> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.rollingnichols.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Moab, Utah — A Place Pictures Don’t Quite Capture - URL: https://www.rollingnichols.com/moab-utah/ - Published: 2026-10-02T08:51:22.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-12T21:00:32.000Z - Description: Our April 2019 trip to Moab took us through Arches National Park, Dead Horse Point and some of the most memorable scenery we’ve encountered on the road. - Author: Phil Nichols - Tags: Utah, Parks & Scenic Stops, #no-home We went to Moab, Utah, in April 2019 with both of our sons, Joe and Kevin. This was very much a destination trip. I had heard about Moab for years, but none of us had ever been there. The four of us were pretty much gobsmacked by the beauty of the area. There are plenty of photographs from this trip in the gallery below, and they probably tell the story better than I can. But Moab is also one of those places where photographs don't quite do it justice. They come close. Standing there is different. The scale of everything gets lost in a photograph. A canyon becomes something that fits on a screen. A huge sandstone formation becomes a rock in the distance. You don't really appreciate how large the landscape is until you're standing in the middle of it. ## Where We Stayed We stayed north of Moab at what was then **Archview RV Resort & Campground**, now called **Sun Outdoors Canyonlands Gateway**. [Sun Outdoors](https://www.sunoutdoors.com/amp/utah/sun-outdoors-canyonlands-gateway?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) My recollection of the campground itself is pretty simple. It was so-so. Not bad. Not particularly good. But it did exactly what we needed it to do. We weren't there to spend our time at the RV park. We needed someplace to park the RV while we explored the area, and for that it worked just fine. The interesting stuff was outside the campground. ## Arches National Park One of the places we spent time was **Arches National Park**. We drove through the park, stopping along the way and getting out to look around. One of the places we know we walked was the **Windows Section**. Fortunately, I still have a photograph of the trail sign, because after this many years some of the individual names had started running together in my head. The Windows trail leads to **North Window, South Window and Turret Arch**, with Double Arch nearby. The main Windows loop is only about a mile round trip, so you don't have to make a major expedition to get out among some pretty remarkable formations. [National Park Service](https://www.nps.gov/places/the-windows-section-trailhead.htm?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) That was one of the things I liked about Arches. You could drive, stop, walk for a while, get back in the vehicle and continue on. Around almost every turn there seemed to be something else worth getting out to look at. And once again, photographs don't really convey the size. Looking at a picture of an arch and standing underneath one are two entirely different things. ## Monitor and Merrimac Another pair of formations that caught my attention were **Monitor and Merrimac Buttes**. They're named because of their resemblance to the Civil War ironclad warships **USS Monitor** and **Merrimack**, which fought each other at Hampton Roads in 1862\. The Merrimac butte is the larger of the two and, despite looking massive from a distance, is actually a relatively thin formation. [Discover Moab](https://www.discovermoab.com/places-to-go/scenic-byways/scenic-byway-u-313/?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) This is exactly the sort of odd little bit of history that gets my attention. You look out across this enormous Utah landscape and there are two flat-topped rock formations named after a pair of Civil War ironclads that fought more than 150 years ago and more than 2,000 miles away. Once somebody points them out and tells you the names, you can see the resemblance. I've got photographs of those too. ## Dead Horse Point Probably the place that stuck with me the most was **Dead Horse Point State Park**. Lisa and I went up there, and this is another place where the scale is difficult to describe until you're standing there. Dead Horse Point sits about **2,000 feet above the Colorado River**. The point is connected to the surrounding mesa by a narrow strip of land known as **the Neck**, which is only about 30 yards wide. [Utah State Parks](https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/dead-horse-point/history/?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) The name comes from an old story about wild horses. I had remembered it as Native Americans using the point to trap horses, but when I went back and checked the history, I had that part wrong. According to the legend told by Utah State Parks, cowboys around the turn of the twentieth century rounded up wild mustangs and drove them across that narrow neck onto the point. They then built a barrier of branches and brush across the opening. With cliffs surrounding the horses on the other sides, the entire point became a huge natural corral. The cowboys could select the horses they wanted and normally release the rest. According to the legend, however, on one occasion horses were left trapped on the waterless point and died of thirst, even though they could see the Colorado River far below them. Utah State Parks appropriately calls it a **legend**, rather than presenting it as documented history. [Utah State Parks](https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/dead-horse-point/history/?utm%5Fsource=chatgpt.com) Standing there makes it easy to understand how the natural corral would have worked. It also gives you some appreciation for just how unforgiving this landscape could be. ## The Pictures Tell the Rest I could probably write several more paragraphs describing the scenery around Moab and still not accomplish what the photographs do. So I'm not going to try. This was one of those trips where the scenery really was the story. We had Arches. We had Dead Horse Point. We had Monitor and Merrimac. We had mile after mile of red rock, cliffs, mesas and formations that looked completely different from the country we were accustomed to seeing. And we had Joe and Kevin there with us. That makes the trip memorable for reasons beyond the scenery. ## Worth the Stop? I don't think **Worth the Stop** really describes Moab. For us, it was **worth the trip**. Moab wasn't somewhere we happened to pass through and decided to investigate. We went there because we wanted to see it. After being there, I understand why people make it a destination. If scenery, photography, unusual geology or simply seeing a part of the country that looks completely different interests you, Moab is somewhere I'd gladly recommend making the trip to see. The photographs below are from our April 2019 visit. And as good as some of them are, they still don't quite capture it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fd/23/fd2306e5-5c40-45cc-8a69-e15a5f96c86f/content/images/2026/10/DSC_3108.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fd/23/fd2306e5-5c40-45cc-8a69-e15a5f96c86f/content/images/2026/10/DSC_3089.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fd/23/fd2306e5-5c40-45cc-8a69-e15a5f96c86f/content/images/2026/10/DSC_3073.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fd/23/fd2306e5-5c40-45cc-8a69-e15a5f96c86f/content/images/2026/10/DSC_3069.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fd/23/fd2306e5-5c40-45cc-8a69-e15a5f96c86f/content/images/2026/10/DSC_3040.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fd/23/fd2306e5-5c40-45cc-8a69-e15a5f96c86f/content/images/2026/10/DSC_3039.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fd/23/fd2306e5-5c40-45cc-8a69-e15a5f96c86f/content/images/2026/10/DSC_2934.jpeg) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fd/23/fd2306e5-5c40-45cc-8a69-e15a5f96c86f/content/images/2026/10/DSC_2936.jpeg)