Half a peach pie to be precise! Half a peach pie on sale at Moab’s City Market grocery store and purchased while waiting in an endless line at Starbucks. Joan wanted coffee, Christoph was happy to get out of grocery shopping (how long can it take to buy to cups of coffee ??) and definitely pulled the short straw. Two billion soy macciatos with hazelnut, a dash of 2%, a sprinkle of cinnamon, and “oh, would you mind filling my water bottle too” later Christoph was still half a dozen customers away from putting in his order, while Joan had purchased all the needed groceries, packed the van, went to the bathroom, rinsed out her travel mug, read the newspaper, called her husband, rescued a Caracara somewhere in Oklahoma – and refused to buy pie. Lauren, Hadley and Christoph bought it while (still) standing in line and and shared it with Sarah later that night. I’ve never seen three girls inhale a pie faster! Ever! Why we went to City Market in the first place? I have no recollection.
After our shopping spree we backtracked a bit and headed into the La Sal Mountains on the La Sal Mountain loop. We had lunch at Warner Lake campground, where it was pretty chilly but beautiful amongst all those aspen trees. That’s definitely a spot to keep in mind for summer camping.
Warner Lake campground.
After Adam had emptied out half the strawberry jam onto one taco and a few last bathroom visits we headed up the trail to Gold Knob. We first hiked through lots of dark conifers before the trail gained height through some wide switchbacks that led us through more beautiful aspen trees.
Lauren, Hadley and Sarah and plenty of aspen.
Almost there Joan, well – not really.
After about an hour or so we reached the saddle between Gold Know and the rest of the La Sal Mountains and headed through the grass straight to the peak.
Adam and Christopher almost up there.
At the top of Gold Knob. The snow was pretty deep as Hadley can tell you.
View into Castle Valley.
We spent maybe half an hour up on top, enjoying the views, eating our snacks and checking text messages…
After our return to Warner Lake we finished the La Sal Loop, drove through Castle Valley and all its subdivisions, and camped at a so-so campsite at Dewey Bridge, at the banks of the Colorado. No record exists of the demise of the peach pie.