Utah has so many incredible sites! I am so glad we accidentally ended up there. You can read all about how that happened here. On the second part of our Utah adventures, we found a great place to boondock close to Moab, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks. BLM Road 143 off of US 191. It’s a dirt road leading in, but not too bad. We just took it nice and slow. It had wide open spaces to pull into. There were about 5 other campers there when we arrived. Most left after the weekend. There are plenty of people around as the area has quite a few dirt bike trailheads, but they did not disrupt us in any way. The night sky was incredible! There was LOTS of dirt, which pleased Tyler to no end. Tipper could run and play ball. It was great to have space! The terrain reminded us of West Texas, so we felt right at home!
Most of the boondocking questions we get are about where to get water. We found two places…neither super close, but we were back and forth so much it didn’t matter too much. The first place we found was Green River State Park. It was about 20 miles away and they charged us $5 entry into the park, where we could fill our 20 gallon external tank. The second place was a Maverik gas station south of Moab. (They also have a dump station, although we didn’t use it.) They have a FREE potable water station on the side of the building. Bring your own hose. It was a pretty good drive from where we were camped, but was very convenient when we were in town anyway.
Our next stop was Arches National Park! I think this is my favorite National Park we’ve been to. From the moment I started planning our trip to Arches, I knew I wanted to do the hike to the Delicate Arch. It is the Arch on the Utah license plates, and the one that I was most familiar with. (Side note – Emily now hates the Utah license plates. LOL! Hiking is not her favorite.) This is a pretty good hike. It’s pretty steep going up for about a mile and a half. Going down is a little easier, but it was so worth it! Incredible! We even climbed on all fours up into a “window” for a different view of it before actually reaching the arch. Amazing!
Once we got around to the Delicate Arch, the sun was beginning to set. I found the perfect spot to get the perfect angle for a photo…I might have been on my back. 🙂 This is my favorite photo!
We saw tons of other incredible sites at Arches. I don’t know why this was my favorite. Maybe because it was hard. We had to work for it. It was such a good feeling to make it up to the top to see it in person. It did not disappoint! Here are a few other incredible sites we experienced. It’s kind of perfect that the kids have been learning about rocks, erosion, and deposition in science. This place is a prime example!
Our next stop was Canyonlands National Park. We almost missed this one because we waited until our last day and we got sidetracked by the aforementioned dinosaur stomping grounds. So glad we didn’t miss it! The majority of this park is not accessible by anything but 4×4. Unfortunately our truck is not. But, there was plenty we got to see! My favorite thing at this park was the Ancestral Puebloan Pantry. It was a bit of climb to get to it, but WOW! One day we’ll go back with a 4×4.
Here are more photos from our day at Canyonlands.
On our last night in Utah, we reserved a campsite at Ballard RV Park in the ghost town of Thompson, Utah, just northeast of where we camped all week. It’s always good to do a night with full hookups after boondocking all week. Thompson used to be a stop on the railroad, but when I-70 went in, it bypassed the small town. It’s a kind of Route 66 story. Today, many of the once thriving structures sit in ruins.
Easily, Utah was one of our favorite places we’ve visited. I can see us spending more time in this part of the country!
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