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Tag: moab rim

Moab’s Old Mail Trail: Mill Creek to South Mesa

Moab Meanderings | Saturday & Sunday, February 24-25, 2024

After spending a couple of days searching for rock art along the Pahranagat Trail in Nevada last week, I decided to stay a little closer to home this weekend to spend some time near Moab before it really starts getting too busy around there. Earlier this month after Diane and I had hiked a short section of Moab’s Old Mail Trail along the rim of Mill Creek, I became very interested in learning more about this route and started doing some research into it. Although I wasn’t able to find very much information about it, I think I was able to find enough to try my hand at tracing this historic route from Mill Creek to South Mesa. I really didn’t have much information to go on besides some broad locations, vague newspaper articles, the segment of the existing trail and some educated guesses on my part, so I may not have gotten it all correct. But even if I am completely wrong with my guesses, this turned out to be a very nice hike and a great way to spend the day in the backcountry. That said, if anyone out there has more information about the route of the Old Mail Trail, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

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Kane Springs Canyon & Colorado River Corridor Trails

Moab Meanderings | Saturday & Sunday, February 3-4, 2024

This is the first weekend I would be taking my Jeep out again after having the engine repaired last month, and I didn’t want to stray too far from home or get too deep into the backcountry just yet, so I figured this would be a good opportunity for me to hike some trails along the Colorado River near Moab. Since I’ve already hiked most of the trails on and around Amasa Back, I thought it would be fun to start the weekend by hiking the Captain Ahab and HyMasa Trails, both of which did not even exist the last time I hiked the Amasa Back Trail (Cliffhanger) from Kane Springs Canyon. I left home early on Saturday morning and drove through some patchy fog along I-70 in Utah and then made my way over to the trailhead along Kane Creek before sunrise.

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The Colorado River: Take-Out Beach to Potash

Memorial Day | Monday, May 29, 2023 | Average CFS: 32,620

Let’s try something different this time around. I’m going to give the Artificial Intelligence from ChatGPT a whirl to see how well it can write an introduction for this Trip Report where Jackson, Amy and I floated the Colorado River near Moab from Take-Out Beach to Potash. Let’s see how well it does…

In the realm of outdoor exploration, the allure of embarking on a new adventure is a constant driving force. Such was the case when Jackson and I found ourselves at a crossroads, our original plan to conquer The Chute of Muddy Creek in the San Rafael Swell thwarted by insufficient water levels. Undeterred, we sought an alternative that would satiate our thirst for exploration. And so it was, fueled by a shared sense of curiosity, that we set our sights on a stretch of the mighty Colorado River between Take-Out Beach and Potash. For Jackson, this particular section held a special significance, as it was the sole uncharted territory between picturesque Palisade and the vast expanse of Lake Powell. To make this adventure even more memorable, Jackson’s wife, Amy, joined us, bringing her own sense of excitement and camaraderie to our expedition. With the sun-drenched waters beckoning us, we embarked on a journey that promised to immerse us in the wonders of the Colorado River and create memories that would last a lifetime.

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Moab Meanderings: Both Sides of The Portal

Saturday, January 21, 2023

This weekend I decided to stay close to home and went on a day trip to Moab. I originally had other hiking ideas in mind when I left home on Saturday morning, but the Jeep roads I needed to drive were covered with snow and ice and a bit sketchy, so I ended up staying closer to the pavement and hiked trails on both sides of The Portal, which is where the Colorado River enters the canyon just downstream from town. First I headed over to the Moab Rim Trailhead and was going to hike up the technical 4×4 road, but then I noticed there was now a new hiking trail, which wasn’t here the last time I hiked down from the Moab Rim, called the Stairmaster Trail- so I hiked up that one.

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Waterfalls & Rainbows Around Moab

Thursday, October 10, 2013

What a crazy day! The weather was all over the place which made for some great dynamic conditions- perfect for photography! My camera sure got a workout today. It started out by raining all night. My tent kept me dry and the rain actually stopped when my alarm went off so I could get up and photograph the sunrise. I hopped in my Jeep and drove up the Sand Flats Road to the Castle Valley Overlook but the sunrise never happened. It was just too cloudy and another storm rolled in while I was up there.

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