barrier canyon style // ADVENTR.co

From the Colorado River to the Henry Mountains

Friday – Sunday, May 4-6, 2018

This weekend Diane and I headed back to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area so we could hike to a few rock art sites that we didn’t have time to look for during our trip into The Maze last month. Then we spent the rest of the weekend exploring parts of North Wash and Cedar Point as we headed back toward the edge of the Henry Mountains south of Hanksville. We left after I got out of work on Friday afternoon and drove west into Utah, like we’ve done many times this year already. We stopped in Green River for dinner and fuel, which thankfully was not nearly as busy as the last time we tried to stop here! Then we continued south through Hanksville and followed North Wash into the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area near Hite. I made a left turn onto the road that leads to the Flint Trail and followed it around Rock Canyon to Andy Miller Flats where we found a nice campsite for the night. It had been dark for a while by the time we found a spot to setup our camp, so we had to put up our tent with some help from the headlights on my Jeep. Once the tent was setup we crawled inside and went right to bed, and Diane tells me that I fell asleep very quickly this night.

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Lower Red Lake Canyon & The Confluence Overlook

Friday – Sunday, April 13-15, 2018

After hiking down to Spanish Bottom from The Doll House last weekend, I decided it was time to head back to The Needles for the third time this year so I could hike down Lower Red Lake Canyon from Devils Lane to the opposite side of the Colorado River. I had actually planned on doing this hike at the end of February, but a snowstorm the evening before made me change my mind about driving over Elephant Hill by myself in the morning and I switched up my plans at the last minute.

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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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Chesler Park & Elephant Canyon

Friday – Monday, March 9-12, 2018

Late last year as I was thinking about planning some of my 2018 trips that would require advance permits, I decided it was finally time to backpack into Chesler Park in the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. I’ve day-hiked into Chesler Park a number of times over the years from the four-wheel drive trailhead of the Joint Trail, but this time I wanted to backpack in so I could spend more time exploring the area and hopefully photographing this beautiful area at sunrise and sunset. Of course, planning a trip this far out in advance is like playing the lottery with the weather, especially in early to mid March on the Colorado Plateau, so as the dates of the trip approached I kept a close eye on the weather and hoped for good conditions.

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Robbers Roost Canyon

Friday – Saturday, March 2-3, 2018

I left after work on Friday and made my way west into Utah where I stopped in Green River for dinner and fuel. I continued south towards Hanksville in the dark and then took the familiar left turn onto the road to Hans Flat. It had been pretty windy all day and was supposed to stay that way overnight and through Saturday. This meant there were a few sections of the road that were completely covered with sand dunes, so I had to be careful not to hit them going too fast. After I passed the road to Green River and Horseshoe Canyon I came to Robbers Roost Flat and the road that would take me out to Angel Point, where I planned to spend the night and start hiking from in the morning. I’ve driven by this intersection in the road near Burr Pass countless times in the past on my way to the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park, but I’d never made the right turn before. It was finally time to head in that direction and to start exploring the canyons in this area!