The next day
(10-24) was a real short travel day as I only went about 34 miles from the Dead Horse
Point campground to Moab.
It was mostly downhill as well, so I got to Moab around noon. I checked into a campground
and spent about a half-hour just getting my tent anchored – really hard ground. Just
about the time I finished, Lynn and Gayle stopped by. They had stayed in the same
campground for several days and were expecting me. They were now packed and getting ready
to head off toward Arizona and points south. This time I don’t think I’ll see
them again, at least not until I get to Boston in the spring.
I then took the bike to the
Chili Pepper Bike Shop for a new back tire and a minor tune-up. That gave me some time to
walk around Moab. I found it to be a very prosperous and progressive looking town, and one
that certainly caters to tourists. Lots of motels, restaurants, coffee shops, artist shops
specialty stores, and a couple of micro-breweries. The population is around 4500 and
growing. About half of them seem to be bicyclists (the other half are rock climbers),
although they are all of the mountain bike variety.
On my way back to the
campground after dinner, I stopped at a grocery store and noticed a newspaper headline
that caught my interest. It was the Grand Junction, Colorado newspaper and the headline
read "Black Canyon Goes National". I knew the headline must have been referring
to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument, which I
know at least something about. Sure enough, it was. It turns out that a couple of days
earlier (October 21), President Clinton had signed legislation creating the Black Canyon
of the Gunnison National Park (upgrading its status from National Monument). Two things
went through my mind real quickly. First, how can the President do this to me! Second, how
long would it take me to get there from Moab. I had a pretty fair idea of where it was,
although I thought it was a little further south, and on the same highway as Mesa Verde
NP. I found an atlas in the grocery store, and determined that the Black Canyon was
actually about 100 miles straight east of Moab, and about 180 miles away by road (since I
would have to go around the La Sal Mountains). Armed with all this good information, I
decided to "sleep on it" and make a decision tomorrow about whether or not to
alter my route and go there.
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
