Trip #122 (53): Southeast Utah Canyon Tour: Arches & Slots
Trip #122 (53): Southeast Utah Canyon Tour
October 5 – 16, 2022
NOTE: Things to remember when traveling to Canyon Lands:
[1] Always top off your gas tank no matter the price.
[2] Remember Utah schools provide a FALL BREAK. Check dates before planning.
[3] Bring lots of food and fresh vegetables. Grocery stores
are limited. (suck)
[4] Careful where you camp if there will be rain. (nothing happened, just sayin’.)
Wed., Oct. 5, 2022
Left later than normal, a cooler and very rainy Santa Fe (it would rain for 3 days I think, what will the watermelons look like, hmm), for the drive to Mancos State Park (#9 pull thru, no hookups). Took the back way, finally driving out of the rain near Espanola. Stopped at the Walmart in Durango for a new wiper blade (got the wrong one of course), then on to the surprisingly nice park 5 miles north of Mancos. It’s on a small reservoir and the temps were cool, not expecting that. But beautiful area, can’t beat them mountains.
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| Abiquiu |
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| Fall color on west side of the La Platas from Mancos |
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| Bill walking near the small reservoir |
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| Mancos State Park. One other camper today |
Thursday, Oct. 6
Heading for a 2-night stay in Arches National Park (end of the loop, #46, great spot with its own slot canyon and big backyard. Happy hour was cooler out there. But no signal tho you could walk to the top of the hill for a bar or two). Weather was beautiful, sunny skies, but I wouldn’t have minded it to be a bit cooler. Park and Moab were busy but not overly so… we didn’t hit the park’s timed entrance so drove right in. First day we hung out and maybe Bill won best of 3 of Kibbie, I don’t remember... It was an almost-full moon. Ed. Note: Neither of us can remember what else we did this first day so here’s to two bad brains.)
Friday, Oct. 7
Today we hiked Devil’s Garden to Landscape Arch, and a little beyond. Temps are very nice, but again, I’d always take a little cooler, but that’s hot me. After sitting around, Bill of course can’t sit around too long, so we did the drive across Salt Valley to Klondike Bluffs to do a little rock scrambling to the top to see over the ridge and the view. Talked to a nice young couple about moving and stressed the importance of renting before buying (they were considering moving to Moab, I hope they think this through). This happy hour Sheila did the ass-kicking in the game, and Bill, every fascinated with the full moon, forced me out for an evening march thru the sands of Arches. Did some iPhone 13 pro night shots, dang this phone camera is amazing. You wouldn’t know it was night, except for the stars.
Saturday, Oct. 8
Today we drove to our two night stay in Green River (#4, right behind where we were last time when we had the coveted host site with full-hookups incl sewer). Doing some local sightseeing we drove to Crystal Geyser, a man made cold-water “soda” geyser created when they were drilling out in the area for something. The site is along the Green Rive, pretty spot, but dang it was hot so we wandered a bit and moved on. Nice to have electric and a signal, tho it was only 2 bars. Never got on bikes, but we rode this place last time, so… and it was warm.
Sunday, Oct. 9
Today we shall hike. Drove west on I-70 to mile post 147 for the turn off for Black Dragon Canyon. A canyon hike sporting some pictographs, that I wish I had read more about before we went so I knew what we were looking for. No matter, the best parts were fenced off so you couldn’t miss them. Very cool, the old kind painted with red “paint”. Hiked further on until we turned around when the canyon opened up; this used to be the pass-through for the San Rafael Swell ridge just ahead before they built I-70. Kinda surprised those drawings are sill intact. On our trek back, a group of ATVers were looking for the “black dragon” as were we. No one was sure what it looked like; in my mind, after seeing a brochure I was expecting a big black pterodactyl… and so were they I think. One guy drew something on the ground of what he thought it was – nope, way off. But we did enjoy his hootie dog, Zip, who only had eyes for his owner. Anyway, there was a weak signal as we walked out and the image was the one we were looking at the whole time, a small one in red. That brochure was full of shit. After this nice maybe 3 if that mile hike, we drove a little more west past the swell (which by the way, seems a lot like the Comb Ridge further south in Utah), and got a nice view from the viewpoint. Today we are going out to dinner, as Sheila never misses a Mexican Restaurant sign. La Valenzuela down the road. Sure taking a chance here… Played one game, Sheila won, and Willy refused to walk to dinner so we drove, after one margarita, cuz this place was only celebrating that it could serve beer. It wasn’t too bad, not great, but heck, we are in a VERY small town. Did the trick. We will have to behave for the next 5 nights and eat trailer food.
Monday, Oct. 10
After a stop at the Green River grocery, The Melon Vine --which btw was very clean and very well stocked (we were expecting a west Texas Porters) – it was on to Goblin Valley State Park (#16). A whole 45 minutes away. Another nice sunny day (could be cooler), tho they say mid 70s AND CAN YOU BELIEVE WE ARE IN THE SAME SPOT WE WERE IN PROBABLY 10 YEARS AGO. (ck yrs). OK so there is a noisy 4-kid whiny family across from us, I hope they move on soon. Not too hot here, so we rode bikes a little (too freakin’ steep and sandy for me, and the paved road is nice but you might get run over), and after a visit to the visitor center (geddy lee mullet boy-girl), we headed out to the canyons known as Ding and Dang. I thought it would just be a drive, but we ended up hiking at least 4 miles, it was nice (tho it could have been cooler), pebble walk not beach sand yay, going as far as we dared, as folks said there would be rock climbs (cut off your arm climbs?), and water up to your chest. No thanks. But we enjoyed what we did, and walking out at almost 5 pm were the last ones out. Of course I forgot the pedometer, but would guess it was about 4 miles in total. Nights cool off into the mid 40s but just right for sleeping. Days are in the high 70s I would guess.
Tuesday, October 11
We liked that canyon hike yday, so will do another today… Crack or Chute canyon, both on the other side of the “reef,” which shall it be? Whichever one we find first. But first Bill took a bike ride down the road to Goblin Valley cuz S was in no mood to rush out. Drove about 30 minutes along the rough gravel road (now I remember why I’ve had enough of 4-wheeling for the sake of 4-wheeling). Stopped at the junction known to have a signal to check messages. Got one from Nancy VM regarding Bernie, getting the correction that yes it is terminal, but the 3 weeks is for chemo. She will forward their info, as Diane DK wanted us to know. Once the driver also had enough of the jostling around, we turned toward what looked to be a canyon and, either way, we were going to hike around the area. There were no signs at the “entrance” (found out later had we gone a bit farther, it would have been the official entrance and marked as such; but like I said, we were going to walk around anyway, very cool desolate area. Turns out it was Crack Canyon, as we learned from 2 other hikers. Later saw a group of 4 (same ones we saw at Ding yday) and that was it. (Did I mention we passed the whiney family ATV-ing on our drive to this canyon? Is this a small world or what.) Anyway, great hike, just enough climbing, didn’t get our feet wet, it had a narrow spot and opened up again, very nice. And also found a nice petrified rock branch I carried out that must weigh 8 lbs. Knowing how everything looks the same, we set up several trail cairns (note to self: how come no one has designed personal trail markers for such a situation? We could be RICH I tell YOU!) to mark out way out. I’m glad we did, as we still wandered off here and there. I’m sure we would have figured it out, eventually, but after 4 miles we surely didn’t want to have to trek further in search of the truck. Came back to much wind in camp and the trailer FULL of dust, just blowing in every window. True Grit here. Did the usual: chips and salsa, happy hour, shower, kibbie, dinner, Friends recordings, and reading. Pooped and asleep by about 9:30 (but of course, wide awake at 4 am).
Kibbie: I whooped his, 3 out of 5, or was it 3 out of 4, doesn’t matter, I WON. Rematch tomorrow
Wednesday, Oct. 12
Yay, the noisy family just left. There was supposed to be a front coming thru but I can’t tell any difference. Sunny as always. Full moon now fading away.
What to do today? Well, we have yet to see the Goblins so that is the main event. OK, did that, now what? Actually, they are interesting, but you walk down into a slight redrock valley and it was like walking into the oven. Yep, too hot under that blazing sun for more than 10 minutes, so I whined and we moved along; need to get back into the shady canyons. Went to the formerly busy Little Wild Horse Canyon, this is the main tourist canyon with parking lot and bathroom. We did this one years ago, but I don’t remember much detail. Wandered our way in and the canyon became a SLOT canyon and suddenly I found myself getting a bit anxious, like, I need to get out of here. I was right behind Bill, considered clmbing over the top of him, but instead fell back for more space when he said it opened up up ahead. Ok then. A few curves later and we are looking at a sliver of a canyon, dark with no light ahead. I said, no thanks, no can-do, I’ll wait here. He did a little but came out soon. Did this before for this time I’d rather not. Feels like a trap. Moved over to a shorter walk on Bell Canyon, which was nice and 5 feet or more wide, but it dead-ended (for us) at a tall rock we could not climb over. Only about 2pm now so we checked out the long-driveway boondock camping outside the park… well, a rough ride in but might be interesting. And far enough way from the road for the dust that is sure to blow in. Next we drove north from cell phone junction (which by the way, today was not producing much of a signal), which turned out to be the San Rafael Reef Wilderness, which also has some boondocking with potential one-bar cell service. Drove north until the road got pretty rough from a wash, but it looked interesting so we parked and walked up it. Cool!! Once you get past the sandy flat part the very walkable slick rock rose up gradually toward the reef edge, seeing full water tanks all the way up. Wanted to get to the top, but once up there it kept going. And so would have I except we had no water or phone for pics and no food and we are getting hungry. Next time! I see the exploration spot. Similar to the comb ridge down south. Came back to a new batch of bike-riding loud kids (why is no one in school?), and it was beautiful out - in the shade of the trailer. Played a best of 3 – Bill did the ass-kickin’ this time. Then the usual, dinner, Quinn, news, friends, reading.
Thursday, Oct. 13
Today we move on to Capital Reef, home of the dumbest place names, IMO. Been 11 years since we last saw this park too. Drove south from Goblin to Hanksville, hoping for a good grocery. Nope, just a very small one with very limited selections (iceberg lettuce, for instance; but very nice white mushrooms for whatever reason). Got what we could, which was not much, but we did get a cell signal for a quick catch up. We turned west on 24 for the drive to Capitol Reef (first confusing name), not knowing at the time we were driving over the waterpocket fold (yet another confusing name/descriptor). With a one-bar signal, learned from Barb that Roo’s father had passed away, but I was unable to get out my response – it is still stuck in my phone as I type this. Well, what do you know, this place is also PACKED, looks like the tour buses have found it as well, people all over, trailheads overflow parking on the road, campground buzzing, or more, screaming with kids. We are in Loop A #5, easy to get to, seems to be along Host Row. Just BEAUTIFUL here, much cooler in the shade of all the big trees, which are turning into their fall yellow. But OMG, full of kids. Big families and every kid has a bike and likes to squeal its communications. But other than that… Found out this week of October is “fall break” for Utah kids, did not know that. From our notes, we see we were here in March and May, 10 & 11 years ago, and it was soooo much quieter. First thing I had to do was get over to Gifford House (old homestead cabin now gift shop) for whatever they have to offer, last time was that rag rug book and jelly; this time yes on the jelly but no good crafts, tho I will get a horsehair necklace and Bill got a small apple pie and ice cream. Boy do they sell those, the following day I heard the lady say they sold out 30 dozen pies by noon! As I said it’s busy here. Anyway, not sure what to do, so took the “1.2 mile” walk to the visitor center, yep, hot in the sun part of the walk. Was hoping for a signal but not enough for my phone. People people everywhere. At 3pm I went over to the Geology Talk, which was helpful in understanding all this sediment layering around, really enjoyed it. He held up a park brochure, and working backwards, he said if there were a brochure 100,000 years ago it would look like this, holding up an ocean image on cover. Then swamp, then forest, then sand dunes, glaciers, etc etc. All the while, all I could think of is how GLOBAL WARMING maniacs think we will be done in 12 years. Have they ever studied geology??? Have they not seen how this planet has transitioned over millennia, as an ever-changing, plate moving ball of dirt? (my words, that’s why I didn’t give the talk) Hung around, walked the river trail, played Kibbie, I won, and later went to the movie at the amphitheater, also very informative. And holy shit the sky! You can see the milky way even with all the campground lights. My phone can even see it. Oh that was fun trying to get the sky shot at night, flashlights flying everywhere, cars going by, squealing kids at 9pm… Prob walked 3 miles today.
Friday, Oct. 14
This morning we drove south to the Capitol Gorge, where there are “pioneer grafitti” and some (weak) petroglyphs. Walked down the wash to see these carvings, huge families with screaming kids always around, but we kept walking down the wash and got some peace and quiet. Probably walked 3 miles in total. Driving out of there Bill noticed someone was leaking oil, he was right, saw the disabled camper truck on the side of the road, boy the are in a world of hurt, stuck half way down there. After lunch, back out to Hickman Bridge. Damn it was hot at the start, but got cooler further up, about 300 foot gain on that one. Very nice, saw the natural bridge, of course with screaming MOM! Kids around. Walked the boardwalk of Freemont petroglyphs, also not too impressive, but the bus was there. After dinner (running out of good food), former Durango neighbor Kent M showed up at the door – he is camped right behind us. Unbelievable. Went to the 7:30 Ranger Talk, also very good, we hit here with questions. Tried again for the milky way. Dead asleep by 10. And of course, awake at 1 am… ugh. Bill won 2 of 3, but he stole Raindrop. With Hickman, probably walked 5 miles today.
Saturday, Oct. 15
Nice day and the campground is a lot quieter but time to go. Not on the road till about 10:30 after waiting for the dump and all. Drove back to Hanksville and got groceries, if you can call it that, checked phones for messages and drove on down toward Glen Canyon and Natural Bridges. Ol’ Hog Valley (?) has been discovered, people parked all over for hiking the canyons and the campground full. Dang, glad we did this 10 years ago. The lake is as dry and receded as we’ve heard, but a trickle moving thru the canyons. Decided on staying at the Natural Bridges overflow and hike some canyons tomorrow, hoping the weather holds out – warm today but a cooler, overcast day promised for tomorrow, with a chance of rain. No one else here, Bill did a recon down the hill on his motorcycle and decided he could get the trailer down that rutted road, so we did. Such a great spot, and 4 miles from the Kane Gulch trailhead; probably our 4th time here. Did I mention free? Hung out after driving to the ranger station to find it had closed at noon. Beautiful day, but Dish weather says it may rain tomorrow and this will majorly change our plans… Like leaving instead of hiking.
Sunday, Oct. 16
Woke to 47 degrees and increasing clouds, concerning us, at least me. Pulling this thing out in mud scares the BeeJeebies out of me, plus we are low on fuel. Today will be interesting. Hoping for no drama! So after breakfast we will be leaving. Drove straight through after fueling in Blanding. Good thing, because taxes were due and Beck needed more docs to finish. Home by 6 pm. Santa Fe weather has cool now, too -- welcome fall/winter.
RIP: Judy Tenuda, Angela Lansbury, Lou’s father on 13th
Small World: Kent M showed up behind us in Fruita.
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