I’ve been itching to go on a trip but I can’t get myself on a plane just yet with everything going on still. Since Moab was on my to-do list, I thought it would be a great opportunity for my partner and me to do a mini road trip to Moab! We’ve been camping with our friends a few times already this year and a road trip to Moab would basically be no different! So prior to leaving, I did as much research about Moab as I could and found the top spots to visit, free camping, and climbing routes that were my difficulty level!
From Denver to Moab, it is about a 5.5-hour car ride. I like to say it’s further than we would typically drive for a camping trip, but also not even close to a typical road trip! We left early Friday morning to head straight to a climbing wall I found on the Mountain Project app and we happened to arrive at the most perfect time because the sun had just passed the wall and we were actually the first on sight because it’s too hot to climb there any earlier! The view at the top of each climb was so beautiful, we were in a canyon where the Colorado River flowed right across the street from where we were at, and the sun reflecting the water with the red rocks really made a stunning view!
Finding free camping spots was important for us because we really weren’t trying to spend unnecessary money. Luckily I found @takethetruck and one of the spots they recommended was Gemini Bridge Road, which was behind the mountains as you drive to Moab. Just to get to the location, we had to get on a dirt road and off-road until we were in this beautiful canyon that had free designated camping spots! We made it to our spot for the night just in time for the sun to set and managed to heat up our dinner I prepared before we left. We didn’t stay up much longer but I made sure to stay up a little bit just to stargaze. The Milky Way was visible to see and lit up the sky!
The next day, we woke up a little after the sunrise since we were sleeping in the canyon and of course, it was just as beautiful as when the sun had set! We made a quick breakfast I had prepared, packed the truck, and made our way to Arches National Park! If you look up “Things to do in Moab”, the first thing that will pop up is Arches National Park! It is pretty close to the town of Moab, but completely hidden and once you pay your fee to get in ($30/car, yikes!) and drive a few miles in, it feels like you’re in a whole nother state! Arches National Park has over 2,000 natural sandstone arches that are just absolutely stunning! Since everything is untouched, it’s surreal to think about how all these natural formations came about!
While doing my research prior to leaving for Moab, I found a hiking trail in Arches National Park that seemed to be in our comfort level, about a seven miles round trip called the Devil’s Garden Loop Trail. This hike was beautiful and brutal, to say the least! There were about six trails that veered off the main loop in order to see different arches or natural rock formations in the area. The last two miles we had to hike through sand and scale walls to follow the path since they did warn us about the “primitive route”, but we didn’t think how undeveloped a lot the route would be (oops, my bad). I would highly recommend bringing at least two liters of water, especially during the summer because overheating and dehydration are serious if you’re on this hike!
Once we managed to crawl back to our car (kind of kidding), we decided to use the rest of the day to check out the town of Moab. It’s a small town, currently under a lot of construction with paving the roads and new lodgings coming up. We grabbed food at a cafe that was OK, but we wished we went to the Moab Food Truck Park! We stopped in a souvenir shop since I like collecting stickers and magnets from different places I go to and we also checked out Moab Brewery, which had great refreshing beer they make in-house.
When it started to cool down outside, we decided to head to our last campsite on Willow Spring Road, also from @takethetruck blog post. This campsite was a more glamping style site since they had porter potties and it was mostly flatlands, with mountains in the distance. Since we were pooped from our hike, we took it easy and made sandwiches for dinner, hung out until sunset, and then headed to bed.
The next morning we had a quick breakfast and left our campsite early to hit one last climbing route I supposedly found. Unfortunately, when we came upon the coordinates given, we couldn’t find a single route! The drive back was very scenic though and we were able to see a few wildlife which made up for us not climbing that morning. The one thing we wish we had done was rent a UTV because they have some serious off-roading all over Moab. Our camping spot at Gemini Bridge Road, Arches National Park, and the climbing spot that was a bust on the last day all had those kinds of trails.
Another plus to going out to Moab for me was that I was able to stop in Grand Junction to hang out with some friends! We ended up extending our trip and staying in Grand Junction one night to be able to go on the Colorado River and stay cool during the heat. Luckily we left early Monday morning and passed Glenwood before the fire broke out later that day!
Disclosure: We went back in August of 2020
