Jaunts in Moab

This is a photo of the Gemini Bridges Trail as it winds down towards US191 from the overlook



I just got back from an over-niter in Moab. It was a rainy mess. The only break I had from the rain I quickly went up to the Gemini Bridges trail and did the 16 mile out and back. I was mostly alone, with an occasional Jeep or 4 Wheeler passing me by.

Moab, to me, is a special place that seems to hold up to its title of outdoor capital of the word. Moab can chew you up and spit you out if you are not paying attention. Even the easiest trails are rock filled with drop offs and sand pits.
I enjoy the vast openness that is Moab. To me, it is a place to reset your thinking and to focus on the moment. Kinda puts things in perspective when you have to pass under 300 foot loose rock spires, or boulders that must weigh as much as a tank that are delicately balanced atop a sandy perch.

Utah does it right. An outdoor vacation town with as much foot traffic as Durango; 4 bars. Yep, no drunken debauchery in this downtown strip. Bars won't serve you unless you order food, and there is a 4 drink maximum for all patrons (unless you pay for an annual membership). No puke on sidewalks, no drunk college kids urinating on kiosk door knobs with a smoke hanging from their mouths (can't smoke in public). Most of all, no homeless! "Come on, why stay in Moab where you can't find a friend in drink, when you can go to Durango where you get the royal treatment and be celebrated for your alcoholism!"

For me, truly a vacation.