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Christmas in Arches 2024Christmas in Arches 2024

Christmas in Arches 2024

Moab Area Rock Art XLVI | Tuesday – Wednesday, December 24-25, 2024

After spending the last two weekends hiking around Moab, I returned again for my annual Christmas visit to Arches National Park like I do each year. Unfortunately, Diane had to work the holiday again this year so I was on my own. Since I got out of work early on Tuesday I was able to spend a few hours on Christmas Eve searching for some new petroglyphs before spending the night at the Devils Garden Campground inside the park. Although the weather forecast had been predicting rain and/or snow overnight and into the morning, aside from a few brief sprinkles overnight no precipitation ever materialized and the sky was mostly clear when I woke up on Christmas morning to start hiking to Landscape Arch for sunrise. These are my photos from yet another Christmas in Arches!

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Trails of the Richardson AmphitheaterTrails of the Richardson Amphitheater

Trails of the Richardson Amphitheater

Castleton Tower to Professor Valley | Sunday, March 17, 2024

I was originally planning to spend this weekend south of Green River in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness, but apparently the weather had other plans for me. While I was at work on Friday I kept a close eye on the forecast and hoped that there might be a change, but by the time I was ready to leave the forecast was still calling for a very wet Saturday across the Colorado Plateau, so I cancelled those plans and headed home instead, hoping that I would be able to get out hiking on Sunday, at the very least. So when Sunday rolled around I left home early headed over to the Richardson Amphitheater to hike a couple of trails since I didn’t feel like driving too far from home. It turned out to be a good decision since there were low-hanging clouds surrounding the valley when I arrived shortly before sunrise. I made my way to the western end of the amphitheater to hike the Sylvester Trail at sunrise and enjoyed taking photos along the way while the spires, buttes and mesas played hide-and-seek in the clouds.

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The Colorado River: Cisco Landing to Hittle BottomThe Colorado River: Cisco Landing to Hittle Bottom

The Colorado River: Cisco Landing to Hittle Bottom

Average CFS Above the Dolores River: 26,278  //  Below the Dolores River: 32,500
Sunday, May 14, 2023

After spending five days on the Yampa River last week and then yesterday morning hiking in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison it was time for Jackson and I to get back out on the river again for a short day trip. Today we planned to float a section of the Colorado River that we had not been on before, starting from Cisco Landing and taking out at Hittle Bottom. With the water level around 30,000 CFS we knew the river was going to be high and fast, and figured that we would make it through this section of the river pretty quickly. We were right since we ended up floating all 23 miles in just about four hours and made it home by the early afternoon!

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Floating the Moab Daily Section of the Colorado RiverFloating the Moab Daily Section of the Colorado River

Floating the Moab Daily Section of the Colorado River

Professor Valley: Hittle Bottom to Take-Out Beach | Colorado Riverway Recreation Area
Saturday, June 27, 2020 | Average CFS: 5,920

After spending all of last weekend moving into a new house, it was time to get back outdoors and on the river again! A couple weekends ago Jackson, Chris and I were hoping to float the Moab Daily section of the Colorado River through Professor Valley, but the weather and wind prevented us from doing that, so we thought this would be a good weekend to try again since the weather was looking much better. Although I have floated the Moab Daily once before, that was over ten years ago on Labor Day and I was just along for the ride in a friend’s raft, so I was looking forward to doing it in my own inflatable kayak this time.

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Return To Silence: Delicate ArchReturn To Silence: Delicate Arch

Return To Silence: Delicate Arch

New Year’s Day | Tuesday, January 1, 2019

To be honest, I never thought I would be visiting Delicate Arch in Arches National Park ever again since it’s become a very busy place over the past few years. However, there was a perfect storm of events that allowed Diane and I to watch the first sunset of 2019 at Delicate Arch with our friend Jared and absolutely no one else around! When I saw that the road into Arches National Park was closed on Monday morning because of a snowstorm and there was no money to plow and maintain it because of the government shutdown, I knew instantly that I needed to try and get to Delicate Arch for sunset on New Year’s Day if it didn’t open back up before then!

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