The Moab Valley area is noted for having a large number of off road trails for those with four-wheel drive vehicles. After finishing our first day of hiking in Arches National Park, we decided to see how well our four wheel drive Ford pickup would work for off road purposes. We had been told by a ranger at the Visitors Center that there was a four wheel drive alternative exit from the park. This road, the Willow Flats Road, used to be the entrance to the park years ago, and we expected a fairly easy drive, which at most some patches of sand and pot holes to deal with. WRONG!!!!! 
We realized that we would have to face more than loose sand and potholes the first time we hit a major “dip” in the road and scraped bottom with our running board on the truck as we attempted to climb out of the dip. Even that was nothing when compared to the “rock garden we ran into further down the road. Unfortunately, the attached picture doesn’t really do justice to the unevenness of the “road” through this rock garden. Thanks to help and guidance from Rick, who is used to off roading, David was able to slowly and cautiously navigate
his way through these obstacles. In the meantime, Jo and Ann walked over the rise and checked out the road ahead to see what we could expect. They reported back that the road ahead looked bad, so we decided to curtail this adventure and back track through the rock garden. It was only later that we learned that this rock garden was in fact the most difficult obstacle on the road, so David’s disappointment in not being able to take the road all the way to its end was compensated by the thought that he had traversed the worst spot in the road TWICE!!!!!! The whole experience was aptly 
summarized by Jo in asking the question “why would anyone in their right mind want to be doing this kind of a drive?!”……… We don’t foresee an awful lot of off road traveling during the rest of our Great Adventure!!!!!
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