Press "Enter" to skip to content

Davis Canyon & Dry Fork of Lavender Canyon

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Since our original plan for the weekend was to go rafting near Glenwood Springs on Sunday, I ended up heading to Davis Canyon on Saturday to do some hiking and exploring. Unfortunately, because of the wind, our rafting trip on Sunday never happened 🙁

After driving up Davis Canyon to the Canyonlands National Park boundary, I parked my Jeep and hiked in. My first destination would be the Five Faces Pictographs. These pictographs are in amazing condition.

IMG_8398.jpg

IMG_8399.jpg

All five faces.
IMG_8453.jpg

Below the pictographs on two sandstone slabs were ten large depressions.
IMG_8485.jpg

After leaving the Five Faces, I backtracked a little ways down the canyon to check out this small, but well-preserved granary.
IMG_8574.jpg

IMG_8580.jpg

Next I headed back up the canyon for a ways to find two arches. First up was Pinyon Pine Arch.

IMG_8593.jpg

IMG_8601.jpg

Followed by Junction Arch.

IMG_8647.jpg

IMG_8657.jpg

After finding the arches, I made my way back down Davis Canyon, watching for more ruins along the way. I found a bunch of ruins, but most were not well preserved. Back near the park boundary, there was another granary in an alcove.

IMG_8676.jpg

IMG_8694.jpg

Headed back down Davis Canyon.
IMG_8720.jpg

I stopped a little ways outside of the park to search for some more ruins, and found another nice granary.

IMG_8734.jpg

IMG_8760.jpg

IMG_8795.jpg

After searching the area for more ruins, I headed to the Dry Fork of Lavender Canyon to find a few more arches. First I came across Beam Arch.

IMG_8804.jpg

Headed up the Dry Fork.
IMG_8813.jpg

Then I came across Garage Bridge.
IMG_8860.jpg

Shortly after Garage Bridge, the road ended. From there I hiked another quarter mile to the Culebra Double Arches.

IMG_8889.jpg

IMG_8906.jpg

The smaller of the two arches.
IMG_8923.jpg

On my way back out of Dry Fork, I spotted the last set of double arches that I missed on the way in; Dry Fork Double Arches. These were difficult to photograph as the sun was right above them, these would be better photographed in the morning, but I did what I could 😉
IMG_8951.jpg

IMG_8955.jpg

IMG_8974.jpg

Headed back out of the Dry Fork of Lavender Canyon.
IMG_8989.jpg

After heading back out of Lavender Canyon, I made my way to Monticello for some dinner and then headed home. It was a fun day, but pretty windy all day.

Leave a Reply