Day 27: Friday, Maya 9th
Hummer Ride to Slick Rock area
Oh My Goodness!
The highlight of our stay in Moab has been our trip up Slick Rock thru Hell's Revenge on a Hummer!
(Nana and Paw opted out)
So, the kids and I signed up for a 2 hour tour through this rugged terrain of Navajo sandstone.
Summary: Hell’s Revenge consists of a six and one half mile roller coaster ride across the slickrock fins east of the town of Moab. It is extremely difficult, and recommended only for very experienced drivers with advanced equipment.
Up we go!!!
You can see Adam's expression in the side view mirror. All three of us basically had that same expression the entire time. Never having done this before, (or any off roading) it was quite thrilling.
Here's a look at our fabulous ride. Adam rode shotgun. Natalie and I rode in the backseat. We were the only ones on this trip. So we could stop whenever we wanted and change seats for better views.
Our tour guide, Mike, (no relation), was terrific for explaining all kinds of things to us as we were driving. Plus, he made us all feel super comfortable and safe on this amazing ride.
He started off explaining that we could see "virga" in the distance just near the LaSal Mountains.
This is what wikipedia has to say, (which was almost exactly how Mike explained it too)
In meteorology, virga is an observable streak or shaft of precipitation that falls from a cloud but evaporates or sublimes before reaching the ground.[1] At high altitudes the precipitation falls mainly as ice crystals before melting and finally evaporating; this is often due to compressional heating, because the air pressure increases closer to the ground. It is very common in the desert and in temperate climates. In North America, it is commonly seen in the Western United States and the Canadian Prairies.
Then he stopped at the top of this area, had us get out and talked about the area around Moab.
He then had Adam look down.
This was what he saw.
Can you see the Allosaurus foot print?
We found a few of them.
Then on we went as Mike pointed out various plants, shrubs and trees native to the area.
Way cool for this homeschool Mom!
The kids had no idea this was today's science lesson.
He pointed out Morman Tea, Prickly Pear Cactus, Scorpion Weed, Gambel Oak, Juniper, Woods Rose, and more, I can't remember.
Then on to the Extreme ride!
Basically this area is operated by the BLM. (Bureau of Land Management.)
The black marks are the trail made by various tires.
Rule #1. Stay on the trail. Otherwise, we'd fall,...a long way.
A long climb.
This is called the Abyss....
See the little tiny spots in the middle. Those are dirt bikes and mountain bikers. Apparently, some boy scout made it his Eagle Project to come out here and make/mark off a trail for them. How cool!
And a long way down!
Yep, she loved it!
Is this named, "Tip Over Challenge"?
The "Roller Coaster"
Our paths crossed the mountain bikers at several points. They have the ride of way over the jeeps and 4 X 4s, but these guys didn't want any witnesses going down this hill. I don't blame them. What would be worse than crashing, than crashing in front of a bunch of spectators?!
Some people call this "petrified sand dunes", but to be petrified, it needs to be organic, and sand is not.
so, there you go.
"The Escalator?"
Here we stopped and got out to take a look around.
This is part of the Colorado River up by the Big Bend area.
This is an area of illegal base jumping. What could be worse than driving on this road and have some jumper land right on or in front of your car!
Apparently, folks like it as the rock is concave.
Group Shot.
Mike explaining to Adam how to inflate and deflate the tires of a Hummer.
Another look at the Abyss and our trail clearly marked for us.
Sometimes, the grade was as much as 40% incline. WOW!
That's steep.
Felt like we were going to tip over
Someone else coming up.
Looking through the Hummer to where we're heading.
You can tell the fin is only as wide as the Hummer. Not much room on either side.
No mistakes here!
Back down the fin to where we started.
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