M/C Raven Trip Report 23 – 4 Corners, 7th Ferry Ride, Crashed on Castle Reef

So, I spent the entire Labor Day long weekend at the Horsetheif Campground. Each evening as he made his rounds, Jim the campground host, would stop by and we’d chat for an hour or so. Jim’s retired and spends half his year in Arizona near the river and the other half campground hosting here in Utah. A very interesting guy.

It was Jim who pointed out that the Four Corners monument was just a half day’s ride that-a-way. He also mentioned a couple of campgrounds further along my route that he liked a lot. I took his advice on all accounts and had a great time too.

To get to the Four Corners area you ride south east from Moab, leave Utah and pass through the southwest corner of Colorado. You know that you’ve entered Colorado because, every second building you see is a liquor store. Looking back, I couldn’t remember a single one in Utah. Colorado liquor store owners must make a killing off wayward Mormons. Anyway, you pass through liquor store central then turn south into Tony Hillerman country. After enjoying all those Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee books, coming to Teec-nos-pas and Shiprock was like visiting an old friend.

The Four Corners monument costs $5 to get in then, you park and walk into this large, circular area sectioned off into quadrants. Each quadrant has, following the arc of the circle, a bunch of stands selling tourist souvenirs (you can see the souvenir stands behind me in the picture below).  The only souvenir I wanted was a Four Corners sticker for my bike. The guy in New Mexico had just what I wanted.

We all had to stand in line to get our pictures taken on the bronze marker. Some people posed, some lay down, and some placed a hand or foot into each quadrant. No one just stood there and got shot. I think my picture turned out really well. It was taken with my camera by another biker who stood in line with his rider father just in front of me. I took theirs too.

I left the Four Corners and headed back north west through the corner of Arizona and back into Utah where I spent the night camped in a National Forest campground just south of Moab. Woke up the next morning and headed for Natural Bridges National Monument.

Natural Bridges’ rock formations are, geologically, much older than those in the Arches area to the north. Looking at the interpretive sign in the photo below shows that Natural Bridges are hundreds of millions of years older. They look it too. The color is completely different, the surrounding terrain is much more worn down; the elevation is lower and the temps much hotter.

Leaving Natural Bridges I decided to take the ferry across Lake Powell. My 7^th ferry ride of this trip so, I left the main highway and took the road to Lake Powell and the Ferry Charles Hall. Cost $14 for an hour out of the saddle watching the shore slip by. Temps in the 100deg plus, I was ready for a break.

Leaving the ferry dock I headed back up the road and rejoined the highway. One of the Campgrounds that Jim had recommended was Fruita National Park campground. It’s the site of an old Mormon settlement and still has some of the original buildings and orchards. The National Park Service maintains the orchards and, since the trees are still producing fruit, you can pick apples, pears and other fruit when it’s in season. You have to compete with the local deer population though.

Also on the site is one of the original homes where a visitor can buy pies made from the locally grown fruit – also homemade ice-cream (YUM!).

I spent only one night there but enjoyed the presentation by a couple of rangers. One spoke about how non-indigenous species can damage an ecosystem (ironic since the National Park Service is maintaining the park with its non-indigenous turkey flock and deer population). The other presentation was star and constellation recognition. Fruita NP (and the greater Castle Reef area) counts its dark nights (no light pollution) as one of its more important assets. It was definitely dark and you could see the full band of the Milky Way and lots of constellations.