6AM. Wake up! Pierre manages to take half a hot shower, only to finish with cold water. Adie is less lucky, but still manages to take a short shower! We leave the motel as the sun is rising.

Very nice road to Canyonland Natl Park, even with the sun in the eyes…

First hike of the day to Mesa Arch. Oh my god!

Second one to Upheaval Dome.

Another view point from the South pointe of the Island in the Sky.

The park is so wonderful that we decide to exit it not by the normal paved road but by the Shafer Trail road, from the visitor center to Moab. Impressive trail, the first part goes down on a big rocky wall. The second part crosses smaller canyons but also rough and rocky. Adie is so scared that she has to go outside the car in the worst parts.

We survived! Beer and burger again in Moab in a local brewery. They do a pretty good ale! We even buy a cask of Scorpion Ale to keep us company at the next campground. The day goes on with Arches Natl Park. It is nice but there are way too many people!

At around 5PM we start heading South with the goal of spending the night around Canyon of the Ancients Natl Monument. We stop at 7PM in Blanding to get some info from a visitor center. And we were wandering why they call it Canyon of the Ancients… The only guy at the visitor center must be at least 90 years old! But he is as friendly and helpful as possible, he points us Hovenweep Natl Monument as a place to spend the night.

Again a fabulous sunset on the road.

We stop at Hovenweep at around 8:30PM. We are able to get a quiet place in the small campground. Time to dinner… Hum, beer (still cold!) and cashews, not really a dinner but the sky is so clear that the only thing that really matters are the stars. We even see two falling stars. Wonderfull stars watching evening!

Map of the day