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The Sculptured Earth: End of Trails in The Maze

Lost in The Maze III | Friday – Monday, March 31 – April 3, 2023

After spending the past couple years working to hike all of the trails in Canyonlands National Park and completing the ones in The Needles and Island in the Sky districts in 2018 and 2019, I turned my attention to my remaining trails in The Maze, but it’s taken me a bit longer to hike them all since it’s not quite as easy to get over there for a quick weekend trip. Last spring I had hiked most of the remaining trails from the Land of Standing Rocks with my friends Dave and Jared, but we did not have the time to make it down into lower Horse Canyon on that trip, which was now my only trail left on this official map that I’ve been using to keep track, and also my final trail left in all of Canyonlands! After that trip I made it my goal to hike into lower Horse Canyon this spring, so I booked a backpacking permit back in November and invited my friend Jackson to come along.

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Horseshoe Canyon & Burr Point

Rambling Around Robbers Roost IV | Saturday, March 25, 2023

After a rough ending to a backpacking trip earlier in the week, I thought it might be a good idea for me to stay a little closer to home and take it a bit easier this weekend. I left home early on Saturday morning and headed west to Robbers Roost country in Utah so I could hike into another section of upper Horseshoe Canyon that I had not been to before. I parked near an old corral at the end of a short spur road and then followed an old closed road to Trail Spring where I was able to get down into the canyon and follow it to it’s juncture with Horseshoe Canyon. I wandered down the main canyon for a few miles and then returned the way I had come. I ended up hiking about 13 miles with almost 1,800 feet of elevation gain, so I guess I didn’t take it as easy as I thought I was going to, but I was still feeling pretty good at the end of the hike.

Swett Creek: The Canyons of Trachyte Creek IV

Saturday & Sunday, March 4-5, 2023

This weekend Diane and I headed down to the Trachyte Creek area just north of Mount Holmes and the Little Rockies to go on an easy overnight backpacking trip into Swett Canyon. This is now the fourth year in a row that I have explored the tributaries of Trachyte Creek in early March, and it’s an area that I have enjoyed getting to know a little more intimately over these past couple of years. Since I did not get to do as much backpacking last year as I would have liked, I am hoping to change that this year starting with this hike- and I’ve already got plans for plenty more!

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The Canyons of North Wash

Stair Canyon, Lucky Charms, Sandthrax Slickrock & Hog Canyon
Saturday & Sunday, December 17-18, 2022

Earlier this year as I stood near the rim of Hog Canyon on Trachyte Point overlooking the sandstone wilderness that North Wash cuts through, I realized I had not done much hiking in this area and I made it one of my goals to get back to start exploring North Wash and it’s side canyons later this year. Coming from Grand Junction, I rarely have a reason to drive through North Wash to get anywhere I’m going in southern Utah since it’s out of my way, so I have only driven through this canyon a couple of times over the years. Most of those times were after exiting The Maze to Hite, and by that time I was usually in a hurry to get home and didn’t have any extra time to make additional stops along the way. Aside from stopping at a couple rock art sites near the road and going on one short hike up Leprechaun Canyon with Diane a couple years ago, I have done nothing else in North Wash and was looking forward to finally checking it out!

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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.