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Salt Wash: Lost Spring Canyon to Cordova Canyon

Arches National Park | Saturday, April 23, 2022

Recently I realized that it’s been a while since I last explored the backcountry of Arches National Park and I was definitely overdue for a return. After a winter hike down Lower Salt Wash Canyon a couple years ago I’ve been interested in exploring the upper reaches of Salt Wash and a recent Trip Report from Dennis finally gave me the motivation I needed to get back out to that area. I was all set to leave after work on Friday afternoon like I usually do, but a storm system was moving through the area with very strong winds and rain, so I decided to stay home overnight and then leave early in the morning since I wasn’t travelling far from home this weekend. After a good night of sleep I woke up early on Saturday morning, grabbed a quick breakfast and headed west into Utah.

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Edna Mine & Devils Canyon Overlook

Canyons of the Black Ridge Wilderness | Tuesday, April 19, 2022

I’ve really been slacking on my After Work Adventures for a while now and had really hoped to change that this spring, but so far I haven’t got out for one hike during the week this year. Well, that finally changed today when I left after work and headed back up into the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness to search for the Edna Mine, which is an old Uranium mine found near the head of Devils Canyon that was active during the 1950’s and 1960’s. The temperature was into the low 80’s when I started hiking and the sky was pretty cloudy, but the strong winds helped keep me cool and the clouds started to open up a bit while I was exploring the mine, so it turned out to be a very pleasant afternoon for a hike.

The Sandstone Knob of Kodels Canyon

Easter Weekend | Sunday, April 17, 2022

This year on Easter morning Diane and I woke up before sunrise with plans to go on a longer hike together into the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness, but shortly after leaving home we changed our minds and decided take it easy and do something shorter and easier instead, which turned out to be a good decision since it was very humid out! Instead, we headed over to the Kodels Canyon Trailhead and hiked a couple of the short interconnecting front-country trails to an outcropping of colorful Entrada sandstone located on the bench between Kodels Canyon and Devils Canyon. For well over the last decade it feels like every time I drive through Fruita on I-70 and look off to my left at this knob of sandstone I think to myself that I should really hike up to it sometime. Well, I guess it’s better late than never!

The Arches of Mee Canyon II

Canyons of the Black Ridge Wilderness: Bulwark Arch & Arete Arch
Saturday & Sunday, April 2-3, 2022

This weekend I needed to stay close to home since I’m going to be leaving on a trip to The Maze in a couple of days, so Diane and I decided to head out on a local overnight backpacking trip into the Black Ridge Canyons Wilderness to visit a couple more arches located on the benches high above Mee Canyon. We slept in a bit late on Saturday morning, had a good breakfast, and then drove up through Glade Park to the Knowles Canyon Trailhead in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. We shouldered our packs and followed the Knowles Canyon Trail for about a mile and then followed a maze of old roads to the rim of a western fork of Mee Canyon and set up camp on top of the ridge.

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Christmas in Arches 2021

Christmas Day | Saturday, December 25, 2021

It’s Christmastime again, which means that it’s also time for our annual Christmas in Arches visit! This year we were already staying at a hotel in Moab on Friday and Saturday nights since the holiday fell on a weekend, so I thought it would be a good idea to get up early on Saturday morning for our traditional hike to Landscape Arch. This way we could watch the first light of the day strike the arch at sunrise while we made sure it was still standing after another year. Afterwards I planed to do a little backcountry hiking and exploring around Courthouse Wash and Willow Spring for the rest of the morning and afternoon. Here are some photo from our day in Arches National Park!

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Tag: book cliffs

Salt Wash: Lost Spring Canyon to Cordova Canyon

Edna Mine & Devils Canyon Overlook

The Sandstone Knob of Kodels Canyon

The Arches of Mee Canyon II

Christmas in Arches 2021