Canyonlands at Night- Dinner, Boat ride, and Light Show in Moab

Driving into Moab, I noticed a big sign for "Canyonlands at Night" and thought it sounded beautiful, so I did a web search to find out more about it.  Canyonlands at Night does a variety of tours and packages, both during the day and at night, but the one that I was interested in was a dutch oven dinner, boat ride into the canyon at sunset, and then a light show on the canyon walls after it got dark.  The price wasn't outrageous ($65 for adults) and so I made reservations for myself and Kim (and attempted to talk others in our group into going with us on Saturday night after jeeping) and it turned out to be a highlight of the trip. 

As a veteran of MANY meals on cruise ship shore excursions, you never know what you will get or whether the food will be any good.  Not to worry here, the dutch oven food is cooked perfectly and very tasty.  After being seated, Preston (our tour leader) got up to give us the run down on the food and how everything would work. Some of what he said was very practical-  put something cool on the metal plate where your hand is holding on to it since the dutch oven food was piping hot and would burn your hand.  Good advice.  Besides an assortment of salads (pasta, green, and cole slaw), there are hot white or garlic rolls, corn, baked beans that were very sweet and practically melted in your mouth, dutch oven potatoes with token vegetables mixed in and CHEESE, and your choice of several meats--  barbecued chicken, barbecued beef, plain roast beef, and a spicy pulled pork that was supposed to get hotter the more you ate.  Didn't try that one.. but others at the table thought it was good and said that the heat really did rise in your mouth.  Preston says that if you "think" you like hot food, better not try it... but go for it if you LOVE hot food.  I really liked the plain roast beef- so tender and flavorful.  There was apple crisp for dessert and it wasn't too cinnamon-y (a plus in my book).  Great dinner.

You aren't supposed to bring cameras on the boat ride (although there were a few) but there is a website where you can download pictures taken by a professional.  Have to admit that some of these pictures are downloaded ones that I didn't take; and a few are bootleg pictures that I took with the camera on my phone before it got dark.  Once it got dark, cameras really would have been distracting so I'm glad they have that rule.  As we sailed/rode/paddled/motored up the river, we were treated to a magnificent sunset and spectacular colors on the canyon walls.  Preston told us stories of the area as we went upstream, including his personal experiences with the film crew that shot the final scene from Thelma and Louise.  He also encouraged us to look at the walls to see animals and faces-- kind of like gazing at clouds to see what you could see...  There are a lot of them and some are pretty distinct!

Once it got dark, the boat turned around and the light show began.  Lights illuminated the rocks as a recorded show told the legends and stories of how the canyon came to be along with the history of Moab.  Spectacular scenery and a great presentation.  My favorite times though were when we were floating in darkness and you could see millions of stars and the silhouettes of the rocks and the canyon walls.  Beautiful!

I would do this trip again in a heart beat and strongly recommend it to others that are traveling in the Moab area.  Bring a jacket though. Even though the day was warm, it got cool on the water.  No, it got COLD on the water!  I was glad that I substituted my fleece jacket at the last minute for the hoodie that I had planned to wear.  Would have been a good thing to wear both though.