Moab

Thanksgiving 2001

    This is out third year going to Moab for Thanksgiving.  Almost a tradition now.  What better place to get together with family and friends and meet new friends.

    We arrived Wednesday afternoon to settle in and decide what trail to do on Thursday.  We stayed at the Mircotel (boy, this beats camping), I would recommend it highly.  We decided to do Porcupine rim and get started about 9 am.

    When we got up it was pretty clear and a little cool, it looked to be a good day for wheelin.  We met up with Paul and his family and our daughters, Tiff and Ashley, to go to the trail head.  Upon arriving there we met a group from the mile high jeep club out of Colorado, the fugawai patrol.  We asked to tag along with them and that turned out to be really entertaining. 

    The trail is not to difficult but the scenery is amazing with a few overlooks and many opportunities to get scenic photos. It started to snow about midway through the day, but did not make anything to hard to get back over.  It was a little hard to get good pictures, our camera broke so we were using a disposable one.  We got back to town in time to have a Thanksgiving dinner then plan on what to do on Friday. 

    Friday we went to go see the Indian ruins in Mesa Verde.  We started down to Monticello and got caught in a serious snow storm.  Not wanting to risk an accident we turned around and went back to Moab where the sun was shining.  Since we didn't want to waste the whole day we went to the back side of Arches National Park.  Tower Arch and the Marching Men were a few of the sites there.  Of Coarse who brought the camera?? No pictures.  When we got back to the Hotel we met our friends from the day before.  We had already decided to do Poison Spider trail and invited them to join us.

    Saturday morning looked like another beautiful day.  We met at the trail and after the stragglers showed up we got started.  Poison spider is a fun trail with plenty of obstacles that can be tough or easy enough for a stock vehicle.  The only real damage was Paul who did have his sway bar come off the frame on his cherokee. But a few bolts and he was on his way. We enjoyed watching everyone do the waterfalls and wedgie.  We took our lunch at an arch about midway on the trail. Shortly after that there is an overlook above Moab which is quite amazing.  Through-out the trail the scenery is spectacular, with views of Canyonlands and the LaSal Mountains.

    We left for home on Sunday morning. Another great trip behind us, and hey, nobody broke anything serious.  0IIIII0