Saturday – Monday, February 15-17, 2014
For the long President’s Day weekend, Diane and I decided to spend the weekend around Moab. We had booked a hotel room a few weeks earlier and had no idea how nice the temperature would be this weekend. Unfortunately, thanks to the three-day holiday weekend and warm weather, Moab was a bit busier than it normally is this time of the year.
We left home early Saturday morning and headed right for the Hell’s Revenge Trail in the Sand Flats Recreation Area. I have driven this trail numerous times in different Jeeps, but this would be Diane’s first experience on a real Jeep trail. The sky was overcast all day, so I didn’t take too many photos while we were on the trail. After completing Hell’s Revenge we also checked out part of the Fins & Things trail before heading back into town for a burger from Milt’s for a late lunch.
Black tire tracks mark the trail across the sandstone with the La Sal Mountains in the distance.
After lunch we followed the Colorado River to Kane Creek Canyon and climbed up a break in the cliff to visit Funnel Arch.
Climbing by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
A view of the Colorado River from near Funnel Arch.
Looking down a fin.
Funnel Arch on an overcast afternoon with the sun just barely visible through the gray sky.
When we climbed back down from Funnel Arch we stopped at Birthing Rock to check out the petroglyphs.
Then we climbed up Petroglyph Canyon to view many other petroglyphs.
On the Line by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
On Saturday morning we woke again to overcast skies and made our way down the Colorado River to Bootlegger Canyon so we could hike to Corona Arch. I’ve visited Corona Arch a few times before and it’s always a nice hike, but lately I have become a little tired of people asking me if I have swung off of it every time I post a photo of the arch…
Corona Arch in black and white showing off the mammatus clouds above.
Corona Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
After our morning visit to Corona Arch we made our way over to Arches National Park where we would spend the rest of the day. With the busier park I decided to take the 4×4 road to Eye of the Whale Arch and Tower Arch. When we arrived at the Eye of the Whale Arch trailhead, we were surprised to come across a vehicle that was camping right there at the trailhead with a tent setup down in a nearby wash…
The view from inside the Eye of the Whale.
Driving towards the Marching Men and Klondike Bluffs on our way to Tower Arch.
Marching Men by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
As we drove from Eye of the Whale to Tower Arch the overcast sky finally started to clear up a little.
Tower Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
A different view under Tower Arch.
The tower above.
Looking out.
When we reached Salt Valley we joined back up with the main road through the park and stopped at Devil’s Garden so we could take the quick hike to Landscape Arch. This trail was pretty busy for February, but certainly not the busiest I have seen it. I didn’t like the light on Landscape Arch while we were there, but these fins in the other direction looked nice.
Before leaving the park we hiked out to Delicate Arch. As we hiked up to the arch storm clouds started moving in and the wind really picked up. I did mange to get a decent photo of the arch when the sun peeked out through a small hole in the clouds and there was no one standing under it at the time…
A storm in the distance as we hiked back down from the arch.
We stopped to visit the Ute petroglyphs near the Wolfe Ranch.
As we drove out of the park I pulled over for a quick photo of this dusty scene.
On Sunday morning we returned back to Kane Creek Canyon so we could take a nice relaxing hike through Hunter Canyon. We got an early start and took our time on this hike and still didn’t run into anyone else in the canyon until we were on our way back out. It was a beautiful hike and the morning light was pretty nice, too.
Near the beginning of the hike we passed under Hunter Arch.
Hunter Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
Diane explores under a large boulder that had some nice reflected light going on.
There was water running through the canyon so there were a lot of opportunities for reflection photos.
Reflection by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
Nice light and reflection.
Following the trail through the canyon.
Hunter Canyon Trail by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
Intense reflected light on the sandstone above.
Boulders by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
We followed the light around this bend by hopping over large boulder to find a small pour-over that had a little waterfall.
Around the Corner by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
More reflections…
Hunter Reflection by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
Hiking back out in full sunlight.
On our way back home we stopped to check out the Intestine Man and TV Sheep.
Then we visited Secret Spire.
We made one last stop at the Sego Rock Art site in the Book Cliffs.
Sego BCS by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
It turned out to be a great little weekend getaway 🙂