Moab, Utah

utah.htm"--> Moab is a small town in Grand County, in eastern Utah. It covers only 3.6 sq mi (9.4 sq km) and has a population of 4,800 people (2011 estimate). Despite its small size, it is the biggest town in Grand County, and serves as county seat. The city is a popular tourist destination as it is the gateway to a number of spectacular national parks.

Biking near Moab, Utah
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WRBernard.jpg
Author: Artmill


Located 4,026 ft (1,227 m) above sea level, just south of the Colorado River, Moab got its name out of the Bible, from the site to the east of the Jordan River. In the past, there has been attempts to rename the town, as the Moabites in the Bible are incestuous and idolatrous. Somehow the name stuck.

Moab experiences an arid climate with hot summer and cold winters. Annual precipitation in Moab is just 9.02 in (229 mm), spread quite evenly throughout the year. Annual precipitation tend to differ year over year. Hottest month is July, with maximum temperature of 98.2°F (36.8°C) while coldest month, January, sees minimums of 32°F (0°C).

Settlement in the area began in the early part of the 19th century. The site served as a crossing of the Colorado River on the Old Spanish Trail, the old trade route between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Los Angeles, California. The settlement had a volatile start due to repeated attacks by indigenous tribes. For a number of decades, it was abandoned. The town was only incorporated on 20 December, 1902.

In the beginning, Moab survived on farming. Then uranium and vanadium were discovered in the 1910s and 1920s, followed by potash, manganese, oil and gas, shifting the town's focus to mining. Its rich deposite of uranium earned it the name of "Uranium Capital of the World". The population grew in the Cold War years, but declined once the uranium boom was over.

Tourism only began to rear its head as a viable alternative to mining in the 1970s. From then on, the area has been discovered by photographers, hikers, rock-climbers as well as packaged tourists. In recent decades, Moab has grown into a destination for mountain bikers. It has a number of biking trails, the most famous probably being Slickrock Trail.

Visiting Moab

Take Interstate 70 until Crescent Junction, turn off at Exit 182 and head south on US Highway 191 until you reach Moab.

Places of Interest in Moab

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.