Now that I have more spare time, I will add some details about my trip to Moab:
We drove up the eastern route. The first 3 or 4 hours, were through a spectacular canyon. I have done that section before on our drive back east, but the last 4 or 5 hours was a new drive. It was through hopi and navajo land, which was quite desolate. One section was flat and real windy. The wire fence on both sides of the road was completely filled with trash. If the fence wasn't there, the trash would have blown to oz by now. Also, all the mobile homes had tires on the roof. Not sure if that was a navajo tradition or they were just trying to keep the roofs from blowing off. Once in Utah the landscape started to get amazing again. It was awesome to see snow capped peaks as we approached Moab.
It was great to be reunited with my pals. However, when I arrived, I noticed that Marianne's had was bandaged. She had an unfortunate wrenching accident putting her bike together and spent the day in urgent care getting 10 stitches. We were not sure how riding would go for her, so we opted to ride Brands the next day. This way she would have a bail out if the hand was a problem. Luckily, she had no problems and we all got in a decent ride. Brands is where Outerbike was a few days prior, and while not an epic trailhead, it had some great trails and options to cross over to another area, which we did.
The next day we did Navajo Rocks. This was recommended by the doctor that stitched Marianne up. ( I imagine that everyone that lives in Moab, loves the outdoors! ) It was supposed to be intermediate and novice with great views. The views were spectacular and the trail twisted all over rock features and gave us a great tour of the terrain with lots of slick rock and rock exploring. I would do this trail system again!
On day 3, we went to Klondike Bluffs and met Cliff and Diana who drove over from their new home in Grand Junction. Besides slick rock, the dirt sections were top notch from a design point of view. This area was not as scenic but perhaps the best trails of the 3 days. It also had dinosaur print fossils, which is pretty cool and not something you see often. I would love to go back to this section with my full suspension bike sometime. I may need to get to Moab again
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We had tentative plans to drive the western route back and perhaps hike in Monument Valley or Sedona, but there was a high wind/dust storm. It was so windy that if we ate out of the car, my food blew off my fork. So we skipped the hike and headed back a day earlier. It was nice to wake up to the hummingbirds the next morning, and see all the new flowers that popped in my garden since the day before the trip.