A drive on La Sal Mountain Loop Rd

9/14/2018 – Moab, UT (4000 ft elevation, which is the lowest we have been in a couple months)

The town of Moab is known for being one of the premier mountain biking and four-wheeling areas in the country. There are miles and miles of trails through very remote areas and I can see why it has become so popular. However, I can also see how a person could easily get lost. We’re planning to do an off road four wheeler excursion….we’ll have our vehicle, but we’ll be doing a u-drive tour, which means we follow a guide vehicle.

After breakfast this morning, Nancy took a bike ride and I took care of some household business. Around noon, we decided to have lunch at the Moab Brewery and then take a drive on the La Sal Mountain Loop Road. It starts just south of Moab and heads up toward La Sal Mountain (duh). After about 30 miles, we took another scenic road that took us along the Colorado River. The area is very geologically different from anywhere we have been so far. There is a lot of red rock, with high plateaus that look like mountains with their top halves smoothly cut off, and valley’s in between and lot less trees. The contrast against where we have been for the past 2 1/2 months was striking.

We also stopped by the Red Cliffs Lodge and Winery, which sits right on the Colorado River. It’s a spectacular setting with high red rock cliffs (hence the name of the lodge) on both sides of the road. It was a privately owned ranch until it was purchased in the early 2000’s by an investor from Bozeman who turned it into a very luxurious western style hotel. We went to the winery and tasted some of the wine. Once we identified a wine we liked, we planned to sit and have a glass on a beautiful outdoor patio area that was attached to the wine tasting room…….it was beautiful setting overlooking the Colorado River. Unfortunately, we were told the patio was reserved for private parties, and to have a glass of your preferred wine, you had to go to the restaurant. So we took a pass and headed home.

We were on the road for about 3 hours. When we got back, we enjoyed hanging out at the pool for a couple hours…..and as you will see, it was another clear blue sky day.

La Sal Mountain Loop Road