Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tag: slot canyon

Woodruff Canyon: The Canyons of Trachyte Creek V

Friday & Saturday, March 1-2, 2024

Over the past four years I have been spending one weekend in early March at the foot of the Henry Mountains exploring the Canyons of Trachyte Creek, so this weekend I headed out to hike down Woodruff Canyon, which is the final named tributary canyon on the west side of Trachyte Creek that I had not hiked yet. Although the weather forecast was calling for very strong winds this weekend, with gusts up to 65MPH, I was hoping that conditions might be a little bit better down in the canyon and decided to take my chances. I left from work on Friday afternoon and headed west into Utah. The wind wasn’t too bad until I passed through Green River and was driving across the San Rafael Desert, where I found blowing sand across the road in a couple of places, but nothing that was unusual for springtime on the Colorado Plateau. I topped off my gas tank in Hanksville and then made my way further south to search for a campsite for the night.

2 Comments

The Canyons of North Wash II

Butler Canyon & Marinus Canyon | Saturday & Sunday, December 2-3, 2023

This weekend I decided to make my way back down into the Canyons of North Wash so I could continue what I had started last December when I spent a weekend hiking and exploring new-to-me canyons in the area. I left from home bright and early on Saturday morning and drove west on icy roads shrouded in fog until I reached the Utah state line where conditions began to improve. After a brief stop for gas in Green River I turned south and drove across the San Rafael Desert to Hanksville and then continued on to Three Forks, where North Wash, Butler Canyon and Stair Canyon all come together. An added benefit of driving south of Hanksville on Highway 95 at sunrise is being able to watch the first light of the day strike the Henry Mountains, and they put on a great show this morning so I just had to stop for a couple photos along the way!

1 Comment

Under The Ledge: Waterhole Flat to Teapot Canyon

Friday – Sunday, November 3-5, 2023

This weekend I headed back into the country Under the Ledge for the second time this year so I could finally stay at the Teapot Rock campsite, which is located along the road to The Doll House just before it starts to get rough. Although I have tried to book this camp during previous trips into the region, it always seemed to have been unavailable and never worked out for me, but since it’s the final campsite in the Maze District that I had not stayed at yet, I figured it was worth putting together a special trip to finally make it happen this year. A couple of months ago I booked the site for two nights so I could spend an extended weekend exploring the canyons in the area and I invited my friend Jared along to join me. So now after this weekend, besides having hiked all of the trails in Canyonlands National Park, I have finally completed my goal of staying at all of the designated campsites within the Maze District and Orange Cliffs Unit of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area!

6 Comments

Return to The Chute of Muddy Creek

Floating Through the Muddy Creek Wilderness: Tomsich Butte to Hidden Splendor
Friday & Saturday, June 16-17, 2023 | Average CFS: 185

This year Jackson was really hoping we would be able to make it over to the San Rafael Swell so we could float through The Chute of Muddy Creek before the water levels dropped, but for a while there it was looking like we might not be able to make it happen this season. Luckily, the water levels of Muddy Creek have continued to stayed high enough for a couple of weeks and on Friday afternoon as I was leaving work we made a last minute decision to give it a shot on Saturday morning. All of my river gear was still packed in the Jeep and ready to go, so we headed west into Utah and met up in Green River before making our way over to Hidden Splendor to drop off my Jeep at the take-out.

1 Comment

Buck Canyon: Rambling Around Robbers Roost V

East Fork of Buck Canyon | Friday & Saturday, April 28-29, 2023

This weekend I needed to spend some time on Sunday preparing for an upcoming River Trip, so I decided to stay closer to home and do a little more hiking in the Robbers Roost area on Saturday morning. After visiting the mouth of Buck Canyon during our short float on the Dirty Devil River two weeks ago, I thought it might be nice to hike into the canyon from above and visit two large arches that are found there. I left from work on Friday afternoon, topped off my gas tank in Green River and then drove across the San Rafael Desert to the edge of Buck Canyon on some sandy backroads that I had never driven before.

Leave a Comment