day 36: Dead Horse Point to Canyonlands National Park
65F at sunrise, incredibly warm. I got up at 7 and was on the road at 8:45. First I went back to Dead Horse Point to see the view in the morning light. I think it's best in the morning.
On the way out of the park I stopped at the visitor center to fill all my water containers. I left with 2.4 gallons (9 liters) of water because the next available water will be tomorrow afternoon in Moab. Today I'm going to the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands National Park. Ranger residences have trucked-in water, but the visitor center and campground do NOT have water.
It was an easy 7 miles backtracking to the state highway. Then south on highway 313 to Canyonlands National Park. The climbing is gentle on the plateau, staying at 6000-6300 feet elevation. It was very hot with no shade and not much wind. Plenty of sand flies, though.
Beyond the park entrance the road descends several hundred feet to the visitor center. Soon afterward the road steeply climbs it right back again.
My first stop was at the Willow Flat campground to get a campsite. It's 1/4 mile from the Green River overlook. I thought all 12 sites were occupied when I arrived because every campsite post had a card on it. I neglected to notice that several of the cards had today's date, indicating that the site was just vacated this morning. I shared a site with Greg, a hummingbird photographer from the state of Georgia. The campground has some shade but it was still very hot during the middle of the day. I rested in the shade for a couple hours.
At 2:30 PM I rode the unloaded bike south 9 miles to the end of the road, Grand View point. It has a stunning panoramic view of the Colorado river canyon, but the river isn't visible. I arrived at 3:30 PM, an hour before the sky clouded up. So it turned out to be the best possible time for pictures today.
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I hiked the scenic 1-mile trail to the end of the plateau's "peninsula". The end of the trail had a better sun angle but a poorer view of the lower canyons.
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On the way back to the campground I stopped to hike the 1-mile loop trail to Mesa Arch. The arch isn't very high but it's in a very scenic location. Definitely worth the short hike even though it was mostly cloudy by then.
Back at the campground I made dinner and waited for sunset. Just before sunset I walked 1/4 mile to the Green River overlook. It looked like the clouds might break, but there never was much sunshine on the canyon below. The setting sun did briefly shine on the plateau wall to the east.
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The sand fleas died down in the evening, but by then I already had a huge number of bites on my head, neck, and legs. The evening was very warm. The weather has been very hot the last two days, and I didn't get a shower the last two days. It's even hotter down in Moab, so I concluded that the next two nights in Moab should be at a motel.
Distance: 41.2 mi. (65.9 km)
Climbing: 1979 ft. (600 m)
Average Speed: 11.3 mph (18.1 km/h)
Maximum Speed: 33 mph (53 km/h)
Hiked 4 mi. (6.4 km)
Today's ride: 41 miles (66 km)
Total: 1,645 miles (2,647 km)
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