My Rural Travelogue (Part XXX): Moab, 13 years later, "consumed by excessive tourism"?

Back side of a road sign in central Moab,
a block from Hoodoo Moab Hotel, part of Hilton's Curio Collection

The sticker says "Moab is being Consumed by Excessive Tourism"
and it appears to have been placed by the "Moab Wellness Project,"
for which no website exists

I visited Moab, Utah in October, 2008, and wrote this blog post about its rural gentrification at that time.  Last week, I returned to Moab and found it much changed after more than a decade.  Its tourism infrastructure has expanded, and it feels bigger, more sprawling.  Certainly, more hotel chains are now there, including the hip and trendy brands of big chains.  There's a hospital on the west side of town that I don't recall being there 13 years ago, though perhaps I just overlooked it then.   People are still coming for two major national parks, Arches and Canyonlands, as well as the area's world-class slick rock mountain biking.  The city of about 5K was thrumming perhaps more than usual last week because it was hosting the Moab Easter Jeep Safari.    

Given how much bigger and happening Moab seems, I was surprised to see that its 2020 Census population barely rose above its 2010 Census, which wasn't much bigger than the numbers I noted in my 2008 blog post.  Ditto Grand County, which has a population still hovering at less than 10K.  I assume that much of the region's growth is occurring south of town, in the areas called Spanish Trail (in the Spanish Valley) and La Sal, the latter in San Juan County.  As we drove south through that area, we saw a great deal of new and ongoing construction of multi-family units.  

Here are some photos I took, which illustrate the changes around Moab since my last visit: 

Typical Moab fare, with a new-ish Pizza Hut
right behind it on Main Street

This part of Main Street looks much like Moab looked
on my prior visits, in 2004 and 2008

 

Who wouldn't want to eat at the Jailhouse Cafe, on Main Street

I thought this old "beauty shop" was permanently closed
but then saw and "open" sign on the door, next to
school buses and a new hotel, a few blocks of Main Street

Here is a more contemporary salon, on Main Street just a few blocks away: 

Old mobile home park, between Main Street and the
spiffy new hospital;  across the street from our Vacasa rental,
 in a row of newish duplexes

Food truck park is new since my last visit,
and highest ranked "restaurant" in the city is here!

And here's a photo of a place that probably looked very similar a decade or two ago--the Uranium Building on Main Street.  I suspect, however, that the tenants have changed over the decades: