Posts for: wilderness
Nov 2, 2023 12:40:56 #
Retired CPO wrote:
Wow! Very nice! I've never seen that first one. Very interesting. Where is that? Is that Betatakin?
Yes that's Betatakin. That view only takes a half mile walk to get to. Navajo National Monument, well worth the visit. Nice little museum there too.
Nov 2, 2023 09:53:44 #
After swinging by Navajo National Monument and viewing Betatakin, we visited Monument Valley before attempting to go up the Moki Dugway. As fate would have it, a tracker trailer had gotten stuck and the Dugway was impassable. So we detoured thru Bluff (Sand Island petroglyphs shown) before a quick visit to Natural Bridges, Butler Wash Ruins before ending at Fisher Towers. My friends were too worn out to go far there - too bad hadn't really seen much of them since 1980...
Oct 30, 2023 09:44:27 #
Wanting to avoid the zoo that is Antelope Canyon (or worse yet Horseshoe Bend) we visited Lee's Ferry and the dinosaur tracks outside of Tuba
Oct 28, 2023 10:07:58 #
You can't get more on the beaten path than Bryce N.P. My first visit was in 1976 and it was memorable, we hiked the full Fairyland Loop at night under a full moon. As much as I make a point of never going back to Bryce (being in crowds is not my idea of an outdoor experience and certainly not Wilderness) I did want my non hiker friends to experience it's other worldly beauty. We hiked a small section of the Fairy Land loop and visited Inspiration Point.
Oct 27, 2023 17:12:33 #
BigDale wrote:
Beautiful 👍 When I was out that way we hiked Upper Mulely Twist Canyon and as the side trail across the rock dome to the Strike’s Valley overlook. They were easy and beautiful hikes. They are near the area were Burr Trail Road enters Capital Reef NP.
What's fun to do is to hike Upper Muley Twist to it's end (well past Saddle Arch) then climb up onto the top of the Waterpocket Fold. Return via the top of the Waterpocket Fold, either camping up top or as a long dayhike. Great views up there.
Oct 27, 2023 09:14:26 #
oops I clicked send before added this photo of a tarantula walking on the bottom of the canyon
Oct 27, 2023 09:11:53 #
The most scenic way to get from Bryce or Escalante to Page is to drive down the Cottonwood Wash Road. That is, if it's not wet out. In the rain even beefy 4wd vehicles can't get down the clay like Cottonwood Wash Road.A couple of short hikes are off the road. Grosvenor Arch (a double arch) is a really short hike, while both North and South Cottonwood Wash Narrows hikes are doable by even my non hiker friends. Here's some photos.
Stay tuned tomorrow for some photos of Bryce.
Stay tuned tomorrow for some photos of Bryce.
Oct 26, 2023 21:43:38 #
PAR4DCR wrote:
Beautiful country wilderness. At 75 I am probably in your friends group, short day hikes only.
Don
Don
Some of us oldsters have an ambitious plan for next year. At 72 we'll be doing a 31 day off trail backpack. Wish us luck!
Oct 26, 2023 09:48:26 #
While the Escalante region is ideal for long backpacks there are many great dayhikes in the area. Most of those were too hard for my friends or too long (i.e. Lower Calf Creek Falls). So off we went down the ever bumpy Hole in the Rock Road to Devil's Garden and then a short ways into Half Way Hollow. Here's some images.
Tomorrow we'll do some short hikes off of Cottonwood Wash Road, then Hwy. 89
Tomorrow we'll do some short hikes off of Cottonwood Wash Road, then Hwy. 89
Oct 25, 2023 10:01:05 #
Those of you who have followed my posts know that I do really remote (no trails, no people) really long (upwards to 33 days) technical backpacks in remote corners of canyon country. I just returned from a VERY different sort of trip . I was with my closest childhood friend, Rusty, and his wife Sharon who don't hike AT ALL. I took Rusty out two years ago but Sharon couldn't join us for medical reasons, so this was a chance to introduce her to the glories of canyon country without repeating what I had done with Rusty.
We started in my favorite National Park (and I've hiked in about 50 - from Denali, to the Everglades to Olympic ) Capitol Reef. Again not repeating any of the classics I took Rusty to.
Stay tuned for the next stop: Escalante Grand Staircase
We started in my favorite National Park (and I've hiked in about 50 - from Denali, to the Everglades to Olympic ) Capitol Reef. Again not repeating any of the classics I took Rusty to.
Stay tuned for the next stop: Escalante Grand Staircase
Jun 14, 2023 12:39:34 #
Being too cold and too wet to do what we had planned we chose instead to go to the usually bone dry Slickrock Ocean (a name bestowed by Utah hiking legend, Steve Allen). We spent 8 days backpacking there. Here are my favorite images from that trip.
Jun 13, 2023 10:59:07 #
kvanhook wrote:
#1 is a real winner.
#3 is my favorite
Jun 12, 2023 11:59:25 #
cyclespeed wrote:
I'm wondering if you could tell me were you in Utah or Arizona?
Both - Cummings Mesa straddles the border of the two states. In fact the day that some of us found the fire starter "kit' one member of our party went off to "find" the state line. Back in 1900 Howard Carpenter was sent by the two states to survey the state line. He erected stone monuments every mile along this rugged line. If you follow my posts last year I posted a photo of one of his monuments. My buddy Steve found another one while we were checking out much older archaeology.
Jun 12, 2023 09:39:33 #
BrianFlaherty wrote:
What can I say, but: Wow! Thanks for beginning M... (show quote)
Thanks for the kind words Brian. Where do you live with a view somewhat like that???
Jun 12, 2023 09:25:12 #
If you've been following this narrative you know that I spent 18 days atop rarely visited Cummings Mesa. This was not what we had planned to do this spring, weather continually forced us to change plans. In fact, out of over 5 weeks of hiking in canyon country this spring, we spent exactly two hours doing what we had planned to do. It all worked out as I think these images ( my favorite from our Cummings Mesa adventure) attest to. There's more than 2 images of West Canyon and it's wonders, in fact we found it so beautiful we're planning on returning there next spring. It had been over 10 years since we'd spent much time in this hall of beauty.
