Route 128

State highway 128, one of the routes connecting Moab, Utah, with Interstate 70, is probably my favorite scenic drive.  It is 30 miles of the most amazingly breathtaking canyon scenery in the country.  Anytime I am out in that area, I make sure to take that route, and I enjoy it every time.  Coming off of I-70, the first ten miles or so is just a road going straight through a desolate area.  But then it joins the Colorado River and winds along with the river down increasingly larger canyons, opening out into large valleys flanked by high red-rock walls at times and then closing down to just the river and the road.  

We camped along this route last night, about six miles from Moab, and then drove back into Moab this morning to attend the Community Church of Moab, a friendly church where we felt welcome enough to join them for goodies and fellowship after the service.  There was one other couple from Michigan there, a family from the UP who rented a house in Moab for a couple months.  Dad works remote and they homeschool the kids, so they are here to take in the hiking and kayaking opportunities.  What a cool idea

We left Moab and headed up highway 128 again, wanting to take the hike at Fisher Towers, about 20 miles up the road.  We had thought about doing something in nearby Arches National Park, but we’ve been there a couple times.

We had lunch in a wide spot in the road in a valley along 128, enjoying the views.  Anywhere you stop, the views are great.

We stopped at the entrance to the Fisher Towers, and were stopped short by the sign:  Maximum vehicle length: 22 feet.

Well, what to do now?  We’ve come all this way for this hike.  Let’s give it a shot.

A couple miles up the dirt road we could see the parking area.  There were quite a few cars there.  When we got there it was obvious that a vehicle our size would have trouble in this parking lot.  But a hundred feet or so away was the campground, with several empty sites, so we found one large enough for the RV, backed it in and paid the twenty-dollar camping fee to make it legitimate.  We didn’t really plan on camping there tonight, but this hike appeared to be worth the twenty bucks.

And it was.  This trail had it all.  Gorgeous views of soaring sandstone towers, lots of scrambling over rocks, both upwards and downwards, ladders, adrenaline-boosting drop-offs, steep slippery slopes, and today, just to add some interest, mud from the melting snow.  2.2 miles of this, and then 2.2 miles back.  This has now become one of my favorite hikes, located on one of my favorite roads.

Just don’t do this trail in the summer.  Today, at about 45 degrees, it was just about perfect.  Except for the mud.  That made the trail treacherous in spots.

This trail adds an item to our Largest list: the tallest tower, the Titan, is the largest freestanding sandstone spire in the United States.

It took us just under four hours to do this hike. We were under a bit of a time constraint because it is late in the year and the days are short.  But we made it down before the sun set.  I wanted to launch my drone and get some aerial pictures, but the sun dropped behind a cloud bank just as we reached the RV, so my pictures didn’t have that sun/shadow look that I was wanting.

This area is also popular with climbers, the most daring of whom climb the spire known as Ancient Art.  There was someone standing on top of this as we were hiking.  Somehow, standing on that tiny surface several hundred feet from the valley floor is a bit more of an adrenaline rush than I am prepared for.  Click on the picture for a larger version.  It really takes your breath away.

We drove the remainder of highway 128 in deepening darkness, finally arriving at I-70 in complete darkness.  We crossed the Colorado border, sad about leaving Utah, but it’s time to head for home.  Two miles into Colorado, we turned off onto some BLM land to camp for the night.