Canyonlands: Day 3

Day Three at Canyonlands National Park we needed some supplies from town so we headed into Moab. The daylight trip to Moab revealed to us a very interesting road side attraction. A lovely place called 'Hole 'N the Wall'. It seems these rocks with holes in them see to be every where we venture so we decided to check it out. Turns out this hole was a man made one, and quite interesting. A man inherited the property from his father, and instead of building a typical home, he decided instead to build his home inside the large rock on his property. With dynamite, time and a loving and sympathetic wife he blew away the stone and carved his home into the rock. I wont get into the whole story, as we had to pay for the tour, so should you.

To be honest it was a bit cheesy and the guide had one too many rock puns, but the house is amazing, and there are more than a few interesting artifacts that make it worth the $3 admission. Even more amazing however is the vast and eclectic array of Americana on display. Everything from Big foot - to Mater from the Cars movie. Definitely a good place to hop out of the car and stretch your legs.

Somewhere en route to Moab we decided to head all the way up to Island in the Sky, the Norther District of Canyonlands. The park has four districts, The Needles, Island in the Sky, The Maze and The Rivers. We figured we couldn't justly say that we experienced the park if we didn't at least see half of it. We originally intended to see Island in the sky on the way home but as we were so close we figured hey why not.





Island in the Sky is a perfect name for this district of the park. As you stand at the Shafer Canyon Overlook you can see down and outwards for what seems like forever. The pebbles that slid over the edge give you a firm understanding of how far the fall really is. We never saw the bottom from the edge of the Cliff, as I adamantly refused to let anyone with four four feet of the edge, Kevin included. (this was one place my camera quit working

The Hikes we completed here were both very short. The first was Upheaval Dome Overlook (1 mile round trip), we went to the second viewpoint. Upheaval Dome is Standing proof that we don't know everything. It is a curious upheaval of salt that is surround by a crater like rim. The first theory is that some projectile from space hit the earth at upheaval dome and created the crater and an resulting pocket of open space in the earths crust which eventually filled in with the salt that was compacted beneath layers of sediment. The second theory suggest that the layer of salt being less dense than that rock compacted on top of it, shifted and buckled under the enormous weigh and that created  Upheaval Dome. Either way its pretty remarkable geology at work, the stark grey salt a blazing contrast to the red, amber sandy tone of the entire area.

The Second trail was to Mesa Arch a short o.5 mile loop. The trail is supremely easy and leads to an amazing Arch that is set against a very steep canyon. This trail was probably one of my favorite, Emma and I had a race to the Arch. It was extremely fun running over the slickrock down steps and around curves, the whole tone was playful exactly what a vacation hike should be. On the way back it was Kevin's turn to race and even got Lulu in on the games. Jack and I just hiked back at a normal and mellow pace.

The last stop we made at Island in the Sky was the Green River overlook. An amazingly expansive view of a canyon eaten away of centuries to reveal the hidden river tucked away safely at the bottom.

Then we headed back to The Needles. Once there Kevin and I decided that two mini hikes just wasn't enough so we headed down the Colorado Overlook road. We parked the truck at the first rock you have to drive over. We didn't want to risk any four wheeling, as we were quite a ways from home, cell service and any help. So we figured that a nice four wheel drive road would be a ridiculously easy path to hike and set out. A few minutes into the soft dirt trail Kevin had an amazing idea, and took off his shoes. Myself being an enemy to all footwear as a general moral rule, quickly followed suit. As you can imagine the bright and observant minds of our children caught on fairly quickly and before we knew it we had our first barefoot hike. Which was spectacular. The sand of the dessert is nothing like any sand I have ever felt, its not sandy so much as dirt, but not soil. and the red warm dirt/sand felt amazing on toes that have been barricaded in winter boots for so unbelievably long. After about 30-40 minutes we forced the kids unwilling back into their shoes (the trail turned to rocks and packed dirt) and kept on.We hiked about a mile and a half then stopped for oranges and water before heading back. We didn't reach the end of the road or the overlook on this hike. But it was fun and amazing all the same. As Kevin said it best "The journey is often better than the destination." Once again holding true on this hike.

After we ended this hike we headed back to camp for diner, campfire and smores.

Canyonlands Day 2

So I know I said that I was going to keep the blogs short, break them up by and what not. Well that's not going to work, mostly because we did so many hikes, at least nine that were under 3 miles. But we also did some awesome things that weren't hikes, and I wasn't really sure of how to fit those in.  So instead I will break them up by days. Yes that means more blogs and yes that means more work and more waiting. I think that it will be worth it. Though there is one glitch, for some reason my camera decided to stop working on a few hikes so I don't have pictures for them. Unfortunately I didn't notice until two days had gone by. I swore on this trip I wasn't going to 'examine' the photos I took and instead wait till I got home. Luckily I'm a sucker and checked my camera. Just to find it wasn't working. So after a few adjustments and many practice shots and double and triple checking that the pictures were in fact staying, it was all sorted out. So for the hikes that I have no photographic proof of I will add in some stock photos of the adventure, that took place out side of hikes, but are none the less adorable and amazing. Enough with the disclaimers lets get to day 2.

Chesler Park via Elephant Canyon

The first all day hike we did was to Chesler Park. We parked at the Elephant Hill trail head (also where the 4-wheel drive road for Elephant Canyon starts) and took the Elephant Canyon route to Chesler park. we read the sign and one way to Chesler park was 2.9 miles. That was about it for description, we figured it would be a push and we left early enough so we could have plenty of time to rest.

Not my photo
Staircase that starts the Chesler park trail

The trail starts off climbing a staircase cut into a boulder and continues on this extraordinary path. Once we started over the semi-flat slickrock we found a place to sit and have a snack of bananas and water.  It gets fairly steep at parts, the trail said that there was a ladder, which we never found. Chesler park was also our first introduction to a poorly marked trail. The rock cairns seemed to just vanish at times and we spent lots of time retracing our steps trying to find the last cairn. Often Kevin went off in search of the trail while I waited at the last visible cairn with the kids. The problem was that the trail at times followed a dirt path along a dry creek bed then suddenly veered back onto the rocks. When the trail was on a dirt path there were no cairns. It was very frustrating and could be very dangerous. But mostly just aggravating, especially since we were 'told' repeatedly by signs to stay on trails. Sorry for the rant, but it happened quite often on many trails and it made both Kevin and I very disappointed.

Not My Photo
This is the 'hallway'
we walked through

Overall the hike was a blast, we climbed up and down the sides of Elephant canyon, and up and over The Needles to an open expanse of sagebrush. guarded on all sides by the pillars of the Needles. it was amazing. The trail slipped through a canyon who's walls were so close that my shoulders occasionally hit the sides of the walls, the kids instantly dubbed it the Castle. Up a staircase carved through rock.  It was an amazing and diverse hike, and each step closer to the park you wonder where and how your going to cross the impenetrable looking needles. Or if you were at all. When you do the scene completely changes, where you expect more tangled rock formations you find a desert garden. We went a bit past the Chesler park sign up the Joint trail and found a nice tree to sit a rest by. We had lunch, turkey sandwiches, apples, chocolate as a reward and tons of water. After lunch we laid out all of the kids hoodies and made them lay down and rest for a half an hour, before we headed back.

Pictographs on the Chesler Park trail

Note to readers considering any elevation trails in Canyonlands, if you get nervous going up steep elevation gains, its a hundred times worse trying to come down. To all family reading, I promise the kids we're never in any danger of falling down the side of a cliff. Kevin and I had them snuggly tucked between us on every trail and if we had the slightest worry of heights, or danger, kids were firmly in hand. The only one who did slip was Kevin and that was due to a rock that wasn't firmly set at the base of a descent. And don't worry he was fine, he slipped maybe 3 inches.





Emma at Camp

Lulu exploring camp

Jack needed a back scratch.

Canyonlands: Day 1

We're Here (campground)

The Needles District was essentially our home base for this vacation. Though we did visit one other district, towns, and a whole different park, it was still the area we explored the most.

Day 1: Cave Spring and Slickrock

Cave Spring is an amazing first hike to do in Canyonlands. It follows a path through dense dessert plants, introducing you to varied species along the way. My favorite and most astonishing plant was the 'big sagebrush', not the most inventive name but pretty much calls it how it is. It huge sagebrush, standing taller than me, and nearly blocking out Kevin's line of site. Not to extraordinary maybe, but where we come from the sage brush tops out at about 3 feet. So obviously our assumption that life would be harder in the desert, not necessarily true

Anyway enough with the plants. The trail is red dirt to sand at times, when it climbs over the slickrock it is marked by cairns, small piles of rocks. Cave Spring Trail follows the edge of some rock formations, leading around to an abandoned cowboy camp, that still has many items left by the cowboys who once roamed this land with their herds. After the cowboy camp it continues to follow around to the Name Sake of the trail A small cave spring, on the walls are pictographs left before the cowboys by the natives of this land. Though its a short hike it has many features of most hikes at Needles, you climb two ladders, wind through dense brush, climb over slickrock and eventually find your car appear unexpectedly as you break through those big sagebrush. The loop is 0.6 miles and is extraordinarily easy.

Slickrock trail is a trail of astounding viewpoints and landscapes. As its name says its a slickrock trail, slickrock is a type of Sandstone as far as I can gather, called so because it becomes extremely slick when wet. Lucky for us it stayed completely dry for our trip and if anything was kind of grippy. The trail follows cairns all over the slickrock, this trail was marked fairly well and we didn't get lost once. Also on this loop are a four viewpoints that take short detours off the trail to scenic overlooks. We took all of them, they lead to great overlooks of canyons and gorges. Many times leading you to the brink of steep drops. We had our lunch at the third over look. the cairns end before you get to the precipice of the particular rock formation you are on, but we wanted a view with lunch. We climbed up a few more boulders and jumped (or were assisted over) a small chasm about 18 inches wide. Coming to an amazing over look of a gorge where we pointed out what rock formations looked like as one would draw pictures from clouds. We had lunch and headed back to the loop.

If cave Springs was an introduction to the terrain, Slickrock was an introduction to the geology. From each viewpoint a different and equally contributing aspect of the geology was seen. Mostly we learned that it was hot. We started the trail with hoodies and pants and by the end of the 2.4 miles we were in shorts and tanks, boys having abandoned shirts all together. We saw our first lizard on Slickrock and began our count. Jack also spotted a large yellow and black Daddy Long Leg and nearly died of fright, until we assured him it was a nice spider and wouldn't bite. Then he followed it for about ten minutes.

Canyonlands; Getting There

I have been racking my brain trying to figure out the best possible way to write about our vacation. Each hike its own blog, group the parks together, by districts we visited. All and all I have decided to group the short hikes all together by district and Arches as its own. Also I will put the two longest hikes in their own posts. This post I will tell you the beginning of our adventure.

We left here on Friday the 25th of March at 4:30. Driving south on highway 89 towards Alpine. I'm not going to go through all of the directions to get there, lets just say that the trip is long and takes many Wyoming, Idaho and Utah back roads until eventually you hit the Highway near Salt Lake. After a few hundred miles your back to the two lane roads. Canyonlands has two entrances, from UT-181, the first entrance is to the Island in the Sky District. We were camping in the Needles District. So we kept going, we passed the entrance to Arches and then on through Moab. About 30-40 miles south of Arches is the turn into Canyonlands, well more appropriately the turn that takes you to the entrance. It is on the right hand side of the road, I think its Highway 211. then you keep on driving 22 miles to the entrance station.

The drive in is beautiful and slowly takes you through the desert terrain into the magnificence of The Needles District. We arrived at about 4 in the morning, and drove through the campgrounds, Squaw Flatt has an "A" and "B" sites. None were open so we parked at the visitors center and slept.

Around sunrise we woke up and drove around the campgrounds again looking for a site. Luckily someone was leaving and noticed we were looking. They told us they were leaving and that we could have their spot. So we paid for campsite 24 in loop "B" and set up camp, while the kids had cereal for breakfast.

After Kevin and I had the tent up, we made lunch and set out to explore Canyonlands, Needles District.