October 2020 // ADVENTR.co

Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 1

Friday – Sunday, October 23-25, 2020

After spending last weekend on the White Rim in Canyonlands National Park, this weekend we headed a little further south to visit Cedar Mesa for the very first time this year. Usually by now I have spent at least a couple of weekends hiking in the canyons of Cedar Mesa, but with the COVID-19 lockdowns in the spring this was the first opportunity I have had to make it back down here this year. We got a little bit of a later start on Friday than I had planned since Diane got stuck at work, but we left as soon as she got home.

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Roads That Don’t End and Views That Never Cease

Diane’s Birthday Ride on the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park
Saturday – Monday, October 17-19, 2020

Earlier this year Diane told me that she wanted to mountain bike the White Rim Trail in Canyonlands National Park for her birthday in October. I told her I would try to make it happen, but that it would depend if I could get permits or not since they can be hard to get for that time of the year. Although I really have no desire to bike the White Rim Trail myself, I knew that I would be perfectly happy to carry all of the gear in my Jeep for the trip as it’s been a while since I drove around the entire White Rim. Earlier this year and late last year I had driven in part of the way from both ends of the White Rim Road, but the last time I drove the entire route was to celebrate Canyonlands 50th Birthday in 2014, so I was looking forward to getting back out and doing it again. This trip would also be a good opportunity for me to take it slow and make this a nice easy and relaxing trip where I could stop and go on a few obscure hikes along the way.

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Surprise Canyon & Headquarters Canyon

Canyons of the Waterpocket Fold | Southern Utah Wanderings
Friday & Saturday, October 9-10, 2020

While Jared and I had an early dinner in Tropic on Friday evening after hiking through Lower Hackberry Canyon earlier in the day, we discussed our plans for the remainder of the evening and for Saturday. We already knew that Saturday was going to be our last day of the trip since we both needed to get home to get ready for the upcoming week and the following weekend, but we really had no other plans at this point. I suggested that we should head over to the Burr Trail to find a campsite for the night and then we could spend a few hours hiking in Capitol Reef National Park on Saturday morning before heading back home. We decided this sounded like a good plan since it would help cut down some of our drive time back home on Saturday, so after we were done eating we headed in that direction. I guess we would be finishing our week-long trip into Southern Utah at Capitol Reef again, just like last year!

Lower Hackberry Canyon to the Watson Cabin

Canyons of the Paria | Southern Utah Wanderings
Thursday & Friday, October 8-9, 2020

After spending all day Thursday hiking along the Paria River to Starlight Canyon and back, we returned to the east side of The Cockscomb and found a nice spot to spend the night just north of the Lower Hackberry Trailhead under some cottonwood trees along Cottonwood Creek. Our plan for Friday was to take it a little easier and hike up Hackberry Canyon a few miles, so we wanted to camp nearby. On Friday morning we slept in a little later and woke up with the sunrise again. We packed up camp and then drove back over to the trailhead so we could start our hike.

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The Paria River: Old Paria Townsite to Starlight Canyon

Canyons of the Paria | Southern Utah Wanderings
Wednesday – Thursday, October 7-8, 2020

After spending Wednesday afternoon going on a pair of short hikes along The Cockscomb and then grabbing a quick dinner in Kanab, Jared and I made our way back to the Paria River to find a place to camp just after dark past the Old Paria Townsite and Movie Set. We found a great spot at the very end of the road under a couple cottonwood trees and set up camp in the dark. Our plan for Thursday was to hike up the Paria River to Starlight Canyon and this time we wanted to get an earlier start since it was going to be a longer hike, so we made sure to get to bed early.

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Month: October 2020

Cedar Mesa Chronicles: Chapter 1

Roads That Don’t End and Views That Never Cease

Surprise Canyon & Headquarters Canyon

Lower Hackberry Canyon to the Watson Cabin

The Paria River: Old Paria Townsite to Starlight Canyon