It’s all about the rocks for our next three stops that included Colorado National Monument near Grand Junction, CO, Arches National Park and Dead Horse Point State Park near Moab in eastern Utah.

From Flaming Gorge in southern Wyoming, we traveled south through the northeast corner of Utah into Colorado on a series of State highways (44, 191, 40 & 64). We took Colorado SR139 south out of Rangely CO to the Grand Junction area, about 72 miles. Colorado SR139 was a challenge as it was in poor condition, narrow, with tight curves and steep grades over Douglas Pass (8268′).

Happy to arrive at James M. Robb-Colorado River State Park for a three night stay; nice State park with full hookups. We visited nearby Colorado National Monument starting at the west entrance which is about 2.5 miles from the State Park.

The 23 mile Rim Rock Road follows the plateau rim with numerous roadside overlooks and access to a 45-mile trail system.

From Grand Junction we traveled southwest 100 miles to the Moab UT area via I-70 and State Road 128 for a very scenic drive into Moab. Seven Mile RV Park north of Moab was a good base to visit both Dead Horse Point State Park and Arches National Park.

Dead Horse Point State Park shares canyon views with neighboring Canyonland National Park.

The first question was about the Park’s name. The legend is that in the 1800’s the park’s narrow point was used to corral wild horses with wranglers choosing the best horses and leaving the others corralled with no way out. The remains of the horses were found, thus the name.

The park’s narrow peninsula sits 2,000 feet above the Colorado River that overlooks the massive canyon. There is a nice campground in the park that I tried to get a reservation, but no luck due to the time of year and popularity of the park.

With our timed entry pass in hand (required April 1 – October 31 through recreation.gov) we spent a day at Arches National Park, one of my favorites.

The main road through the park will take you to most of the popular sites and we found ample parking available. With lots of options, we stopped at the Double Arch area that includes Turret Arch and North & South Window, the Fiery Furnace Viewpoint, and the most photographed Delicate Arch.

Two additional stops were we really enjoyed: Sand Dune Arch, short hike through narrow opening and Landscape Arch, a 2 mile moderate hike. Both were worth it and highly recommend.

Next we will be on our way to southwest Colorado and the San Juan Mountains to catch the Aspens in their golden Fall glory, before making our way east to Colorado Springs.

A Florida note: We were anxiously watching hurricane Helene as it was forecast to come close to our property in FL. The storm ended up tracking a little farther east and we had no damage even with 17.5 inches of rain. Extremely fortunate as we see so much devastation east of us in the big bend area and other states.