entering canyon country

coming out of the rockies and essentially ending up on the doorstep of utah meant that i had just came from a place of vertical immensity and entered a place of horizontal immensity.  the landscape flattens out, not midwest flat but compared to mountain range flat.  maybe "evens out" is a better term.  i kept on along I-70 looking out for highway 128, the scenic byway that would take me to Moab.  as soon as i took the exit i pulled over, sent out some messages saying i may be unavailable for up to 2 weeks, rolled a drum shag cigarette, put on some bluegrass music, and proceeded on down the road.

my experience on 128 has led me to believe that, barring any immediate appointments one must keep, ANY time a person see a sign for a "scenic byway" they must force themselves to take it. if i'm not mistaken it is 46 miles from I-70 to Moab.  that drive took me over an hour and a half.  it wasn't just because the road was full of twists and turn, which it was, but i had to pull over at almost every opportunity to just step outside of my truck, crane my head upwards and stare in wonder.  highway 128 follows alongside the colorado river.  the same river that carved out the grand canyon.  that river has done a lot of impressive work here as well.  while these canyons lack the scale of the "grand" one, they are still wonderful testaments of nature at work.

once in Moab i went to the visitor center and got some info on camping in the area and a plethora of other information on the city in general and the many activities that surround it.  when i looked at the location of most of the camping i began to recall all my frequent stops along 128 to gawk.  and i remembered all those vehicles passing me by as i stared.  and i realized that we were all fighting over a finite number of campsites.  shit.

there are exactly 100 campsites within the first 8 mile of Arches.  then you're something like 20+ miles out for the next sites.  these 100 sites are spread throughout 7 separate campgrounds.  i got one of the last 3 sites. i know this because minutes behind me two vehicles pulled in to take the other two.  all three different parties had tried other campgrounds and found them full.  the next 3 hours held a near constant stream of cars either slowing down to look for vacancy or pulling in and then immediately turning around.  rather relieved to have a place to lay my head i pulled out my guitar, took a chair down to the banks of the colorado, smiled up at the canyons, and spent some time simply enjoying the fact that i'd arrived.