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Under The Ledge: Trails in the Land of Standing RocksUnder The Ledge: Trails in the Land of Standing Rocks

Under The Ledge: Trails in the Land of Standing Rocks

Lost In The Maze II | Wednesday – Sunday, April 6-10, 2022

I can hardly believe it’s been just over four years since my last visit to the Land of Standing Rocks in Canyonlands National Park. It feels like it was just yesterday when Diane and I were heading out to The Maze over the long Memorial Day weekend each spring, and I’ve recently had a strong desire to return. After completing all the trails in The Needles and the Island in the Sky in 2018 and 2019 respectively, The Maze is the only remaining district of Canyonlands where I have not hiked every official trail on the map, so I figured it was time to head back and continue working on completing that personal goal. That’s part of the reason I hiked down the North Trail late last year. So back in early November I got on Rec.gov and booked couple campsites in the Land of Standing Rocks, two nights at Chimney Rock and two nights at The Wall, which seemed like a good place to basecamp for the trails that I wanted to hike this time. My friend Jerry, Jared and Dave were going to be joining me on this trip, but unfortunately Jerry got sick just before the trip started and was unable to make it this time.

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Lost In The MazeLost In The Maze

Lost In The Maze

Under The Ledge // Five Years In The Maze
Wednesday – Monday, April 4-9, 2018

For the past four years Diane and I have been spending our Memorial Day Weekends in late May exploring the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park and the Orange Cliffs Unit of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, along with the greater Robbers Roost area to the west. The first two years were great, but the last two years were hotter and buggier than we would have liked which was not as much fun for us. I recalled that my very first trip into The Maze was in early April and that the temperature was much cooler out (we even had a little snow) and great for hiking, so this year we decided to move our trip up into early April so we would hopefully have cooler temperatures and no bugs to deal with. But as you might know, the conditions on the Colorado Plateau are never that predictable, especially in the spring.

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Coyote Buttes NorthCoyote Buttes North

Coyote Buttes North

Vermilion Cliffs National Monument
Sunday, January 28, 2018

After spending an amazing day in Coyote Buttes South on Saturday, I slept well overnight in the Stateline Campground along House Rock Valley Road and woke up early to start hiking into Coyote Buttes North on Sunday morning. I didn’t have any specific location planned to photograph at sunrise, so I just started hiking about an hour before sunrise and figured that I would just take photos wherever I was when the sun finally came over the distant horizon. Nautical dawn was just beginning as I left the Wire Pass Trailhead and I wouldn’t need to use my headlamp for very long.

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Maze Memorial Weekend IIMaze Memorial Weekend II

Maze Memorial Weekend II

The Orange Cliffs Unit | Memorial Day Weekend
Friday – Monday, May 22-25, 2015

Since we had a great trip to The Maze District of Canyonlands National Park during last year’s Memorial Day Weekend, we decided to go back again this year and spend a few nights at a few different campsites so we could explore new areas. Even though we didn’t technically spend much time in the actual Maze District since all of the campsites we stayed at were in the surrounding Orange Cliffs Unit of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, we did hike down into Ernies Country for a little while.

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