Best laid plans

For today's blog post I was not planning to show you any red rocks, no red palisades, cliffs, no red formations of any kind.    The scenery around Moab is so wonderful to us, changing at every turn, but I realize it may be a bit boring to everyone else.

I can't believe this could be boring....
but I suppose it could be to some

To that end we decided to take the LaSal Mountain Loop up into the pine and snow covered mountains to our east.

We drove south on rt. 191 and turned off onto the small road toward Ken's Lake and the Loop road.

a trail overlooking Ken's Lake and the distant LaSal's

It is a small, clear blue lake that looks to be a good fishing spot.   There is a  BLM campground with a few sites behind the lake and a dirt road that beckoned us.    We're suckers for dirt roads that stretch on and then disappear over a crest.    It was lunch time and we were looking for a good spot with a view so we temporarily abandoned the Loop road and followed the little dirt road into the rocks.

We could see a three level waterfall up ahead and to the left so we hoped this road would take us to it.

It didn't, but Dave did find a perfect spot beside the rushing stream to set out our lunch.

the crowded parking lot at our lunch spot

my view to the left

my view to the right

this little flower was actually the size of my baby fingernail!

After lunch we walked a bit on the dirt track our road had become and quickly realized a much beefier, tricked out jeep would be needed to continue, so we decided to resume the LaSal Loop Road into the mountains.



But there was still that waterfall....













We scrambled down the rocks toward it....we could see a trail below but there wasn't a connection between where we left our jeep and that trail.    We could hear that water racing along.....I've seem Pam get down on her butt slide down the rocks so, that's what I did.   Half on my rear, half on my feet we worked our way down.    It wasn't pretty, but we got the job done!

Dave had the camera in his pocket for safe keeping so there will be no pictures of the descent.

does this qualify as an arch?

After viewing the falls from the top we turned to start back up the way we'd come.

 Ha hahaha.....we discovered that the dirt road we came up on had a small cutoff that led to within 1/4 of a mile from the falls!

Dave scrambled back up to the jeep, drove down the road and picked me up at the cutoff.   Lucky me!

Back on the LaSal Mountain Loop road we headed up to about 8500 feet through snow, bare aspens and bushes with the blush of spring beginning.

Its fun to play in the snow when you don't have to brush it off your car, plow it off your driveway, shovel it off your roof,  pull frozen snowballs out of your dog's feet, drive on it and shiver in it.

you missed me!

Snowballs were flying in the warm (ish) sunshine.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour up, around and down the Loop road.   Once down at the Colorado River level we passed through the interesting little residential community of  Cathedral Valley.    We drove around among the quirky houses and farms awhile before resuming our drive back to Beluga.

Cathedral Valley was carpeted in purple today

this Horned Lark sang and sang to us

So, best laid plans, I apologize for showing you more red rock pictures.   I can't help myself, I really can't.