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Moab Meanderings: Grandstaff Canyon & Sand Flats

Sand Flats Recreation Area II | Saturday & Sunday, December 27-28, 2025

Well, this is it- my final Trip Report of 2025! For this final weekend of the year I returned to the landscape surrounding Moab so I could spend my time hiking and exploring Grandstaff Canyon. While I vaguely recall hiking the popular trail from the mouth of Grandstaff Canyon to Morning Glory Bridge way back in 2010 with my friend Jackson when the canyon was known by a more racially insensitive name, for some reason I do not have any photos or even a Trip Report from that day, which is very unusual for me, so I planned to re-hike that trail early on Sunday morning to refresh my memory and take a few photos along the way. Since I would be doing that on Sunday I figured that it would be interesting to spend Saturday exploring other parts of Grandstaff Canyon so I could get a better overview of the area, and that’s what I set out to do when I left home bright and early on Saturday morning and made my way over to the Sand Flats Recreation Area.

Christmas in Arches 2025

Arches National Park | Wednesday & Thursday, December 24-25, 2025

Christmas is here again, which means that it’s time to return to Arches National Park for our annual Christmas tradition. Although Diane is still not supposed to do much hiking right now, she wanted to join me for some easier hikes in the park since she missed out on the past two years because of work, so we planned to spend the holiday hiking some of the easy and popular trails in the park that we usually pass right by. After getting out of work early on Christmas Eve, I stopped home to pick up Diane and we made our way over to Arches around noon. While we have enjoyed hiking in mild temperatures on Christmas a few times in the past, I don’t think we have ever experienced 60 degree temperatures (pushing close to 70 on Christmas Eve) like we did this year. It sure didn’t feel very much like Christmas this time!

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Fruita Dugway: Kodels Canyon to the Black Ridge Trail

Heart of the World | Wednesday, November 19, 2025

I was hoping to get out hiking at least once between storm systems this week and finally made a last minute decision to head out to hike up the Fruita Dugway right after work today. Although this may not be an ‘official’ trail within the Colorado National Monument, I still wanted to include it in my Heart of the World project because not only is it a historic route through the area, it’s also probably my favorite hike in all of the Monument. I started the hike from the Kodels Canyon Trailhead, climbed up to the junction with the Black Ridge Trail and then returned mostly the same way. Early on the hike was a bit hot and humid while I was in the sun, but it got a bit chilly when the clouds started to block out the sun. Here are a few photos from my evening hike up and down the Fruita Dugway.

Canyons of the San Rafael Reef III

Iron Wash to Mormon Tanks Canyon | Friday – Sunday, November 14-16, 2025

I was originally hoping to spend this weekend searching for ruins and rock art on Cedar Mesa, but a wet and snowy weather forecast wasn’t looking good for that area, so instead I decided to stay a bit closer to home and head over to the San Rafael Reef Wilderness where I could explore a few new canyons. I left after work on Friday afternoon, topped off my gas tank in Green River and then made my way over to the foot of the San Rafael Reef where I found a campsite after dark, read for a little while and went to bed early. On Saturday morning I got up before sunrise and started hiking up Iron Wash at dawn. Although I have hiked up Iron Wash before, I don’t recall going very far, and besides it was so long ago that and I don’t remember much about it and was looking forward to checking out this canyon again and going further this time.

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Ridge Stock Driveway: Nellie Creek to El Paso Creek

Uncompahgre Wilderness & Fall Colors 2025 | Friday & Saturday, September 26-27, 2025

This weekend I headed up into the Uncompahgre Wilderness near Lake City so I could spend one final weekend hiking in the high country above treeline as my season in the mountains comes to an end. I’ve been wanting to hike more sections of the Ridge Stock Driveway Trail that traverses much of the wilderness from American Flats in the west to the Alpine Plateau in the east, and I thought it would be fun to hike a segment above Nellie Creek, Big Blue Creek and El Paso Creek, which all surround the base of Uncompahgre Peak– the highest point in the San Juan Mountains! I left from work on Friday afternoon, grabbed a bite to eat in Delta, and then took the Blue Mesa Cutoff over to the Lake Fork of the Gunnison which I followed upstream to Lake City. Although I was hoping to see some fall colors along the way this weekend, I was a bit surprised at just how nice the colors were all around Lake City. I don’t think I’ve ever headed this way in search of fall colors before since my typical go-to spots are around Ouray, Silverton and Crested Butte, but now I think I’m going to have to come back this way again in the future!

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Moab Meanderings: Grandstaff Canyon & Sand Flats

Christmas in Arches 2025

Fruita Dugway: Kodels Canyon to the Black Ridge Trail

Canyons of the San Rafael Reef III

Ridge Stock Driveway: Nellie Creek to El Paso Creek