Thursday, March 22

We checked out of the hostel in Salt Lake City and headed south for Moab.  It was another bright, sunny day and the weather was warming up (supposed to be 70 in Salt Lake in the afternoon).  This was Chris' birthday and I was hoping to do something fun, but it was mostly just driving.  The scenery was pretty and we stopped at a rest area that had a train engine on display behind it.  We also stopped in Green River (at the river museum), but just looked at all of the outside displays instead of taking the full tour.  We got to Moab in the early afternoon, in time to stock up on groceries and hit the Visitors' Center to find a campsite.  (We had planned to camp in the Arches National Park, but that campground was full when we arrived.)

We found a campsite right along the Colorado River (on BLM land) which is just a few miles from Arches.  After we booked the campsite, we ate some dinner and took a small hike along a creek up a canyon across the highway from the camping area.  We set up the van when we got back and went to sleep for the night.  Tomorrow, we will go explore in Arches.