Canyonlands, the ‘short cut’ home

 

Part 2 of 2

After our very pleasant ride along the top rim of Canyonlands National Park, the friendly ranger told us that there was a rarely used road back to Moab that went to the bottom  of the canyon.  There was a warning sign at the start of the road that was just a bit short of the warnings the Doctor gave me before open heart surgery.  OK, it did not say; You could die and other bad things may happen!  After a 2 mile dirt road approach, we were confronted with the road shown on the right.  Sniveling commenced form the copilots seat, it would increase in volume as we descended.  The road was 1 1/2 cars wide and hugged to mountainside for the 5 mile trip to the bottom.  When meeting opposing traffic there was a bunch of maneuvering meant to conserve the sheet metal and reduce the snivel factor.  The view was at once awesome and puzzling as to who would cut this path (I cannot call it a road) to the bottom of the canyons.

Research on the website yielded the following: “ In spite of the early settlers, much of the Canyonlands area remained relatively inaccessible until the uranium boom in the 1950's, After the atomic bombings in Japan ushered in the nuclear age, the Atomic Energy Commission offered monetary incentives for the discovery and delivery of uranium ore. The uranium-rich Canyonlands area lured prospectors who built many exploratory roads in search of the radioactive "gold", opening up miles of previously unexplored public lands.” 

 

This is the only picture I have of us driving on the rim, not a great time for 1 hand driving.  On the right is a quick shot into the canyon out of the drivers door.

We were about 1,000 feet from the surface of the rim when we were confronted with a 25 mile drive to our exit point near Moab.  The road was bad but passable at about 15mph, had to keep and eye on it as there were occasional pot holes that required crawling speed.

 

Below are the photo the attest the we made it to the bottom, there was very little excitement on the lower level which exited adjacent to The Colorado River and gave us a pleasant 10 mile ride to or campground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday we will travel to Cortez Colorado where we will spend the weekend.  SWMBO will be happy to have WalMart and other modern conveniences at her disposal.