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Entering Utah, Land of Buttes and Canyons

Tuesday, May 10th – Vail, Colorado to Moab, Utah – Day 89 

 We had internet reception, but the computers had no power, so we had a tough time with school in the morning. We packed up early and got on the road. Our first destination was a hot spring near Glenwood Springs. If you went into Glenwood Springs, they had a swimming pool of hot spring water you could soak in for $30. We opted for the South Canyon Spring, it was five minutes driving off the highway and a 3-minute hike. The water was muddy and had a sulphur odour, but the overall was fantastic. It was hot and a little bubbly. We soaked in the spring for an hour chatting with a pair of women that had just come from Utah. 

Our free campsite

 We stopped in Grand Junction, Gen’s Mother’s Day wasn’t complete until she got a non-weekend, before 4pm Golden Corral buffet (optimized for the cheapest price). It was delicious as always. We also made quick stops at REI and Walmart. We found out that the Colorado National Monument was just outside of town. We were tempted to keep driving but we decided to check it out. As always, it was worth it. After a drive up the side of a cliff to get to the visitor centre on the top of the butte, we got stamps, junior ranger packages and a hike recommendation. The hike was the Canyon Rim Trail, an easy 1 km out and back hike, as per the title, along the rim of a canyon. It was a beautiful hike and the kids loved the views and the rocks. 


Once back on the road, we had another hour and a half to Moab. It is amazing how stark the transition is between Colorado and Utah. In Colorado you have these peaked mountains and as soon as you enter Utah they turn into Buttes (hills with flat tops). The canyons and buttes were everywhere. 


 Moab isn’t that far from the border of Colorado, an hour and a half drive. Utah has Bureau of Land Management land everywhere where it is free to camp. We had a spot about 15 minutes from Moab and the Arches National Park, 30 minutes from Canyonlands National Park. The road in had four different challenges, severe rutting, uneven rock surfaces, a little section of sand just for fun and you had to dodge the cows that were roaming around. The campsite was an open field, but we had two porto-potties, a dumpster, a fire circle and a random pile of wood someone left, bonus. 


 The view from the campsite was out of this world. Mountains in one direction, consecutive butte after butte into the distance. We had another rock formation behind us and the kids took off running to climb the thing. We are getting the trailer ready, and the kids were at the top of this rock. I had to call them back when it was getting dark. The weather was warm that night. It made for pleasant sleeping.

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