Onion Creek and Thompson Canyon.

The Trail.

This ride will take us on two trails. Onion Creek and Thompson Canyon. The whole ride is very scenic.  The views start as you leave Moab and don’t stop.

Getting There.

We gathered at the north end of town and headed north on 191.
When we got to the intersection of 191 and 128 we turned onto 128 and followed it Northeast along the Colorado River.

 

We followed the river for 22 miles to the turnoff for Onion creek.

We stopped to air down and then headed into the canyon. On this ride we will cross the creek 28 times.

This canyon has some really nice rock formations.

A Great Spot for a Ranch.

You come out of the canyon a see this large cattle ranch in a high valley.

We drove along the edge of the ranch enjoying the views.

Thompson Canyon.

We turned off this trail and onto the Thompson Canyon trail. We climbed a steep hill and started down the other side through a set of steep switchbacks…

into another beautiful canyon.

The Hideout.

Along this trail is a place called the Hideout. I don’t know who hid here but the place could use a little renovation.

More Views.

We left the hideout and continued our scenic drive.

In the Trees.

Eventually we climbed high enough that we entered a zone of pine trees.

From here we has a superb view if the peaks of the La Sal Mountains.

From up here we can see into the valley where the ranch is.

As we climbed higher we encounter some snow on the side of the road.

Lunch and a Break Down.

We stopped for lunch at a cross road. If we turn right it will take us through Castle Valley and back to Moab if we turn left it will take us to a place called Polar Mesa.

As we pulled onto a flat spot we could hear some loud squeaking coming from Dennis K’s jeep.
It turned out that the front universal joint on the front drive shaft had gone bad.
He decided to remove the joint and tie the front drive shaft up once we got to the pavement.

We had our lunch and headed down the road that will take us back to Moab.
Eventually we came to the pavement at a large turnout where there was a restroom and a nature trail.

We pulled into the parking area and Dennis K. got under his jeep and pulled the universal joint and tied the shaft up out of the way.

Dinosaur Tracks.

While Dennis was working on his jeep the rest of us aired our tires up, Patti took a walk along the trail and found this sign.

Not far from the sign she found the Dino tracks.

Castle Valley.

Once Dennis had his driveshaft taken care of we headed down through Castle Valley.

This is Castle Rock.

Eventually we were back on 128 heading for Moab.

That was an awesome Drive.

The Last Supper.

At 5:00 we all gathered at the Sunset Grill for our last meal together.
The food was good but a bit pricey. We all enjoyed the meal and at the end said our goodbyes with vows to meet again in Quartzsite in the Fall.