Reviewing the previous day

Today was supposed to be the day for exploring a different area but it rained all night long. We needed to take a downhill twisty road to the area we wanted to explore but the road was extremely slippery so it was certain that we would be picking at least one of the motorcycles up before the day was done. So we elected to go to the Canyonlands National Park Visitor Center and get some information about the canyon's history. On the way there we passed the entrance to the road we descended yesterday to get into the canyon. It was quite muddy with ruts in the mud from the jeeps that had tried the road. We continued on to the visitor center which was very informative. The roads down in the canyon were made by uranium miners as a way to get their ore up out of the canyon. The value of uranium dropped and all of the mining operations shut down. Finally the area was made into a national park. The real appeal of the area is using 4 wheel drive vehicles, motorcycles or mountain bikes to get down into the canyon. The area is too large and remote for the average hiker. The whole town of Moab basically exists to accommodate the tourists who come here to explore the area in their vehicles. So naturally a congressman from New York, IIRC,  introduced a bill to outlaw vehicles from the area. The bill was defeated and now states like Utah have passed legislation preventing the federal government making laws on how states can use their land. Needless to say this congressman is not popular among the citizens of Moab. The ranger at the visitor center told us about some unique pictoglyphs that we could hike to. (Petroglyphs are drawings scratched into the varnish like coating of some rock types, pictoglyphs are actually painted on the rocks) The parking area where the hike begins was 50 miles away on paved roads and then another 30 miles of dirt roads. Then it is an easy hike to the site. We decided to go there tomorrow. The painted figures there are about 6 feet tall so they sound like something worth seeing. After seeing the visitor center we went to a scenic overlook and could look down on the road we took up the canyon wall when leaving yesterday. We could also see the white rim of the canyon that we rode around. It was very impressive to see how big the area is. I told Daren that everybody should see this view both before and after riding down below. By now it is raining and we head on back to our cabin.

The white rim around the canyon in a canyon

The road out of the main canyon