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Surrounding Sids Mountain in the San Rafael Swell

Sids Mountain Wilderness | Friday – Sunday, October 31 – November 2, 2025

Although I was originally hoping to be out hiking in the Canyons of the Escalante with Jared for a long weekend at this time, Diane’s recovery is progressing slowly and I didn’t want to leave her home for an extended period of time just yet, so I figured I would just save the PTO for another time and delay the trip until sometime next year. However, I still wanted to get out hiking a little deeper into the backcountry this weekend and Diane is doing well enough that we were comfortable with her staying home for the weekend- she would be having a few friends stop by to visit her throughout the weekend- so I thought it would be nice to head over to the San Rafael Swell to get in some hiking and exploring around Sids Mountain. It’s been just over a year since my last visit to the Swell and I was looking forward to the return!

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San Rafael River: Fuller Bottom to Lockhart Box

Friday – Sunday, June 2-4, 2023

This weekend Jared and I met up in the San Rafael Swell so we could float the San Rafael River with our packrafts while there was still enough water left this year. Although our last packrafting trip together on the Dirty Devil River may not have gone as well as we had hoped, Jared was looking forward to getting his packraft on a river that actually had enough water this time and I was looking forward to a return visit into the Little Grand Canyon! I left from work on Friday afternoon and made my way over to the Swinging Bridge at the mouth of Buckhorn Wash, where we planned to meet up. I arrived a couple hours before Jared was going to, so I drove a little ways down the Mexican Mountain Road and found us a campsite just as it started to rain.

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Sauntering Through The Swell: The Northwest Side

Sauntering Around The Swell: The Northwest Side

Sauntering Through The Swell: The Northwest Side

Muddy Creek to the Little Wedge | San Rafael Swell Rock Art XVII
Friday – Sunday, April 21-23, 2023

As I was trying to figure out where I wanted to go this weekend, I realized that I had not been back to the San Rafael Swell since Diane and I did a little mountain biking on the Good Water Rim Trail over the Halloween weekend in 2021, and I thought that this would be a good time to finally get back out there to remedy that oversight. As usual, I left after work on Friday afternoon and headed west into Utah to the northwestern side of The Swell so I could spend the weekend hiking, Jeeping and searching for rock art between Muddy Creek and the Little Wedge.

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Cane Wash: Locomotive Point to the San Rafael River

Friday – Saturday, November 6-7, 2020

I was originally planning to spend three days alone on Cedar Mesa this weekend, but the weather forecast had other plans for me with rain and snow predicted for much of that time. So instead of driving all the way down to Cedar Mesa and getting shut down by the weather, I planned to stay a little closer to home in the San Rafael Swell so I could try to get a hike in on Saturday morning and then head home before the storm arrived. I decided that hiking down Cane Wash to the San Rafael River sounded like a good plan because I figured that even if I didn’t beat the storm this hike and drive wouldn’t be a problem in the rain or snow.

Hondu Country: Upper Muddy Creek Gorge

Tomsich Butte to Poor Canyon, Road Hollow to Fix-It Pass & Slipper Arch
Friday & Saturday, May 1-2, 2020

I was originally supposed to be in the San Rafael Swell this weekend for an event that was cancelled due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, but since most of Utah, including Emery County, was open to camping again I decided to still head into the Swell so I could spend Saturday hiking and exploring more of the Muddy Creek Wilderness. I’ve gone on a couple of great trips along the Muddy Creek over the past few years and have been looking forward to getting back there again. This time I planned to hike into the Upper Gorge of Muddy Creek from Tomsich Butte and then continue into Poor Canyon as far as I could go. I was hoping that Poor Canyon would share some of the same amazing features that the forks of Chimney Canyon do, and I wasn’t disappointed!

Tag: sids mountain wilderness

Surrounding Sids Mountain in the San Rafael Swell

San Rafael River: Fuller Bottom to Lockhart Box

Sauntering Through The Swell: The Northwest Side

Cane Wash: Locomotive Point to the San Rafael River

Hondu Country: Upper Muddy Creek Gorge