JULY 8, 2013 HIGHWAY 128 SCENIC BYWAY AND MANTI-LA SAL NATIONAL FOREST

We wanted a more relaxed day so we decided to take a drive along the Colorado River and then into the La Sal Mountains.  The drive along the Colorado was achieved by taking Hwy 128 which is classified as a Scenic Byway and started just outside of Moab.  I initially thought it might be a long day.

However, there was only a little construction during the initial phase of the highway.  The drive followed the Colorado River for almost the entire length of the 40 mile drive. 

 

 

The first part of the drive had us travelling through a narrow canyon with river right beside us.  I would imagine that this would be a minor version of what you would see if you were at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. 

 

One of the big sporting attractions on this part of the river is rafting.  It cannot be called white water rafting as the faster water is not that severe.  It is more like floating and the people we did see rafting seemed to be enjoying themselves.

 

Further along the drive the canyon opened up into a larger valley.  It still had the cliffs surrounding it but it definitely took on a different look.  It had a Monument Valley look to it with the same colors and shapes.  It was quite impressive.

 

Just prior to reentering the canyon from the valley we saw Fisher Towers.  It had a look that stood out and we were hoping we would be able to get closer.

 

It turns out our wish came true as there was a dirt road that took us into the towers.  In spite of it being gravel we turned in anyways and saw the towers take on their unique shape as we got closer.

 

When we reached the end of the road we saw that there were a couple of trails that would take you behind and under the towers.  There was also a photography trail that was shorter but would take you to an overlook.   We took the shorter trail and climbed up to get a closer view of the towers.  It gave us a very nice view but it was almost too close for pictures as I couldn’t get everything in I wanted to.

 

While we were on the overlook we were able to get a good look at the surrounding area.

We exited the valley and back into the canyon for the rest of the drive.  We just enjoyed the views and the leisurely pace of the day.

In order to get to the Manti-La Sal National Forest we had to back track a few miles until we came to Castle Rock Road.  Shortly after turning onto the road we got our first view of our destination.

 

We passed Castle Rock and continued on the road until we came to the entrance to the forest.

Castle Rock

As we climbed into the mountains we were treated with some spectacular views of the forest.

The most stunning view was back towards the valley we had travelled earlier.  The view from the top of the road was unbelievable and we stopped and enjoyed it with every turn on the switchback.  Unfortunately it was the wrong time of the day to be taking pictures.  We were looking right into the sun and the pictures are very washed out.  It was very impressive to the naked eye.

 

 

 

Once we reached the top we had a good look at the highest peaks in the La Sal Mountains.  This time the sun was in our favor so we stopped an took quite a few pictures.

Quite often in the past these mountains would be snow covered the entire year, but not lately.  We were now on our way down so we just kept going and headed back to the RV Park, it was quite late and we were hungry. It was a nice leisurely day.

The day was capped off with a nice sunset view from our campsite.  The hills came alive with the setting sun.  I took these pictures from right in front of our coach as we enjoyed the sunset.