2012/06 Western USA trip - Horsethief |
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Monday June 11th
Monday was to be a traveling day, but we stopped at Red Canyon on the way out, to walk one of the trails and take a few pictures, including these. 
We drove north on US89 through dry, farming country, heading for Moab, over on the eastern side of Utah. Moab is another Biblical name, an odd choice as Moab the person was the result of some hanky panky between Lot and his daughters. The Israelites would regularly smite the Moabites to remind them of this. Today, Utah’s Moab is a sports town, with rafting, biking, hiking, and 4wdriving close at hand. It’s also a gateway town to the Arches and Canyonlands parks, our next destinations.
We joined I-70 and drove east across some scenic but empty country, with no towns or fuel for over a hundred miles, just cliffs and buttes and washes. The town of Green River was a welcome sight but we risked driving on to Crescent Junction to fill up. From there it was a short drive south to the Arches park, down into the valley with a great red cliff to our west. It was too late to go sightseeing, but I thought we’d stop at the visitor centre to see what our camping options were. We were really surprised to have to queue to get into the park; maybe everyone was hoping to see the scenery at sunset.
The camping news was not good, as the sites in Arches and nearby Dead Horse Point were all taken. We were resigned to going into Moab for a private campground when one of the rangers suggested Horsethief, a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campground but warned that it was isolated and had no water. It sounded ideal! It was just a spot in the desert, a half hour drive from all the places we wanted to visit. On the down side, it was all red sand, with scrubby little trees that gave no shade, and infested with thousands of little non-biting flies. It was just like camping in the Australian outback!
We were going to be leaving the Little Guy behind when we set off in the morning. I’d worried about leaving it in quiet, unattended spots. It’s hard to steal as it has a pintle ring instead of a regular ball coupler, but not impossible. So, it also has a wheel lock, similar to a steering wheel lock, a pain to set up in a buggy spot, but good for our peace of mind.