// Adventures and Photography from the Colorado Plateau, Rocky Mountains & Beyond
Arizona Strip & Southern Utah Wanderings | Day 2
Sunday, October 2, 2011
After an awesome night camping under the stars in perfect weather near Little Black Mountain, we were up early, had a little breakfast and were soon on our way back into Utah. Our ultimate destination for the day would be Toroweap on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, but we would have a lot of exploring to do on our way there.
3 CommentsSunday, September 25, 2011
After my float down the Colorado River in the afternoon, I came home and relaxed for a little while. About an hour before sunset I decided to head out and do a little mountain biking near home. Not too far away is a part of the Old Spanish Trail, and it’s open to bikes, so I headed over there for a short and easy ride as the sun was setting. I took a few photos along the way…
Leave a CommentSaturday, September 24, 2011
After staying up late on Friday night, Amanda and I slept in on Saturday morning. When we finally woke up (between 8am-9am- which is sleeping in for us), we had some breakfast and then headed down to the North Rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We have visited the South Rim a few times before, but for some reason had neglected to visit the North Rim. We arrived shortly after lunchtime and hiked to all the overlooks along the North Rim Road. The lighting was bad during this time of the day, so I didn’t even bother to carry my camera with me. After visiting all the overlooks near the road, we took our time as we hiked the short loop that visited Chasm View near the campground.
Leave a CommentSaturday & Sunday, September 10-11, 2011
The White Rim Trail seems to be the one I just can’t complete. I’ve been wanting to for years, but it just never seems to happen. The first big issue for me is getting a permit to camp along the trail (yes, I know I could probably get around the full trail in a day if I wanted, but I would prefer to enjoy it and not rush through it). I dislike planning my weekend trips too far in advance, so in the past I have always just never bothered to try to get a permit. Finally, last year I decided I really was going to try and get a permit so that I could drive the trail near the end of the year. Unfortunately, a storm managed to wash out the Mineral Bottom switchbacks making a complete loop impossible for a while. Once they repaired the switchbacks earlier this year I actually managed to reserve a permit for September. Who knew that the Green River would flood for much of the spring and summer and the road would again be closed? I was hoping Canyonlands would open the road right before our trip this last weekend, but thanks to another storm causing some damage to the switchbacks again on Friday, it just wasn’t in the cards this time. We decided to drive to our campsite at Murphy Hogback on Saturday and then drive back out the same way on Sunday. Even though we didn’t get to complete the full loop, we had a great time and am glad we still went. I guess there’s always next year to try again! On a side note, the park opened up the complete loop again on Tuesday…we were just a few days too early…oh well!
2 CommentsSaturday – Monday, September 3-5, 2011
Over the Labor Day weekend I decided to head down to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park to revisit some rock art and to find some new panels. I explored a lot of the park in my Jeep and on foot. I drove over Elephant Hill a few times and I ended up camping just outside of the park in Bobbys Hole. I even found the time to take a quick side trip up into Beef Basin. Here are some of my photos from the weekend…
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