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Flume Creek Canyon

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Since I never made it to Flume Creek Canyon yesterday, Diane and I decided to hike it this afternoon together. I wasn’t expecting too much from this hike, but it turned out to be a really beautiful and fun hike. Had we only stayed on the main trail it would have been just another desert hike, but since we decided to get off the main trail and hike in the bottom of the canyon it was much more enjoyable. Getting off the main trail and into the bottom of the wash was a great choice because there were some cool narrows to hike though and the canyon eventually boxed up at the end under an impressive dry waterfall. Once we reached the end we had to backtrack a little way, but then we had fun climbing up a steep route out of the canyon to join up with the main trail again.

Sand Cove & Yellow Rock

Friday – Sunday, January 31 – February 2, 2014

I had another permit to Coyote Buttes North this Saturday, so I decided to spend the weekend down around the Paria. The weather looked like it was going to be pretty nice so I was looking forward to getting in my first camping trip of the year. I only worked a half-day on Friday and then started driving through a snowstorm as I headed south through Utah. I finally got out of the snow shortly after passing through Monticello. I stopped for a quick dinner in Page and then hurried to make it up to the Paria Canyon Overlook in time for sunset. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave myself enough time and made it to the overlook just after the sun had set. I was a little disappointed at first, but soon realized that the canyon looked pretty good in the early twilight. I had originally planned on camping up at the overlook for the night, but it was much windier and colder up here than I had anticipated, so I decided to drive back down to the Stateline Campground for the night. That way I would also be much closer to the Wire Pass trailhead for an early start in the morning.

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Coyote Buttes North & Willis Creek

Friday – Monday, November 8-11, 2013

Last November I said that I was going to be taking a little break from visiting the Paria Plateau, and I have. However, almost exactly a year later I was ready to go back for another visit and managed to get another permit for Coyote Buttes North. I was only able to get one permit this time around, so it was a good weekend for me to take a solo trip. If I had to choose a month, I think November is probably my favorite time of the year to visit this area. This is the third year in a row that I have visited Coyote Buttes North in November and it seems like I usually have good conditions this time of the year. Even though this was the first year that I had clear blue skies all day with no dynamic weather, I still managed to come back home with many new images. Feel free to check out my previous November trip reports from 2011 and 2012.

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Happy Canyon & Poison Springs

Friday – Sunday, April 5-7, 2013

After work on Friday I headed back into Utah to meet a few friends in Poison Springs Canyon so that we could hike to Happy Canyon on Saturday and then spend some time visiting a few rock art sites on Sunday. I quickly made it to Hanksville and then to the turn-off for Poison Springs Canyon where I met up with Lisa. Since she was the only one in our group without a high clearance vehicle, she loaded her camping gear into my Jeep and we found a place to leave her car for the weekend. It started to get dark as we drove into the canyon in search of the rest of our party. I was under the impression that they were planning on camping near the Black Jump, but they were nowhere to be found in that area. We took the side road towards the Happy Canyon trailhead and decided just to camp along that road since we couldn’t find anyone else and it was getting pretty dark out by this time. We would search for them in the morning. We quickly setup camp and were soon getting some sleep. I got up early enough on Saturday morning to catch the sunrise.

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Upper Antelope Canyon

Veterans Day | Monday, November 12, 2012

After spending a great weekend exploring The Paria Plateau it was time to start our drive back home. Before we left I thought it might be a good idea to finally check out Upper Antelope Canyon. I’ve seen plenty of photos from this well-known location but have always avoided it because of the large crowds of people that visit. I was hoping that since this was the “off season” it wouldn’t be too busy. Was I wrong! There were quite a few different groups of people in there. I was expecting there to be other people in the slot canyon, so I had prepared myself for it and wasn’t too bothered by it. I just planned to take most of my photos looking up out of the slot where other people wouldn’t get in the shot. However, what really frustrated the hell out of me was that many of these people were taking pictures with their point and shoot cameras that used a red focus-assist light that ruined most of my shots. Upper Antelope Canyon may be one of the most beautiful slot canyons in the world, but I highly doubt that I will ever be returning. It’s just not worth it to me.

Category: Canyoneering

Flume Creek Canyon

Sand Cove & Yellow Rock

Coyote Buttes North & Willis Creek

Happy Canyon & Poison Springs

Upper Antelope Canyon