18) Canyonlands National Park, October 10 - October 17, 2009

Arches and Canyonlands are so close together, that we started Canyonlands before we “left” Arches. Canyonlands is divided into 4 districts; Island in the Sky, The Needles, The Maze, and Horseshoe Canyon. Each is very different, and none is fully explored by road (some not at all—more on that later).

Island in the Sky is the district that is relatively close to Arches, so that’s where we started. Our first trip was to “reconnoiter” and learn about visiting the various districts. Our maps (including AAA and National Geographic) indicate that all of the roads are unimproved. Not so. In fact when we mentioned to the ranger about our National Geological Survey-based maps, thinking maybe the roads had been paved since the last survey, he said, “the roads were paved about 1974, or so.” Hmmm. He also said that both AAA and NGS personnel had been to the park last year and driven all of the roads, including the 4x4 trails, GPSing them all. Hmmm. Oh well, that’s not the first or last time that our printed material have been less than accurate. All of the districts are really tailored for backcountry camping, either by hiking, by biking, or by 4x4, but one can see a lot by driving and even more by day hiking. The entrances to each of the distrticts are over 80 miles apart, so it’s better to treat each as a separate “park”. The Maze is only accessible by 4x4 or hiking (even the road to the entrance). Horseshoe Canyon is reachable by dirt road, then there is only one, 6.5-mile roundtrip hike. This trail is all sand and, at the time of our visit, was very dry, deep, and loose, which would make for a very long, tiring hike. The rangers did not recommend trying to hike it at this time. Most people 4x4 to the backcountry campground just outside the district, spend the night there, and hike in and out. We did neither of those two districts on this trip. To really see all of Island in the Sky, one should drive or bike the White Rim Trail Road, which is about a four-day trek. The driving needs to be done in a 4x4 vehicle. However, the park road and the “short” hikes in this district provide wonderful views from way above the canyons (hence the name). The Needles district is visited in a similar way as the Island in the Sky, except there are multiple 4x4 roads rather than one very long one. Again, the park road and “short” hikes provide a lot of interesting excursions.

After our reconnoitering, we still had time to drive part of the Island in the Sky park road to where one branch ends at the Upheaval Dome overlook and trailhead. Along the way, we stopped at all of the other overlooks and hiked Mesa Arch, Whale Rock, and the short Upheaval Dome Trail. We also decided to take the Shafer Trail Road back to Moab. This is another dirt road that follows the steep switchbacks that started as an early cattle trail. We, of course, had checked with the ranger, and he said that it’s about 18 miles of unimproved road, and if we made it through Pucker Pass, should be no problem for us, at least going downhill, so we headed down. The road looked MUCH smoother through the binoculars from the canyon rim, but later, it got rougher. Some parts were pretty hairy, others pretty rough, and others both. But there were amazing views, and no “challenges” quite as bad as Pucker Pass. The 18 miles took over 2 ½ hours, including a few stops for views, photos, or road (rock) inspection. After hitting pavement at the end of Potash Road, we still had about 30 miles to go to get back to camp. Whew.

A Few of the Switchbacks on Shafer Trail Road

Mesa Arch

On Top of Whale Rock

The next day, we were back in Arches, but the day after, we returned to Island in the Sky to finish the park road and its overlooks. We also hiked Neck Spring Loop Trail, which is an about 5.8-mile loop, going through a variety of terrain, including an arch on the cliff edge. We, also, hiked Grand View Rim Trail, which is about 2 miles with many panoramic views along the cliff edge.

Buck Canyon

Monument Basin from Grand View Point

Shafer Canyon from Neck Spring Loop Trail

The next day, we left Moab, after camping there for 6 nights, and got to the Needles District in time to get one of the very few remaining campsites. Even before setting up camp, we headed to the visitor center and grilled the ranger. Four-wheel roads in this district are really that. None are suitable for our little truck. This is not because of the roughness or rockiness, but the fact that they cross many washes with deep, soft, loose sand. Most of the trails are very long. She marked all of the “short” ones and a couple of the long ones. Then we drove parts of the main road, hiked Slickrock Foot Trail and Pothole Point. A short dirt road took us down to the trailhead for Cave Spring Loop. This trail took us by rock outcroppings that have been used by humans for 1000s of years. There is still evidence in the form of ancient rock art and cowboy artifacts.

Lower Little Spring Canyon, Slickrock Foot Trail

Interesting Rocks at Pothole Point

Wooden Shoe Arch

Cowboy Camp at Cave Spring

The next day, we took advantage of our campsite location and took a trip to Natural Bridges National Monument, stopping at Newspaper Rock to view an outstanding display of ancient rock art. At Natural Bridges, we drove the Bridge View Drive and stopped at all of the stops, seeing three of the world’s largest natural stone bridges. We hiked the trail to the Owachomo Bridge Trail and got another perspective of the bridge from underneath it.

Sipapu Bridge

Owachomo Bridge

The next day, back at The Needles, we spent just about the whole day hiking to the confluence overlook. This trail traversed several small canyons, allowing for a lot of rock climbing up and down the sides of the canyons. It also crossed dry, open meadow-like flats, ending at a cliff edge 1,000 feet over the junction of the Green and Colorado Rivers. What a magnificent view. But this trail is 11 or 12 miles round trip, and took us almost 7 hours, including our lunch at the overlook. So we didn’t get much else done that day, except attending the evening ranger program. Still, a very satisfying day.

On the Confluence Trail

Confluence of Green, left, and Colorado Rivers

Our last day at The Needles, we decided to do another long hike. This time, we drove a 3-mile dirt road out to Elephant Hill Trailhead. From there, we hiked Chesler Point Overlook Trail to Chesler Park Loop and Joint Trail. The Joint Trail is so named for its pass through a very tight section between deep, narrow fractures in the rock. This hike brought us really up close and personal with the Needles as well as other terrain, and it was another 11 or 12-mile hike, taking us about 7 ½ hours. Whew.

Chesler Park

Entering "The Joint"

In the Distance, the Needles

Tired but happy from all of the hiking, we were ready, the next day, to head on to our next adventure, not too far down the road at Capitol Reef National Park.

17) Arches National Park, October 3 - October 11, 2009

After we finished our hike at Black Canyon, we broke camp and headed out towards Arches, continuing our southerly trek to stay ahead of winter. While driving along, BYK was reading about Arches and things along the path to Arches. It turns out that Arches’ campground fills early in the day, even this late in the year. She also read the description of Colorado National Monument, which happened to be right along our path. It sounded great, so we decided to stop there. We got there early enough to do a quick camp setup and get to the VC before it closed. We talked with the ranger and saw two good orientation movies; geology of CNM and photo ops of CNM. Then we drove part of the Rim Rock Drive hitting all of the overlooks and hiking Otto’s Trail and the Coke Oven Trail before it got too dark. After all of this, we decided we would probably need to camp two nights so that we’d have one more full day to see the rest of the Monument. The next day, we finished driving the Rim Rock Drive and hiked Window Rock Trail and the Devil’s Kitchen Trail. CNM is one of those hidden gems that we have stumbled across all along our trip. The scenery was really great.

Monument Canyon , Colorado National Monument

The next day, we got up early and headed to Arches to get there before all of the camp sites were gone. However, the process at this park is to show up at about 7:00 a.m., line up, and see if there’s still a camp site when you get to the front of the line. About 6:00 p.m. the day before they post how many sites will be available for the next morning. We went on down to Moab, had lunch at the Moab Brewery (Yay! Utah has brew pubs.) and headed to the KOA with full hookups and no 7:00 a.m. line-up. It’s not far from the park, and we got back to the park in time to drive part of the park drive, stop at the Moab Fault overlook and the Park Avenue Trailhead. We hiked this trail to the courthouse Towers Viewpoint and back. On the way out of the park, we noted that there would be just a few sites available in the morning—we decided to re-up at KOA for 3 more nights.

Three Gossips, Park Avenue Trail

The next day was a really full one. We drove back to the park and started driving the park road, stopping at all of the overlooks on the way to a ranger-led hike in the Windows area. At the Windows, we saw several arches and learned about park geology and plants. We also stopped at the La Sal Mountain viewpoint, hiked to Double Arch, went to the Garden of Eden, Ham Rock, Panorama Point, and Wolf Ranch, where the trailhead for Delicate Arch is located. We hiked up to Delicate Arch (3-mile round trip with 480 feet of elevation gain), which is featured on the new Utah license plates. It’s a pretty strenuous hike across slickrock, but the views at the top are great. You can “walk” right up to and through Delicate Arch, looking down into the valley below. We also went down below to the two viewpoints for Delicate Arch, both of which also involved hikes, but not quite so long or strenuous. We went to Salt Valley overlook, and hiked to Sand Dune Arch, Broken Arch, and Skyline Arch (whew). On the way back to camp, we stopped and signed up for a jet boat tour of the Colorado River for the next morning, then had dinner at Pasta Jay’s, recommended by the jet boat lady. Very good.

North and South Windows

Double Arch

Delicate Arch

The next day, we got up early to get down to the river (between camp and the park) and get on the boat. It was really cold, and everyone (even the macho guys) wrapped up in the blankets that Captain Rory provided. Captain Rory had arctic gear on and was still hunkered down as we zoomed along at about 40 mph, skimming over the relatively shallow river. We went down river about 32 miles and back. This took us down to below Dead Horse Point, which is in a state park just outside of the northern district of Canyonlands National Park. We stopped and floated several times while Captain Rory explained some things along the river or just talked about life in a small, Utah town. He admitted that he likes to hear himself talk, but he was quite entertaining and informative. We also stopped and got off of the boat a couple of times to see petrified wood, petroglyphs, etc. This was a fun tour, but would be even better in slightly warmer weather.

Red Rock Cliffs, Colorado River

Jug Handle Arch, Colorado River

The boat trip only took about half a day, so we had time for some other adventures. We drove three scenic Utah state highways; 128, 313, and 279 (Potash Road). Highway 313 took us into Dead Horse Point State Park, where we could look down from Dead Horse Point about 1,000 feet to the river where we had just been a few hours before. Each of these highways had their own character and each provided a lot of great scenery, including an amazing collection of “rock art” (petroglyphs) on 279, by the river. On the way back from Dead Horse Point SP, we decided we needed a little more adventure and a shortcut to highway 279, so we took the unpaved “connector” road from 313 to 279. This turned out to be more of an adventure than we bargained for. Always check locally for road conditions for unpaved, unimproved roads before heading out. We found out later that part of this road is known as “Pucker Pass” and with good reason, with several “4x4 challenges” (we were not in a 4x4). Three times, we were sure that we’d have to walk out and get someone to come back to rescue the truck, if they could get a tow truck in there. But we finally made it. We didn’t even get any pictures of the worst parts, because we were concentrating on how to get out of, around, or over them. WOW! It was really fun, after we were safely back on pavement. We treated ourselves to dinner at the Desert Bistro, a really good restaurant.

Will the Truck Fit? Going through Pucker Pass

The next day, we went back to Arches to do some more of the park. There’s a lot to see and do in this little park. We drove the park road some more, stopping at Balanced Rock viewpoint and Petrified Dunes overlooks on the way to catch our pre-paid, ranger-led tour of Fiery (sic) Furnace. One must have a ranger guide for this section of the park, or have experience and get a special permit to go alone. We never remembered to ask why they spell “Fiery” that way.

Firey Furnace

Butt Scooting through Firey Furnace

This was taking us longer than we expected, so the next day, we re-upped at KOA for another two nights and headed back into the park. This time, we hiked Devil’s Garden for a total of 8.36 miles, seeing at least 9 arches—Tunnel, Pine Tree, Landscape, Partition, Navajo, Black, Double-O, Shadow Box, and Private. The next day, we drove over to Canyonlands National Park, because it’s not too far from our KOA in Moab, but we’ll tell you about in our next installment.

Landscape Arch

Navajo Arch

Double O Arch

Submarine Fin (we made up this name) in Devil's Garden

On our last day in Arches, we drove the park road out to another dirt road (checked with the VC as to road conditions) and drove out about 8 miles through Salt Valley to the Tower Arch trailhead in the Klondike Bluffs. Our ranger guide for the Fiery Furnace hike said that Tower Arch was her favorite, so we had to have a look, and it was only about 3 ½ miles of moderately difficult trail. Very nice. We finished this day with boring utility items but were ready to tackle the districts of Canyonlands next.

Tower Arch