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Tag: crossing paths with the hayduke trail

The Kaibab Plateau: Cape Final to Point SublimeThe Kaibab Plateau: Cape Final to Point Sublime

The Kaibab Plateau: Cape Final to Point Sublime

Fall Colors along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
Saturday – Monday, September 28-30, 2024

After spending the preceding week on an amazing rafting trip through the Canyon of Lodore in Dinosaur National Monument, our group got off the river in the early afternoon on Friday and I made it home a few hours after that. Then I spent the rest of the evening unloading all my river gear and packing up my car-camping gear into the Jeep so I could leave on Saturday morning to spend a full week along the Arizona Strip and North Rim of the Grand Canyon with my friend Jared. Although we typically spend this first week in October wandering around Southern Utah, every so often we like to change it up and venture a little further south into Arizona. Thankfully we decided to begin our trip with a couple days on the Kaibab Plateau because it happened to be very warm all over the southwest this week and at least it was a little bit cooler up at these higher elevations. Plus, we got really lucky with the timing of our trip and managed to see the peak of the fall colors on display while we were up on the Kaibab Plateau, too!

CONTINUE READINGThe Kaibab Plateau: Cape Final to Point Sublime
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Unknown Mountains: Return to the Henry MountainsUnknown Mountains: Return to the Henry Mountains

Unknown Mountains: Return to the Henry Mountains

Laccoliths in the Desert | Friday – Saturday, June 21-22, 2024

The Henry Mountains are a laccolithic mountain range that stand high above a sea of sandstone cut by deep canyons on the Colorado Plateau and were one of the last-surveyed and last-named mountain ranges in the contiguous United States. In 1869 John Wesley Powell made note of the range during his initial voyage down the Colorado River and called them the Unknown Mountains at the time. Then in 1871 he returned to the area on his second trip down the Colorado and renamed them to the Henry Mountains after Joseph Henry, a close friend who was secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Last year I was planning to head back up into the Henry Mountains after Jared and I had spent a nice weekend there in 2022, but other trips came up and I never made it. This year I was determined to get back early in the summer to hike a couple new peaks and highpoints and chose to go this weekend. I left from work on Friday afternoon and made my way to Hanksville, and even though there were a lot of storms throughout the area this afternoon, some which caused flash flooding around Moab and the San Juan River, I managed to miss them all- aside from the wind. It seems that it’s frequently very windy out when I stop in Hanksville, and today was no exception!

CONTINUE READINGUnknown Mountains: Return to the Henry Mountains
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Under the Pink Cliffs: Trails of the Bryce AmphitheaterUnder the Pink Cliffs: Trails of the Bryce Amphitheater

Under the Pink Cliffs: Trails of the Bryce Amphitheater

Bryce Canyon National Park | Thursday – Sunday, December 1-4, 2022

Of Utah’s ‘Mighty Five’ National Parks, Bryce Canyon National Park is the only one that I have not done any ‘real’ hiking in before. Previously, my only visit to the park was over ten years ago and during that brief visit I only went on short walks to most of the overlooks along the rim. I was hoping to change that this year, so I made it my goal to plan an extended weekend to Bryce to hike all of the trails within and around the Bryce Amphitheater this winter. I figured that early December would be a good time to go to avoid the crowds and maybe catch a little snow on the hoodoos, too.

CONTINUE READINGUnder the Pink Cliffs: Trails of the Bryce Amphitheater
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Canaan Mountain: Water Canyon to the White DomesCanaan Mountain: Water Canyon to the White Domes

Canaan Mountain: Water Canyon to the White Domes

Southern Utah Wanderings | Tuesday & Wednesday, October 4-5, 2022

After leaving Escalante on Monday evening, making our way over the Paunsaugunt Plateau, and driving past the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in the dark to the Block Mesas, we then started heading north on sandy Jeep roads past Elephant Butte so we could hike into the East Fork of the Virgin River on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, we ended up running into a number of very washed out sections of the roads that stopped our progress and since it was starting to get late we decided to backtrack a bit and find a campsite for the night. Now we would switch our plans around and hike up Water Canyon onto Canaan Mountain on Tuesday morning instead, and then we would see if we wanted try to find another route to The Barracks afterwards.

CONTINUE READINGCanaan Mountain: Water Canyon to the White Domes
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The Crest of the Henry Mountains: Mount EllenThe Crest of the Henry Mountains: Mount Ellen

The Crest of the Henry Mountains: Mount Ellen

Henry Mountains Peak Bagging | Friday – Sunday, June 17-19, 2022

After spending the last two weekends on the river, it was time for me to start off my summer season up in the mountains since it’s been getting pretty warm down in the desert. For the past couple of years I have started my mountain season in the La Sal Mountains, but this time I decided to change things up and spend the weekend in the Henry Mountains instead since I haven’t spent any real time in that range for quite some time and I’ve been wanting to get back. This time I invited my friend Jared along, and even though I warned him I would probably be hiking very slow this weekend since I haven’t done much real hiking lately- especially at elevation, he still wanted to come along, so we planned to meet at Wickiup Pass after work on Friday evening.

CONTINUE READINGThe Crest of the Henry Mountains: Mount Ellen
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