Our first day in Moab, we got up nice and early and decided to take a scenic drive.  The morning started off a little cloudy, so we thought a drive would be a nice way to start, plus would get us acclimated to the area.  Lee was kind enough before we started though to give my camera a nice cleaning.  I know it is a pain for him and try to avoid situations where I need it but the wind and sand had gotten some schnibblies (the technical term) on my sensor.  This requires  me to photoshop those out in almost every picture with sky, and results in a ton more work for me.  He was nice enough to clean it for me and hopefully it will last another year before the next cleaning.  If you are curious, by the way, he is like a surgeon when he does it, and uses canned air, lens paper, Qtips, and cleaning solution.

Once he was done we headed out and back the way we had came in.  Canyonlands is a large National Park, and although we are close to the northern entrance, the southern entrance is over 65 miles away.  Since we were planning on a long driving day, we packed a lunch and headed back down HWY 191 towards a couple of roads that I knew had overlooks on them.

The first road we turned on was Looking Glass Road, which is a rough gravel road that goes to Looking Glass Rock.  The road actually meets up with CR133 eventually, but it was rough enough that we just drove down to see the Looking Glass Rock and then turned around and went back to Highway 191.  We don’t do that sort of thing very often so it gives you an idea how rough the road was. There is a sign at the turnoff and you can’t see it until you turn the corner, but it was definitely worth the stop despite the rough road.

Once we were back on the highway it was only a few miles more until we hit CR 133.  I highly recommend both this road and the dirt offshoot CR132 for their fantastic views of the Canyonlands Needles.  Both of these roads were such an amazing surprise and exactly why we love the road less taken.  Let me show you rather than tell you, although the pictures don’t come close to capturing how special it was.

 

 

The road, was pretty, but not spectacular, and then we got to Needles Overlook.  It was an absolutely beautiful overlook spot with very clean and stocked pit toilets and a paved path you could follow or you could walk among the rocks.  It had picnic tables and benches and not another soul was there.  It was absolutely perfect, and the views were spectacular, seriously for me it was the gold standard of what every overlook should be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needles Overlook alone was worth the drive, but there was still more to come.  We decided to take the dirt road CR132 to the Anticline Overlook.  On the way we passed Minor Overlook, which we almost skipped because it just looked like a big rock, but that would have been a big mistake as the road goes around the big rock for another amazing view.  First off I have never seen a road go around a rock like this, and Lee took some Go Pro video to show what it was like.

 

 

 

 

After the Minor Overlook we made it to the Anticline Overlook, and this view was the best that we have seen.  It is directly across from Dead Horse State Park and the view was totally free.  This path was a bit rougher, but completely worth it, and please whatever you do make sure you walk down to the right and look at the view from there.  It literally took my breath away, and I said wow so many times Lee asked me if I was having a “viewgasm” to which I replied yes I think I am.

 

 

 

I know, right?  All Lee could think though was how he was seeing little tiny jeeps down on the curvy road and he really wanted to drive that road.  Once again our lack of 4X4 was holding us back, but we are definitely coming back and either bringing a jeep or renting one, because that road was begging to be driven.

 

 

 

Hands down one of the best views we have seen in three years on the road, plus totally free, and completely unexpected.  It was 17 miles each way to drive down to this point from the end of the paved road, but for us was completely worth it.  We had a wonderful morning, but we weren’t done yet, because we still hadn’t entered Canyonlands National Park itself yet.  I will leave you here though, and pick that up in the next post