September 23, 2012, Fisher Towers Utah

I guess I realized this years and years ago but it seems as though when you live somewhere you tend to forget to explore your own back yard.  Maybe that isn't true for everyone but it certainly has been for me. 

The point is that people, certainly me at least, tend to get comfortable in their day to day lives and don't really get to know where they live like they should.  The visit from our Dutch friends this summer stirred these thoughts back up in my mind. I realized again that I don't explore like I really should.

Edward (one of our Dutch friends) is an explorer.  He reminds me in some ways of Bilbo Baggins from the Tolkien Hobbit series.  (Ed, being a Dutchman however, is much taller than Bilbo could ever have imagined to be of course, but I digress.)  Bilbo was an explorer at heart.  If my recollection serves me correctly it took a great effort to get him to go anywhere on a whim but he studied maps profusely.  Ed is very much like that except with Ed it is all you can do to hold him back.  When there is someplace or something to be explored you have to get up pretty early in the morning or you'll miss him. 

When the Ed and Margo go anywhere you can be assured they have studied their maps, researched their destination and know exactly what is where, what they are going to eat, where they are going to eat it and what they are going to explore and when they are going to explore it.  I admire the two of them but that is a different story all together.

All of this rambling is leading to one simple point....

We accompanied Ed and Margo to southern Utah when they left our house to begin their west coast explorations. I have been to southern Utah several times over the years.  I truly believe it is an area that contains some of the most spectacular geologic scenery that exists anywhere in the world. 

I like to take Utah route 128 south from I70 into Moab.  It's not the fastest route but it is certainly the most spectacular.  Highway 128 follows the Colorado river as it winds its way to the Grand Canyon many miles south.  I've been on the route many, many times before but it took a visit from Ed and Margo to  point out a place on that road where we needed to take a side trip.  Why the heck didn't I know about the place before I will never know.

You get to Fisher Towers by taking a side trip off of 128 just about 20 miles before you get to Moab, assuming of course that's the direction your heading.  The road to the parking lot is mostly gravel but there is a medium sized parking lot about five or six miles off of the highway.  The trail head to the towers starts there.

That's Pam with the Towers in the background behind her.

Mostly it's a very easy hike but you need to make sure you take plenty of water.  We did this in late September pretty early in the morning with overcast skies so it was quite nice for a hike but southern Utah can get brutal in mid summer and in the heat of the day.

There's Pamela again on the left.  She looks like she is walking on the side of a cliff. 

If you look at the photo on the right you'll see she was.

Beautiful place to explore.  Talk about sandstone sculptures, wow!!

And then there are the die-hards.  Take a look at these two photos.  Look real close.....

Do you see the spires in the background?  Those are the Fisher towers.....

Now look at the photo below.  Just a little closer look at the same towers at a slightly different angle.  See the climbers on the top?  Could be a hoot I suppose if I were 30 or 40 years younger but I don't think so, not anymore anyway.

 

There are several more photos of this often overlooked place in Utah at: Fisher Towers Utah