Just returned form Moab and let me tell you, what a huge disappointment it was from one factor - construction coming from the north into town. On Sunday, it was packed. 1hr 45mins to get from roughly 1 mile north of 128/191 junction to the Days Inn in town. Not a single police officer in sight directing traffic, 5 lanes reduced to 2. It was a shit show.
128 was busy all the way out to Onion Creek, but mellowed out to Dempsey.
We had been camping 6 days and were ready for a shower. Our Air BnB we had booked was a Yurt complex at Mill Canyon north of Arches. It blew down a few weeks before our arrival but the host nor AirBnB rebooked us or let us know. We arrived to an empty site. No cell, no data, no email out there at all. AirBnB left us hanging with no rentals in the area at all and they do not book hotels for these situations. Drive back into town took 2 hours. There were exactly 3 hotel rooms left within 100 miles of Moab. Days Inn on 191 in town was $375 for the night. Everyone jacked their prices. We camped out at Dempsey again and left for Pagosa to R&R instead on Monday.
The highlights?
The Moab Garage - excellent food, coffee and uber hot staff. They are the reason I will return to Moab.
Onion Creek South Trail - quiet and fantastic for a cool out and back.
Dispersed camping - north of La Sal Loop Road (runs all the way to Gateway, CO) was no issue. Who knew I would wake up, take my dog for a walk on a pretty quiet trail to two girls doing nude yoga on a rock outcropping above the Colorado at sunrise just west of the Dempsey Bridge?
Hope it is not as insanely busy as it was for us on Sunday/Monday.