The Moab Vortex

After hours spent at the Wall library, we boarded the bus going west. We met a friendly fellow Vermonter who boarded at Rapid City who was very entertaining (though slightly drunk) and had a pleasant ride into Bozeman, Montana. We arrived in Bozeman at four in the morning and made a frigid one mile hike to a backpackers hostel.

The next day we explored the town and relaxed at the hostel. We tried to find a shuttle into Yellowstone National Park but were unable to work it out. We spent one more night in Bozeman then decided it was time to head south!! Bozeman was a very cool town and definitely deserves more exploration, perhaps in the summertime.

Next stop, Moab, Utah. Once again, we boarded the trusty Greyhound bus and spent a very long sixteen hours driving through stunning mountains and sleeping in the Salt Lake bus terminal to end up in Green River, UT, about fifty miles outside of Moab. Hmm, so how were we to get from Green River to Moab? We hung around the bus stop cum gas station for a bit, looking for a likely ride down to Moab and were lucky enough to hitch a ride with a friendly retire couple from California who were on a cross country rode trip. They had a lot of good advice about parks to hit up and sights to see across the US.

Once in Moab, we bid farewell and hunted down the only hostel in town, a cool little place called The Lazy Lizard Hostel. Turns out, it's the coolest place on the planet. We have been staying here for six days (we'd planned to spend about two) and have access to kitchen, shower, and hot tub for only $9.80/night. Good freakin' deal. Not only is it cheap and convenient, it's full of awesome people that are doing the same kind of thing as us and are happy to show us around. See the funny thing about Moab is that it's reallllly hard to leave; most of the people here have been staying here from one to six weeks.

The first day, Zac went on a solo hike and I went out on a bike ride with a guy named Shane who we met in the hostel. I was expecting a nice, easy, introductory ride- it ended up being 36 miles round trip.

The next day Zac went on another hike and I went on a ride with Shane, and two other guys from the hostel, Joe and Matt. We rode Slickrock, and infamous mountain bike trail of rolling petrified sand dunes. It kicked my butt, but was entirely worth it. Zac went on another hike up to a gorgeous shallow valley not far from the hostel.

Our days have continued on in this manner all week, a few highlights were skydiving on Thursday (Zac, Joe and I went. It was by far the best thing I've ever done), kickball on Friday night, and the incredible steak that Zac cooked for dinner this evening. We plan on leaving tomorrow, but we'll see... it really is hard to leave Moab. We'll post pictures soon, just need to figure out how from my phone.

That's all for now!