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Maze Memorial Weekend IIIMaze Memorial Weekend III

Maze Memorial Weekend III

The Doll House | Memorial Day Weekend
Thursday – Monday, May 26-30, 2016

While crowds of people were lined up to get into Arches National Park and Island in the Sky this holiday weekend, Diane and I were back in The Maze District of Canyonlands National Park where we would only see a couple other people the entire time. This is why Diane and I have kept coming back back here for the past three years over Memorial Day weekend. Make sure to check out our previous trip reports from 2014 and 2015. This year we invited our friends Marty and Dave along to spend a few days down in The Doll House and the Land of Standing Rocks. It has been a few years since I last visited this area and I was looking forward to getting back and actually spending a few nights in The Doll House.

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Red Canyon & Wolverine CanyonRed Canyon & Wolverine Canyon

Red Canyon & Wolverine Canyon

Southern Utah Wanderings 2015
Sunday, October 4, 2015

After sleeping in until the sun came up on Sunday morning we had a little breakfast and then decided to hike the Red Canyon Trail since the trailhead was located right in the campground. We weren’t sure how long the trail was, but we knew it couldn’t be too long since we could see where the canyon ended. It turned out to be a pretty easy hike that followed an old road then dropped into the wash that emerged from the mouth of Red Canyon. The trail eventually ended in a large amphitheater caved out of the Waterpocket Fold. When we returned to the trailhead we had hiked a bit over six miles according to my GPS. It was a nice morning hike to get warmed up for the day.

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Mount Garfield AttemptMount Garfield Attempt

Mount Garfield Attempt

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

It’s been a few years since I’ve hiked to the summit of Mount Garfield in the Little Book Cliffs, so I thought it would be a good idea to head up there after work today and revisit for sunset. Unfortunately, as I reached the second bench before the final climb to the top, a big storm came across the valley and I decided it was time to head back down. Not only was there a lot of lightning, I was also concerned about hiking back down the steep clay if it got wet since that stuff can get really slippery. It was a good decision because once I reached my Jeep at the trailhead the sky let loose and the rain came down hard. In the end I hiked about two miles round trip and climbed about 1,200 feet, which isn’t a bad workout. I’ll have to try again soon. Here are a few photos from the short hike.

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Illinois StormIllinois Storm

Illinois Storm

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Here’s a little something different from my usual adventures in Colorado and Utah. We spent last week visiting Diane’s family in Milwaukee and my family in Illinois and did a lot of interstate driving, so we weren’t able to get out hiking at all. I almost didn’t even bother to bring my camera with me on this trip, but I’m glad I did when a thunderstorm moved through the area near my sister’s house near Sandwich, Illinois shortly before sunset. Here are a few of the photos I took.

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Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks

Saturday, June 13, 2015

This morning I drove down to Ouray so I could try and climb my first mountain summit of the year. After this weekend I’m going to be pretty busy for the rest of June and I didn’t want to wait until July to get into the mountains for the first time this year. Since I’m not in the best shape right now and the weather forecast was predicting that storms would move into the area late in the morning, I decided to hike to the top of Twin Peaks (10,798 feet), a famous Ouray landmark. There are currently two trails that will get you to the summit- a new trail and an old trail. The reason for this is because in the early 1980’s the Old Twin Peaks Trail was washed out by a major storm. To replace the old trail, a new connector from the Oak Creek Trail was built to bypass the washed out section. This trail is now known as the New Twin Peaks Trail. In 2004 the Ouray Trails Group reconstructed the old trail which now consists of over 300 steps and 1,300 feet of elevation gain within 1.2 miles. Apparently, the Forest Service won’t officially sanction the reconstructed trail because they consider it too steep, but it is back on the maps.

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