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Moab Meanderings: Both Sides of The Portal

Saturday, January 21, 2023

This weekend I decided to stay close to home and went on a day trip to Moab. I originally had other hiking ideas in mind when I left home on Saturday morning, but the Jeep roads I needed to drive were covered with snow and ice and a bit sketchy, so I ended up staying closer to the pavement and hiked trails on both sides of The Portal, which is where the Colorado River enters the canyon just downstream from town. First I headed over to the Moab Rim Trailhead and was going to hike up the technical 4×4 road, but then I noticed there was now a new hiking trail, which wasn’t here the last time I hiked down from the Moab Rim, called the Stairmaster Trail- so I hiked up that one.

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Behind The Rocks

Christmas Weekend | Saturday & Sunday, December 22-23, 2018

After going on a day hike into the backcountry of Arches National Park last Saturday by myself, Diane and I planned a last minute trip to spend this weekend together around Moab. We drove over to Moab on Saturday morning and then went out arch-hunting, hiking, four-wheeling and just generally exploring the Behind The Rocks area west of Spanish Valley for the entire weekend. On Saturday I wanted to revisit a few nice arches that I had not seen since I drove through Pritchett Canyon way back in 2006, plus I wanted to find a few new ones. On Sunday we hiked up Pritchett Canyon from the bottom so we could visit Halls Bridge Arch since we were not able to get down to it from above the day before. The weather on Saturday was very nice with clear blue skies, plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the lower 50’s, while Sunday morning was mostly overcast during most of our hike and a bit colder, too.

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Behind The Rocks & Pool Arch

Moab Area Rock Art XXVI | Sunday, February 21, 2016

On Sunday morning I met up with Marty in Moab so we could hike into the Behind the Rocks Wilderness Study Area to visit Pool Arch (also known as Teardrop Arch) and do a little more exploring in the area. We drove over to the mouth of Pritchett Canyon along the Colorado River and started hiking up the 4×4 road. We soon left the road and began to follow a narrow slot canyon that would take us pretty much straight to the arch. Much of the hiking was easy but there was one steep section near the beginning that was a bit trickier than I had expected. At first we were a little worried we wouldn’t be able to continue, but we managed to climb up it and carry on.

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Moab Winter Weekend

Moab Area Rock Art XXV | Saturday & Sunday, December 26-27, 2015

We woke to clear skies but much colder temperatures on Saturday morning. I still wasn’t feeling too good this morning so we decided to visit the rock art along the Hidden Valley Trail. This particular hike is not too long and very close to town, plus I’d already hiked it a few times in the past and Diane was interested in visiting some new rock art this weekend. I also knew that this trail wouldn’t be too difficult with the fresh snow on the ground as long as we had our microspikes with us.

Tag: behind the rocks wilderness study area

Moab Meanderings: Both Sides of The Portal

Behind The Rocks

Behind The Rocks & Pool Arch

Moab Winter Weekend