Press "Enter" to skip to content

Bartlett Flat to the Blue Hills

Moab Area Rock Art XXXIII | Return to the Yellow Comet Alcove
Saturday & Sunday, October 13-14, 2018

To be honest, I was planning on staying home this weekend after spending most of last week in Canyonlands National Park. However, Diane has been taking a pretty intensive online class for the last month and was finally caught up and wanted to get out hiking and camping this weekend, and since she hasn’t been out hiking since our backpacking trip to Kings Peak over Labor Day weekend, I couldn’t say no! We decided to stay closer to home and take a nice relaxing trip north of Moab. We did a little hiking, drove some bumpy roads, saw some ancient rock art, visited an arch, watched the sun set from the top of a mesa and walked in the footsteps of dinosaurs. It was a good time! Here are a few photos from the weekend…

Thanks to all the much-needed rain we received recently, most of the potholes were full.

Full Potholes

We started the day with a crawl along a narrow ledge.

Crawling Across A Ledge

It was nice to visit an old friend- The Yellow Comet Panel.

Yellow Comet Pictograph Panel

The Yellow Comet

Another large Barrier Canyon Style pictograph nearby.

Emerging From The Earth

Hiking back across the ledge as we climbed back up to the rim of the canyon.

The Ledge

After a break for lunch we went on another short hike over to Jewel Tibbetts Arch (Hell Roaring Arch).

Jewel Tibbetts Arch

There was a nice view of upper Hell Roaring Canyon from the overlook.

Upper Hell Roaring Canyon

I found this cool little alcove near the trail that I stopped to photograph.

Alcove of Lines

Little Alcove

After finding a place to spend the night and setting up our tent, we headed over to the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite, since we had never stopped there before. There were a lot of nice dinosaur tracks here.

This was probably the best one there.

Nice Dinosaur Track

Two tracks walking through the shadows of the boardwalk.

Walking Through The Shadows

Three smaller tracks walking away…

Three Smaller Dinosaur Tracks

There are a bunch of different tracks in this spot.

Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracks

Shortly before sunset we climbed up to the top of an unnamed mesa to watch the sunset.

Circular Sandstone

Just me and my shadow…

Shadow On Sandstone

A view over the sandstone swirls of the mesa toward the snow-capped La Sal Mountains.

Mesa Views

The sandstone up here is a great place to explore.

Sandstone Views

The last time I visited this desert pool it was completely empty. There was also a lot more snow that time, too!

Desert Pool Sunset

There was nice alpenglow on the La Sal Mountains this evening.

La Sal Mountains

This first photo of the desert pool was taken just after sunset when the clouds on the horizon turned magenta for a few minutes.

Desert Pool

This one was taken a little bit later when all the sandstone was bathed in the colorful afterglow. Which of the two photos do you prefer?

Desert Pool at Dusk

We hiked back down from the mesa in the dark and then drove back to our campsite where we had a late dinner and then went to bed early.

Here’s a photo of our tent on Sunday morning before we took it down and headed back home. We both had a nice weekend.

Ten Mile Wash Camp

>> Bartlett Flat to The Blue Hills Photo Gallery

4 Comments

  1. Kristy R. Langstraat-Bolte
    Kristy R. Langstraat-Bolte October 23, 2018

    I like the 2nd photo of the pool!

  2. Dianne
    Dianne October 24, 2018

    Amazing rock formations. You have such a good eye for capturing shapes and
    textures. The pictographs are so delicate and “artistic.” I personally
    love the remnants of dinosaurs, too. Looks like a great trip. Thank you.

  3. Michele
    Michele October 24, 2018

    I love your blog. It is so unique and refreshing! Thanks. I like the sky in #1 pool shot and the foreground in #2. If I had to choose, #2, but then there is a handy sky replacement technique to get the best of both in Photoshop.

Leave a Reply