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Canyons of the San Rafael Reef

Black Dragon Wash to Ernie Canyon
Friday – Sunday, January 29-31, 2021

Over the past couple of years I’ve spent a weekend in January exploring the canyons of the San Rafael Reef at the edge of the San Rafael Swell just west of Green River. I guess I’ve continued to do this each year because it’s an easy drive from home and it doesn’t really matter if there is snow on the ground or not. Plus, it’s just a great place to explore anytime! With this weekend being the last one in January and the weather looking good, I thought that it would be nice to keep up the tradition and headed back to the San Rafael Reef! As usual, I left right from work on Friday afternoon and drove west on I-70 until I reached the San Rafael Reef. Just before driving through Spotted Wolf Canyon on the interstate, I took a side road to the north and found a place to camp near the mouth of Black Dragon Canyon. For a brief time there was a little light snow that fell, but it didn’t stick and stopped just as quickly as it had started. As soon as the clouds dissipated the light from the Wolf Moon filled the canyon.

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Moab Winter Weekend 2020

Moab Area Rock Art XXXVI | Saturday & Sunday, December 26-27, 2020

Well, I guess this is it. My final trip report from 2020. After spending all of Christmas Day in Arches National Park we spent the rest of the weekend near the Colorado River south of Moab revisiting some areas I haven’t been to in a long time, plus a few new places, too. We left town early on Saturday morning, drove through Kane Creek Canyon and then headed up to Hurrah Pass so we could watch the sunrise from the top before continuing on to the Chicken Corners Trail.

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Veterans Day Around Spring Canyon Point

Moab Area Rock Art XXXV | Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Apparently this is the week that almost nothing seems to be going right for me! Not only were my plans of going to Cedar Mesa over this past weekend changed, but I was off from work this week so Diane and I could spend it exploring the North Rim of the Grand Canyon with Jerry some more. However, some things came up for all of us that prevented the trip from happening at the last minute. Since I was now home on Veterans Day with no other plans I decided to take a drive out to Spring Canyon Point near Moab to visit some new arches for the day.

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Cane Wash: Locomotive Point to the San Rafael River

Friday – Saturday, November 6-7, 2020

I was originally planning to spend three days alone on Cedar Mesa this weekend, but the weather forecast had other plans for me with rain and snow predicted for much of that time. So instead of driving all the way down to Cedar Mesa and getting shut down by the weather, I planned to stay a little closer to home in the San Rafael Swell so I could try to get a hike in on Saturday morning and then head home before the storm arrived. I decided that hiking down Cane Wash to the San Rafael River sounded like a good plan because I figured that even if I didn’t beat the storm this hike and drive wouldn’t be a problem in the rain or snow.

Hatch Point: The Other Island in the Sky

Halloween Weekend Exploring the Canyon Rims Recreation Area Under a Blue Hunter’s Moon
Friday – Sunday, October 31 – November 1, 2020

Talk about a stacked weekend! Not only was it Halloween on Saturday, but there was also going to be a Blue Moon along with the Daylight Savings Time change overnight, and I knew that I definitely wanted to spend this weekend exploring the Canyonlands region some more. Aside from a brief but amazing evening at the Needles Overlook in January, it’s been a while since I spent any real time in the Canyon Rims Recreation Area and I thought that it would be fun to spend a full weekend exploring Hatch Point again. Aside from a couple of semi-popular overlooks, I feel like this area which is located just to the east of Canyonlands National Park gets overlooked and I would like to see more of it!