Highway 128 heads east from the main road Hwy 191 in Moab and runs along the south side of the Colorado River. This area is known as the Colorado Riverway Recreation Area and is one of the many areas where water activities abound.
The road meanders along the Colorado River and passes a number of campgrounds which are mainly for tenters or small rigs but we did see one or two campgrounds that could accomodate larger rigs the further east we drove. More on that later. The drive along the river is stunning and we saw a number of rafters and kayakers enjoying the hot summer day and the lazy roll of the river.
About 14 miles east from Highway 191 is the Red Cliffs Lodge and the Castle Creek Winery. The lodge is worth a stop either to spend a few nights, have a meal, do some wine tasting, enjoy the views, or wander through their free film museum. It is a beautiful place with some interesting history and a great film museum which details many of the movies made in the area along with memorabilia.
Further down the road about 7 miles, on the south side, are the Fisher Towers. The dirt road in is about 2 miles and is restricted to vehicles 22′ or less. The towers are a series of sandstone towers along with a hiking trail and a very small dry camping campground. The area is managed by the Department of the Interior BLM and offers some of the best views in the west (per the brochure). And we could not agree more.
I felt the campsites at the campground had the best views I had ever seen. Unfortunately, there are only 5 campsites and all quite short and with the 22′ foot vehicle limitation then the campground is mainly for tenters or small trailers. Hummppppfffff…Site 3 we thought could handle maybe a 25′ but now allowed but WOW, what an incredible view.
Directly to the north side of Highway 128 from Fisher Towers is the Lower Onion Creek Campground and boat launch. This BLM campground offers 21 dry camping campsites along the Colorado River. All the sites are large and spacious and have fantastic views. A beautiful place.
The Colorado Riverway Recreation Area offers boat launches, campgrounds, and viewing areas where you could either access the river directly or enjoy the views. It is a lovely area and a great drive..
On the west side of Highway 191 in Moab is highway 279 which runs along the north side of the Colorado River and offers similar scenery and activities except it also offers Wall Street. Wall Street is a one mile long stretch of sandstone walls along the side of the road about 3 miles from Moab. There are over 130 climbs and range from all levels and many of the climbs have anchor bolts. Quite the walls!!!
Leave a Reply