Utah Canyonlands backpacking trip-- Pt. 3 (days 8-9)

After a relaxing night in the hotel (we didn't have to scramble to take care of much since the trip is winding down now) we did a daytrip into Arches National Park, a quick 5mi drive north of Moab: It's Saturday, it's a prime travel/tourist weekend (just prior to Memorial Day) and it's right next to a town without a vacant hotel room under $200 tonight. It is packed!! No surprise, but it's a bit jarring to the senses after our week of seeing just a handful, if any, other people each day of hiking. Arches is a fairly small, condensed park- at least that which is easily accessed by car. Traffic and parking was terrible, so we elected to venture northwest on an 8mi gravel road to the less frequented Klondike Bluffs area of the park. Good call, sanity somewhat restored.

From the trailhead we took a pleasant 2.5mi hike back to Tower Arch for our token arch experience. Lunch beneath it was nice, and saw some very interesting geologic features along the way.

Marching Men formation; LaSalle Mountains beyond

beneath Tower Arch

Arches is a really interesting place that I'd love to come back and explore when it's less crowded; or rather, when I had enough time to venture into its undeveloped backcountry regions. A daytrip, however, is no way to do it justice.

For our last night, we drove back to where we started- our secret stash campsite northwest of Moab. We had the place to ourselves, stoked a nice fire of fragrant juniper deadfall and cooked up a tasty dinner of steak, baked potatoes and smores over the fire. A gorgeous desert sunset bode us farewell.

Utah Canyonlands backpacking trip-- Pt. 2 (days 5-7)

After a free continental breakfast we drove 65mi southwest from Moab for the next two nights in "The Needles" district.  The Needles has the classic slickrock sandstone and spires typically associated with the Moab desert region. Weather forecast called for mid 60's and a good chance of rain, so we're hoping to stay as dry as possible. First leg was a relatively mellow and stunning 4.1mi hike back to a campsite in Lost Canyon.

This huge boulder offered the perfect awning over our tent. The backside had a perfect protected kitchen nook for cooking and sipping coffee. Clouds and drizzle moved in overnight, but the tent stayed nice and dry with our rock shelter.

Lost Canyon campsite

The second day of hiking was a long one, about 7mi, and it rained a good portion of the day. Never poured hard though, so we stayed mostly dry with rain gear and dried out a bit during the breaks. It was actually a real rare treat to witness the desert amidst a steady rain. The water makes evident how many of the surreal rock features and plant groupings have come to be. I couldn't have asked for a more fascinating day to spend hiking around the desert!

ladders to climb over the wall into the adjacent drainage

We got to our campsite in Elephant Canyon just as the rain let up for the night.

Elephant Canyon campsite

It was a relatively short 4.1mi hike out to the car on Friday, with some beautiful slickrock canyons and only a brief rainstorm.

We got back to the car just as more storms were swirling nearby and drove through some heavy downpour on the way back to Moab. We sprung for another room at the same hotel, treating ourselves to pizza, beer and a nice soak in the outdoor hottub after a few days on the trail.

Utah Canyonlands backpacking trip-- Pt. 1 (days 1-5)

April and I reserved some backcountry (hike-in-only, self supported) campsites in Canyonlands National Park (near Moab, UT) for the following week and are stoked to spend some time in the desert. I've traveled around the Utah deserts a fair amount, although have yet to get very far into the backcountry and haven't been to Canyonlands NP. This will be April's first visit to Utah ever, so it's going to be a real fun trip for both of us. Canyonlands is a large park, divided into four geologically distinct regions that are somewhat difficult to travel between.

We're starting the trip with two nights camping in the northern "Island in the Sky" district near the Green River, hiking out for a night in Moab, then driving south for two more nights camping in "The Needles" district.

After a day of driving from Denver, we car-camped the first night at a beautiful area on BLM land that we found on a whim while driving on a sandy 4x4 road north of Moab.

looking northwest into the "Island in the Sky" as the sun sets

The next morning we packed up and set off for the first leg of our hiking trek into the backcountry. We'll be camping at the western outlet of Upheaval Dome for two nights, but first have to hike 4.9mi around the northern ridge of Upheaval Dome. This sign cast us on our way, and we figured, "heh, it's a national park... how hard can it really be?!"

It was smooth sailing for the first several miles, meandering through a pleasant canyon valley that follows a seasonal streambed. Then we hit a section referred to as 'The Breach' where the canyon narrows into extremely steep walls of large broken boulders and loose scree. The streambed cascades over a precipitous dropoff, so the trail switchbacks up the north wall and then back down as a way to get around the seasonal waterfall. It got pretty sticky, some 4-5ft ledges to navigate and essentially no trail, just following rock cairns indicating the route. Doing all this with fully loaded hiking packs proved strenuous and sometimes stressful, but we pushed through and made it back down to the streambed... and soon saw a small rattlesnake crossing the trail ahead of us without incident.

looking west from "The Breach"

Got camp set up in the late afternoon and fixed a restful dinner. Today's 4.9mi wasn't a long hike, but wore us out. Camping two nights at the mouth of Upheaval Dome was worth just about any effort! (Note that the tent is the small, light green spot in the photos.)

Syncline camp looking east

Syncline camp looking west

We had the whole second day free and hiked 3.5mi down Upheaval Canyon drywash to the Green River. Flow was high from the spring runoff and it was actually backing up into the wash and flooding out parts of the White Rim Trail. Lots of lizards scurrying around and many interesting flowers, grasses and myriad of colors and textures of rocks.

"Hardscrabble Bottom" section of the Green River near Upheaval Canyon

We got some gentle rain on the second morning and packed up a wet tent, but the drizzle let up just about the time we began the 3.4mi hike out via the southern section of the Syncline Loop Trail. This leg regained all the 1100ft of elevation we lost on the way in and spent a good portion navigating through broad boulder fields. Luckily no real technical sections, just a lot of rocky switchbacks.

our trail ascends this rock field, then up the one above it on the right

April looking back into the canyon we hiked out of

We wheeled into Moab and got the cheapest hotel room we could find. Time to get a hot shower, buy some supplies, wash a load of laundry, dry the tent in the hotel bathroom, and enjoy a cold beer at the local brewpub. View from the room wasn't too shabby either!