Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
I was in town for the Moab Photo Symposium.
Talking to some of the attendees reminded me of the difference between real photographers and myself. They are willing to WAIT for the right shot.
(I merely take pictures of whatever happens along while I am hiking.)
Still, the gap between real photographers and the rest of us is narrowing due to the decreased cost of digital equipment.
Check out their 2006 photo contest winners.
The best section of Canyonlands National Park for hikers is The Needles. No question.
…named after the red and white banded rock pinnacles which dominate it but various other forms of naturally sculptured rock like canyons, grabens, potholes, and a number of arches similar to the ones of the nearby Arches National Park can be found as well.
Unlike Arches National Park, however, where many arches are accessible by short to moderate hikes or even by car, most of the arches in the Needles district lie in backcountry canyons and take long hikes or four-wheel-drive trips to reach.
Canyonlands National Park – Wikipedia
Of 60mi (96km) of great trails, the most popular section of the Needles is Chesler Park, a lovely grassy valley surrounded by colourful sandstone spires.
larger image – flickr
I was lucky to get one of the 5 backcountry Chesler Park tent sites (CP5) and accessed it from the Elephant Hill trailhead.
NPS map
From there I dayhiked the astonishing Joint Trail. It’s a “mountain” that split leaving a fracture just wide enough for a hiker (sideways at some points). Is there no end of natural marvels in this part of the world?
The highlight for me personally was a late afternoon trail run to Druid Arch. Late, scrambling the steep slope up to the view point, I was blown away by the size and location of this wonderful mass of stone.
I got lost on the run back to my tent, arriving an hour after dark.
If I went back to the Needles, I would do Salt Creek from Cathedral Butte to Peekaboo via Angel Arch. Likely 3 days, 24.2m (39km), a wonderful canyon walk with permanent water.
I’d need a high clearance vehicle to get to the trailhead. Or would hire a shuttle vehicle in Moab.
Angel Arch – Bob’s Arches
photos from my 2007 hike – flickr
We nearly tripped over two 4ft-long snakes, very close together, in Arches National Park, Utah.
Click PLAY or see the snakes on YouTube.
Later I had another snake close to my camp in Canyonlands. (It’s a good idea to keep your tent zipped in this part of the world.)
At the time I hoped that this nonpoisonous big boy — the Gopher Snake or Bullsnake — was a mortal enemy of the Rattler. (I read that error in Edward Abbey’s 1968 book.)
Turns out the two species sometimes fight. Other times the snakes may even nest together.
Happily, I’ve still never seen a Rattler.
The signature photo of Island in the Sky is the view through Mesa Arch.
The Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park could not be better named.
It’s a high Mesa at the junction of the Colorado and Green rivers.
Most of the longer hikes drop precipitously off the “island”. There are several to choose from: Gooseberry, Wilhite, Alcove Spring. Many hikers climb down quickly and are picked up by an off-road vehicle on the White Rim Road. If you do not have vehicle support (and it’s not too hot), you can switchback your way up top again, sometimes via a loop.
The Rangers when I was there recommended Murphy Basin, a 10mi (16km) lollypop loop with an optional sidetrip to Murphy Point. Non-stop fantastic vistas.
my view from Murphy Point
The best hike on Island in the Sky for me, however, is the Syncline Loop.
My favourite hike in the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park circles unique Upheaval Dome, the strangest and most controversial geological feature in the region.
To me, it looks like an ancient eroded meteorite crater. It’s huge, 6.2mi (10km) in diameter.
I circled it on the 8mi (12.8km) Syncline Loop trail, finishing with a side trip to the popular Upheaval Dome overlook. That’s a wonderful, challenging day hike. (Especially difficult after damage during the winter of 2006. Volunteers were making repairs when I was there.)
from NPS map
You might prefer the longer Alcove Spring / Syncline Loop 19.6mi (31.5km) which takes you to Aphrodite, Zeus and Moses spires. And returns via Upheaval Canyon.
This is dangerous territory. People get lost and die in Canyonlands National Park. I just read an account of a 62-yr-old man who was found curled up, dead under the only shade tree a short distance from his vehicle. Somehow he got confused and couldn’t find the car.
I don’t want to understate the risks while extolling the wonders of hiking there.
Routes are maked by stone cairns. Inevitably you will spend a lot of time backtracking to the last cairn, trying to find the correct route. I got particularly muddled on Syncline Loop.
Here’s the obligatory warning:
The park’s greatest danger is weather. Summer temperatures often exceed 100 ° F, but even during the spring and fall visitors should plan on drinking one gallon of water per day.
When hiking be aware that it can be easy to get lost in the twisting canyons, so let someone know where you are going and bring more food and water than you think you’ll need.
During storms avoid high open areas which can be prone to lightning strikes. In addition, be extremely cautious in narrow canyons as flash floods can occur with even just a small amount of precipitation.
If you are in a canyon and it begins to rain, look for higher ground immediately; if you can hear the sounds of floodwaters approaching or notice rising water around you it is already too late to seek safety.
Canyonlands National Park – WikiTravel
There are a lot of suspicious-looking, bearded coots hanging around Moab, Utah.
One of them — though only in spirit since he passed on in 1989 — is Edward Abbey.
He’s the poet laureate of the Colorado Plateau. The environmental conscience of the red rock lands. An “eloquent and passionate advocate”.
Essential reading for anyone coming to the Canyon Country of Four Corners, USA:
Centered around the author’s activities as a park ranger at Arches National Monument (now National Park), Abbey is part storyteller, part anarchist philosopher, part liberal humanist, part crank.
The book is often compared to Thoreau’s Walden. The book is a series of vignettes about various aspects of his work as a park ranger in the desert southwest, ranging from a polemic against development and excessive tourism in the National Parks, to a story of working with a search and rescue team to pull a dead body out of the desert, to stories of river running, his view of Mormonism, the social life in and around Moab, Utah, and more.
Although it is a memoir, it is filled with many interesting, somewhat fictional stories.
I loved the book, it’s message and humour.
Edward Abbey consistently voiced the belief that the West was in danger of being developed to death, and that the only solution lay in the preservation of wilderness. …
His comic novel The Monkey Wrench Gang helped inspire a whole generation of environmental activism. A writer in the mold of Twain and Thoreau, Abbey was a larger-than-life figure as big as the West itself. …
In a career spanning four decades, he wrote passionately in defense of the Southwest and its inhabitants, often mocking the mindless bureaucratic forces hell-bent on destroying it.
“Resist much, obey little”, from Walt Whitman, was this warrior’s motto.
AbbeyWeb.net
My interest was tweaked when I kept seeing an unusual little day hike on “best hikes in Utah” lists.
The name is surprising too: Negro Bill’s Canyon. (I will lobbyinglobby for a name change to Mitt Romney Canyon if he wins the Presidency in 2008.)
It’s popular for a number of reasons:
Despite the plentiful poison ivy, this is a very popular hike for those owning dogs and/or children.
Ultimately, it’s a nice change from the dry, hot desert environment outside the canyon. And 3.2mi (5.15km) is a nice distance for a short walk.
Morning Glory Natural Bridge … or, more accurately, …
This is not a natural bridge, but it is a very large alcove arch. Robert Vreeland measured the span of this arch and reported it to be 243 feet in Volume 5 of his book series, Natures Bridges and Arches. This volume is now out of print. Jay Wilbur of NABS has confirmed this measurement.
The most famous attraction in Arches National Park is Delicate Arch.
But the best hike, I feel, is Devil’s Garden – Primitive Loop. That’s 7.2mi (11.5km) plus extra sidetrips.
The feature attraction is possibly the longest and certainly the most “impossible” arch in the world.
It seems Landscape Arch could fall anytime. (Several pieces have dropped since 1991 and the trail under the arch has been closed.)
Anyone can make the easy day hike to walk to Landscape Arch and back. Confident hikers should continue at least as far as Double O Arch. (Some like the sidetrip to Dark Angel tower, some do not.)
And best of all is to add the Primitive Loop rather than backtrack.
larger map on Climb-Utah.com
It might take as long as 5hrs to do everything adding off-trail rock scrambles above some of the arches.
I returned via Primitive Loop. But reversing direction would have been even better, I think, saving the arches for last. Start at first light when animals are active and the trail still cool.
Primitive Loop is well named. I managed to get lost once or twice. It is challenging. And gorgeous. In some ways this is the best part of the walk.
Be sure to carry a map and desert survival gear. You don’t want to end up like Aron Ralston.
The excellent Utah.com site posted a video: Hike the Devil’s Garden.
EVERYONE in Utah knows Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. It’s on the licence plates.
The Olympic torch relay for the 2002 Winter Olympics passed through the arch.
Yet many do not visit, intimidated by the rugged 3mi (4.8km) return trail.
The start of the walk is ugly. I was wondering if it was going to be a colossal let down.
But the trek improves considerably when you hit steep slickrock. And again when you reach a rock ledge path.
… The arch comes into view suddenly around a corner in the trail and frames the La Sal Mountains to the southeast. The immediate area around the Arch offers views of the southern expanse of the park, and has unguarded cliffs plunging one hundred feet or more.
Fantastic!
The location looks like a set built for the old Startrek TV series.
I had the arch to myself late in the afternoon and was tempted to free climb it. Unfortunately that plan had been ruined by Dean Potter accused in 2006 of letting his team fix protection from a top rope draped over the formation, possibly damaging the structure. (Potter denies the charge.)
On the return I bypassed the cattle trail and took instead to the rocky ridge that runs parallel. A nice loop.
Delicate Arch is one of the best hikes in the world, not to be missed by anyone passing through Moab.
Oh, and climbing arches is now strictly forbidden.
The Four Corners is the wild convergence of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
It’s mostly Indian land.
Last year I hiked out of Page, Arizona. This year Moab, Utah.
In Utah, the best site I’ve found on hiking is Utah.com — concise, well organized, easy-to-read.
If you’ve never been to the Four Corners, the best reference is Moon Handbooks Four Corners
I’m a Lonely Planet guidebook fanatic. But, for some parts of the world, Moon is better.
In the Moon guide, check their Suggested Reading section on Hiking. This will help you narrow the many choices of hiking guidebooks available.
There are dozens of good hiking guidebooks for the region. But no GREAT ones. At least none I’ve found yet. (And I write from Moab Public Library.)
Almost inevitably you’ll end up as I did with one of the Falcon Hiking Guides: Exploring Canyonlands and Arches National Parks by Schneider.
I’ll head first for Arches:
Taking its name from the hundreds of naturally formed sandstone arches scattered here, Arches National Park is the most feature-packed of southern Utah’s national parks.
Ranging in size from around three feet to nearly 300 feet in span, the arches are the result of erosion over millions of years, the same agent that formed the thousands of brilliantly colored spires, pinnacles, and canyons that cover southeast Utah.
Piñon pines and junipers add a splash of green to the red and brown backdrop, but mostly what you see are red stone and blue sky—lots and lots of both.
besthike.com 