Tuesday April 18 – Thursday April 20

I had a couple days of cross-country driving before getting to Moab, UT, the town at the start of the trail. I entertained myself with a few brief stops along the way, including a visit to Indiana Dunes National Park.

Of course, when I saw a Culver’s I had to stop and get a milkshake and a meal.

The drive thru Iowa and Nebraska was, as usual, completely boring and useless. But then I finally arrived in Utah!

I camped outside of town Wednesday night, and spent most of the day Thursday doing town chores – sorting and mailing resupply packages to 3 “towns”, buying a few small pieces of gear specific to this trail (extra water bladder, thin rope/cord for lowering my pack down cliffs), and a grocery store trip.

There are tons of local outdoor gear stores in Moab, I walked into Gearheads since it was nearby.

They had an amazing water filling station, which was perfect timing, as I was wondering how I was going to fill all my water containers.

I spent a few hours studying my maps and planning the details of my first 2 weeks on trail. It was hard to not be distracted by the beautiful scenery all around me. I think these are the La Sal mountains to the east.

Tonight I will camp in my van at a spot just north of town, and then tomorrow drop off my vehicle in storage and hitch to the start of the trail in Arches NP !

Let the adventure begin…..wheeeee