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Canyonland

I insisted that we leave Ken’s Lake in Moab very very early to get to Canyonlands since we wanted to stay in the park and we were shut out of Arches.  So, much to David’s dismay, we were on the road by 7:30 am and got to the almost empty Canyonland’s campgrounds by 10 am. 

Canyonlands is unique among all the Utah national parks in that it is quite rough.  Most of the roads are unpaved; all the toilets are pits; and there is no water anywhere, even in the visitors’ centers.  The park has three non-contiguous areas, the most visited of which is Island in the Sky where we started out. After setting up our dry camp (once more no showers…9 days and counting) we did our typical drive through the park and see the sights trip.

HOWEVER…this was the drive to end all drives.  The White Rim Road, attained through the Shafer Trail is the 2 day trip around the canyons.  We thought we would just do a little bit and be back happily for dinner.  The Shafer Trail is a cow path going at least 1000 feet down the mountain into the canyon below.  We were on hairpin turns that looked like Z’s with high cliffs on one side, sheer drops on the other, and gravel, dirt and big boulders beneath our tires.  I had a death grip on the handle of the door, and later David told me that his hands were clamped to the steering wheel.  Even he, who loves rough and tumble rides, thought this was a bit too much.  I think we could have died!  Once we got to the bottom of the Trail onto the White Rim Road, even though the dirt, gravel and boulders were still there, the cliffs had flattened out.

We went to Musselman’s Arch which was a lovely surprise because we (that is David) could walk right across the top of it.  Then, rather than risk the Z turns and cliffs going back up the mountain, we took the safer, but longer dirt, gravel and boulder road BACK to Moab where we started out so early that morning.

Along the way we saw signs for Dinosaur Footprint.  Of course we had to stop and read the sign.  We were directed to go back onto the road to the “viewing tube” which would help us spot the footprint.  We follow directions and went back to the road, driving back and forth several times, until our eagle eyes saw, way in the weeds, a little pipe on a stand.  Over the rocks and weeds we went; eyes to the tube…and by God, there on the cliff above us, on a fallen rock were two, three-toed footprints.  Looked dinosaur like to us!

Then, quite unexpectedly, we came upon panel after panel of petroglyphs lining the side of the road on one side and the Colorado River on the other.  Quite cool.

Back in Moab we filled our water bottles and then headed back to Canyonlands. Having had our fill of sitting in the car we took a hike to Uplift Dome which, depending on the theory, was either the site of a meteor hit or a salt dome that had pushed up the rock above it.  Either way, it was a huge crater filled with jagged, green-gray rock.  Quite eerie.

We were both quite happy to get back to our campsite, even though by that time our car was unrecognizable in its new red coating of sand and dust.

Originally we had decided to stay two days, but heard about great petroglyphys far into the park in the most remote section of the most remote section.  Canyonlands is divided into three sections and the Maze is the most remote and primitive and the petroglphys are in an even remot-er section.  Since this is the desert and the walk was about 6.5 miles round trip, we decided to get to the trailhead the night before, hike early the next morning, stay overnight and leave the following morning.

Once again we were on dirt, gravel and boulder filled roads, this time forcing poor Celeste to follow along.  She was a bit shaken up and so was I since the ride lasted for three hours (37 miles), ending at our camping spot…a parking lot with a pit toilet at the edge of a canyon. The view from the site was magnificent, even if it was just a parking lot.

BATHROOM ADVENTURE #2

Since we were the only folks at this luxury site, we felt safe in peeing in the open.  For the last pee of the night, I stepped outside and looked into the sky…to see cloud formations that looked like the Dementors in Harry Potter.  Who could pee looking at that?  Not me…so I popped back inside and waited for David to tell me when they had gone.  Then I boldly stepped outside, armed only with a flashlight and pulled down my pants. Oh my lord.  Four bright green eyes were staring at me!  I shined the flashlight on them, thinking to scare them off, and they bounced closer.  Pants still around my ankles I flew into the trailer.  Grabbing David, I went back out, put my back to Celeste’s wheel and tried again.  Out came the green eyes once more, but at that point even they could not hold me back.  The next day we found out that what we had seen were kit fox pups and we ended up looking forward to seeing them again.

THE HIKE FROM HELL

Early the next morning, armed with food, hats, bug spray, 6 litres of water, flashlight, matches and aspirin we were off.  Down slick rocks and sand for 700 feet, then through a sand bottomed canyon for a couple of miles to 4 widely spaced panels of incredible petroglyphs, some as old as 8000 years.  This being a primitive trail, we were following widely spaced rock cairns, as well as the canyon bottom.

All seemed quite exciting and fine until the ascent.  The switch backs over the sand in 95 degrees heat was bad enough.  But then, when we entered the rock area, David looked at me and said, “That wasn’t too bad.”  What was terrible was that we still had 30 minutes to go up another 400 feet over rock.  At one point, David found a tiny, tiny pathetic shrub with tiny leaves that we dove under and hunched up eking out the “shade” for a few minutes.  By that time our water, even though still plentiful, was about 85 degrees and more suitable for washing than drinking.

However, we did manage to return to Celeste and passed out for hours.  When we woke, our sheets were brown with the accumulated sand and our only goal was to reach a campground the next day with SHOWERS!