Weekend+ getaway to Palisade and Moab
Thu 20 August 2026
Booked the Wine Country Inn in Palisade to attend the Peach Festival. Nice accommodation with a good-sized pool. It would have been better with parents actually supervising their screaming, out-of-control kids.
We took the free shuttle from Wine Country to the River Park for the festival. We decided to attend on Friday vs Saturday because we thought it would be less crowded. The peach festival isn't nearly as big as I remember the wine festivals (in September). One stage for music, about a dozen food truck options, and a couple dozen vendors. Not as much to do as we thought. Only one 'cooking' element on Friday (local chef's throwdown, Food Network style). Most of the cooking demonstrations were scheduled for Saturday (every hour during the day).
I was surprised that more peach stand vendors weren't present. I guess that they prefer to stay in their roadside shacks and outlets rather than pack up and display at the festival. Still, we got lots of samples (mostly peach products, like salsa, sauces, and jams). We also got local products like honey, jerky, and licorice. We got gourmet grilled sandwiches for our dinner, and I picked up a Bourbon Peach Smash cocktail.
We should have purchased a bag of Palisade peaches at the festival. I assumed the fruit stands outside the festival would be cheaper. We tried a few stands on Saturday, and they were more expensive. Grace said the price was higher than what Whole Foods was selling Palisade Peaches for last weekend in Fort Collins.
We moved on to Moab for a few days of camping and hiking in the National Parks. I probably should have mentioned that it was in the upper 90s in Palisade and that continued with near 100-degree temps in Utah. Grace picked up a camping trailer rental option for Moab. We picked out a campsite, and they deliver a camping trailer to the site. We picked a site along Potash Road, the scenic bike ride we did last March—Red Cliffs on the right side of the road and the river on the left. We found a good site with some trees up against the cliff in the Bottom Campground. Then instead of waiting for the trailer people, we drove up the LaSal Mountains south of Moab and had a picnic lunch by the lakeside.
Back to camp, and I stayed at the trailer while Grace went back into Moab to gas up, get water, etc. A sudden Utah thunderstorm hit the camp. More precisely, it hit the upper plateau above the camp. A waterfall formed down the cliff and started flash-flooding through the campground. Luckily, we had the trailer instead of a tent setup. Water about 2-3" deep was running under the trailer and across the road, flooding campsite 5 to a depth of 8-12". Great lightning strikes on the rocks/tree across the river. Almost simultaneously, I saw the lightning and 'felt' the thunder.
Monday, we drove down to the Needles entry of Canyonlands NP. We wanted to get there early, but the 1½ hour drive and not getting going early at the camp meant near-100-degree temps. The hike to the overlook was nice; we did get a bit of a breeze. We did about 4-4½ miles of the hike, not quite reaching the final viewpoint.
Tuesday, we went to Arches NP and hiked toward the primitive trail and Private Arch (new arch for us). It was also a very hot day, although we started about an hour earlier; this hike was longer, and I was completely heat-exhausted by lunchtime.
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Cycle across Luxembourg