Explore Moab, Utah, a Great Destination for Outdoor Adventures

The small town of Moab, located in eastern Utah, serves as a gateway to two national parks, Arches and Canyonlands. Here, outdoor enthusiasts will find a myriad of activities, whether day or night.

It took four months to draw this image of Andy Lewis against a full moon. “Even with every bit of technology we could get our hands on, it came down to going there, exploring and seeing what’s in line,” says photographer Renan Ozturk, who aimed his camera more than a mile away around the recording of Lewis on a slack line (a length of woven fabric hanging in the air). When the weather, the people and the moon were finally in line, ‘we only had a 30-second window to capture the moment.’

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With three designated International Dark Sky Parks, less than an hour’s drive from Moab, those who cannot see the Milky Way from their homes (a majority of Americans) can get their stars there. At the Arches and Canyonlands National Parks and at Dead Horse Point State Park, visitors can see thousands of stars visible to the naked eye – compared to the few dozen visible at most from a large city. Moab strengthened the ordinances against light pollution to help preserve this constellation.

Surrounded by public lands with sand dunes from the Jurassic period, weathered in cliffs and towers with a tint, Moab attracts adventurers and nature lovers who want to deal with the elements. Activities range from mainstream (rafting, cycling, hiking) to extreme (sluggish riding, BASE jumping with parachutes or wing bags). Parks in the area have also taken steps to make the outdoors more accessible to people with disabilities.

100: Approximate length, in feet, of the slack line shown above

300+: Age of the oldest rock formations, in millions of years, in the Canyonlands National Park

2,000+: Number of arches in the Arches National Park