Island in the Sky

I have not been with the WINs for about 4 months now, but rejoined them in Moab, Utah for the start of the CUACK (Colorado Utah Arizona California Kayaking) circuit. We're parked really snugly at 2 sections of the Gold Bar group area, right on the Colorado River south of town.


Our first activity was a 4-wheel drive trip up to the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands. You can get there on a paved road, but we went up Long Canyon instead.


It started out pretty easy, cute even!


Uh-oh! Trouble ahead at Pucker Pass. There's a really big hole up there with lots of sand in it.



Nancy had no trouble at all, even driving one handed so she could cheer with the other.


One thing we always say, "It's better to watch the show than be the show." Austin is stuck down there. Bertie pulled him up, with about 100 feet of combined tow ropes. She is really fearless!


Our first stop once we got to the top was Dead Horse Point. Down below us is the Colorado River and the Shafer Trail that we are going to go back on.


Remember that point with the arrow, I'll talk about it later.


Next stop was Mesa Arch, where you can get a beautiful picture of the arch with Washer Woman underneath. Can't see the Washer Woman?


Here's a close up. She's on the left.


Of course I had to do the touristy thing of walking across the arch. There's a BIG dropoff on the other side.


Then we went to the Green River Overlook, where you can see the Green River before it meets up with the Colorado River south of here.


There is more to see in Island in the Sky, but we have a long trip home, so here we go. That's our road??? Oh dear....


It's actually a pretty good road, although a little scary. You don't even need 4-wheel drive, although high clearance would be nice.


Here we are at the point I showed you from above. It's called Thelma and Louise Point, because it's where the final scene of the 1991 movie "Thelma and Louise" was filmed.


Thelma and Louise drove off the cliff in a cloud of dust, rather than surrender. They actually had to film the scene twice and waste 2 cars because in the first take, one of the mannequins fell over.