Writes of Passage

^{Petroglyph: ancient rock carving (petroglyph)}

Durango, CO 81301

day 4, a traveling day from Moab, UT to Durango, CO, 158 miles; elevation 11,000 feet.

7:30am, departs from Moab, on the winding UT-128 state highway, along the Colorado River. The 40+ miles is part of the Utah Scenic Byways program, with many camp sites and grounds, with the unspoiled land and waterway rock formations as background. We’ve seen the first few miles from last night’s dinner/cruise ride. We turn right on I-70 right at 8:20 near Cisco, UT, which is a ghost town. Once on highway. internet comes in, and the landscape changes too.

The Indian graffiti is an hour after departure from hotel, shortly after crossing the river (now on the right). It’s beautiful!

• UT-128 state highway & petroglyph
• Moab UT→Fruita CO: 100 miles
• Fruita→Delta: 50 miles
• Delta→Ridgway: 50 miles
• Ridgway→Ouray: 10 miles
• the Million Dollar highway
• Ouray→Silverton: 25 miles
• Silverton→Durango: 48 miles

Four stops before Durango:

1. Fruita
2. Walmart
3. Ouray
4. into→Silverton
5. train→Durango

Red Cliffs Lodge by Marriott @ Mile Post, 14 UT-128, Moab, UT 84532, looks inviting, is a highly rated hotel.

Mile 17 JJ’s Mercantile @ Mile 17 UT-128, Moab, UT 84532

Fruita is the first town we stop in Colorado. The welcome center is warm, with coffee, the staff is friendly, so is their dog. Western Slope Vietnam Memorial is nicely built. Delta has two rivers merged.

After the mountain town of Ouray Switzerland of America, situated in a river valley surrounded by snow-capped mountains, we drive on the Million Dollar Highway through the San Juan mountain range and the Uncompahgre Gorge to Silverton.

After an hour in Silverton, we board the 19th century Narrow Gauge Railroad, to Durango; two free hours then bus to Fairfield for the night.

1861 N Hwy 191 #9623
Moab, UT 84532

… more pix on Google Maps, Yelp, TA

Won’t return.

A canteen style and quantity buffet dinner in a big hall with rows of long tables, on the Colorado River. Door opens at 7pm.

Love their green cotton napkins.

After dinner we waited around for our light show cruise, boarding at 8pm. The sun sets at 8:30.

• the dinner
• the ride & more
• Elon’s Starlink clear skies, many stars

The flat bottom boat sails smoothly on the shallow Colorado River.

It’s a marvelous evening with clear skies that filled with stars, large and small. Elon Musk’ Starlink made an appearance, which is the highlight of the night.

The light show? What light show?

As we’re getting back on shore, at the top of the stairs, there is a big can for tips (the staff has mentioned this before the end of the cruise), front and center. It’s a little uncouth and bit inconvenient for the flow of the traffic. I don’t see anyone throw in any bills.

This dinner cruise is an optional choice from our tour company, that reads

“Optional: Evening Boat Tour on the Colorado River with dinner”. The cost is $119 per person.

I didn’t get the sense that the dinner is NOT served on board. If I knew, I would not have booked this option.

At our trip orientation, the tour manager explained that we would be bused to dinner first then get on boat.

A truck projects light onto the rock formations from Route U-128. The sound system on the boat is like school PA, and competes with the running motor of the boat.

The female staff (or owner?) on the boat said this is a family run business. I think any business, regardless of family owned or not, needs to do a good job to earn costumers’ support. If this company’s main clienteles are tourists like me, returning seems mote. Perhaps it’s the travel agencies is their main customer.

The following morning, as we’re driving on the same UT-128, we see the rock formations one more time.

The rock formation

The rock formations along the Colorado River near Moab, Utah, are known for their distinctive holes and arches. These features are primarily the result of a geological process called weathering and erosion, specifically a type known as tafoni (wiki: (singular: tafone) are cavities that develop in granular rock. 是在颗粒岩石中形成的洞穴) or honeycomb weathering 蜂窝状风化.

犹他州摩押附近科罗拉多河沿岸的岩层以其独特的孔洞和拱门而闻名.这些特征主要是由一种名为风化和侵蚀的地质过程造成的.具体来说,是一种被称为塔弗尼风化或蜂窝状风化的现象.

488 N Main St.
Moab, UT 84532

… more pix and videos on Google Maps, Yelp, TA

Will return.

Hampton is part of Hilton group, locates at the edge of the town.

It has cookies ready for the guests in the late afternoon, apples are the constant in the lobby. They have a tiny pool and a weak jacuzzi on the ground in the back, outdoor. Laundry room is on the ground level, $3 per load.

The gift of bottled water and notebook, not sure it’s for our tour or for everyone – I love the notebook. My current notebook for bridge has few pages left, so this would be a prefect replacement.

The bathroom is decent, so is the room. The door is heavy – especially in light of our previous hotel in SLC that doesn’t even close. Plenty of outlet and USB ports.

DABS Utah State Liquor Store #27
55 W 200 S,
Moab, UT 84532

… more pix on Google Maps

Supermarkets and stores sells beers in Utah, not wine. For wine and whiskey, state store is the place one goes to.

This one is next door to Fiesta Mexicana: average, sells what we need, period.

202 S Main St,
Moab, UT 84532

… more pix & videos on Google Maps, Yelp, TA

Will return.

A charming restaurant, with bold paintings and cute items.

1. The red wine is served in a Porto glass
2. They like to jam dinners

Our group of 17, is seated by the door on a Monday, in two tables. By the time we left at 7:30pm, it’s still very empty.

Food is pretty delicious. My beef is tender but I did add salt (I love salt) and the bean is flavorful.

The churros – I just had a wonderful churros in Salt Lake City yesterday – light, alive and fluffy , so I think I’m fairly fresh in judging – this one is not even close, dead.

Moab, UT 84532

… more pix n videos on Google Maps, FB, TA, Yelp ^1st

This is the first of the four parks on this 6-night tour.

Dead Horse Point State Park opened in 1959, with a overlook that is dramatic, to Colorado River and Canyonlands National Park. Horseshoe Bend is park’s most iconic scene, a drone would be wonderful here, which is allowed from Nov to Feb, when there is less animals and humans.

• Horseshoe Bend
• blue to Bend, 0:15
• chipmouks @ picnic
• views from the Visitor Center

We depart from Salt Lake City after breakfast at 8am, arriving at Dead Horse shorely before 1pm, with two bathroom breaks. The first one is at Lin’s Price (my review on Google Maps) where we also pick up light lunch to picnic at the park. This town Price has 8,216 residents (2020 census).

The second bathroom break is at Crescent Junction Rest Area in Thompson Springs, UT, a town with a population of 34 (according to the 2020 census; 39 at 2010), which is genuinely a great bathroom break, taking you down memory lane.

This lonesome structure was a peeping hole in the past, sitting atop the Colorado plateau. Nowadays, of course, there are men’s and women’s modern bathrooms.

… more pix & video on Google Maps

Between the peeping hole and the Dead Horse, we passby the Skydive crowds. Skydiving in this area is super great … wondering why I didn’t do it?

We pulled into the Dead Horse park gate at 12:42pm.

The name: the legend had it that cowboys in the 19th century, used this area as their natural corral, where horses often died of exposure.

We head to the Dead Horse Point Overlook directly, which is 3.4 miles away. We allotted an hour here, includes picnic. Many chipmunks are dancing around us, perhaps hoping for some?

The bright & sharp blues are solar evaporation ponds for a mine owned by Intrepid Potash, Inc., which is founded in 2000, traded as ipi on NYSE ($34.29 on July 21, 2025).

Potash is potassim chloride.

Before leaving, we drop by the Info Center. The fully shaded verrandar has a great view.

• Lin’s Price
• the old peeping hole
• skydive