It is another blistering day in Moab. We scheduled a river rafting trip in the morning. We put in at the poetically named Higgle Bottoms and put out at Ida Gulch. Although the scenery was beautiful, the Colorado was sluggish, low, and didn’t live up to its reputation of being a river runner’s feisty dream. Oh, and did I mention that it was hot? We heard about all the movies made along the Colorado River, including City Slickers 2, Austin Powers 2, some John Wayne flicks, and best of all Bon Jovi’s video of Blaze of Glory. Apparently Jon Bon Jovi didn’t tell the Bureau of Land Management about the spectacular explosion he arranged for the end of the shoot, and the Agency didn’t have a sense of humor. Bon Jovi paid a $500,000 fine. People (I don’t know who) have named all the rock formations, and we saw Scooby Doo, which did look remarkably like him, as well as the priest and the two nuns, all of whom appeared to be getting a lecture from Above. And we learned a little geology. The apron of sandstone that we saw at river level was the Chinlee Formation, which is overlain by the younger Kayenta Formation that is more blocky and columnar. Our jeep tour was cancelled, so we had a free afternoon to rumble around the town. Moab has character, with lots of bars, outback outfitters, boutiques, and restaurants. We ate at the Peace Tree Café where they serve smoothies and all manner of wraps (i.e., peanut butter wraps). We ordered hummus wraps – really great, and then had smoothies too.
