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Tag: slot canyon

Wire Pass to Buckskin Gulch

Sunday, December 28, 2014

On Sunday morning we drove over to the Wire Pass trailhead from our hotel in Page and arrived shortly after the sunrise. Our plan for today was to hike through Wire Pass and then down Buckskin Gulch for a few miles. Unfortunately, we would not be unable to go down Buckskin Gulch from the confluence with Wire Pass because of some large pools of water blocking our way, and we weren’t prepared to get wet on this cold December day. I had hoped that any water in the canyon might be frozen so we could walk right over it, but that was not the case. Instead, we turned around and hiked up Buckskin Gulch until we exited the narrows. When the canyon opened up I noticed a playground of sandstone above the wash and below the West Clark Bench, so we climbed up into that area and explored the colors and shapes of the sandstone for a while. We made a big loop and ended up back down in Buckskin Gulch again. As we hiked back down towards Wire Pass, the light in the canyon was much nicer than on our way up, and I stopped to take many photos along the way.

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The Narrows of the Virgin River

Fall Colors 2014
Monday, November 10, 2014

On Monday morning we woke up before sunrise again so we could get an early start on our hike into The Narrows. I wanted to get an early start in hopes that we might have the canyon to ourselves for at least a little while even if it was pretty cold out. The previous evening we had rented dry pants from Zion Adventure Company and wore neoprene socks to keep our feet and legs warm since we would be hiking through the Virgin River most of the day.

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Winter Camp Ridge

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Winter Camp Ridge is an obscure place located north of Arches National Park near The Highlands. Most people bypass this area as they are heading elsewhere in the region, but I always seem to be drawn back to this location every so often. My first time here was when I was out exploring the backroads of the Yellow Cat area and took the sandy two-track onto Winter Camp Ridge to see where it went. The road ended up bringing me to the Arches National Park boundary not too far from Delicate Arch. Since that first trip I have always wanted to try and hike to Delicate Arch from this road. That’s what Diane and I planned to attempt this weekend.

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Halfway Hollow to the Zebra & Tunnel Slot Canyons

Southern Utah Wanderings | Canyons of the Escalante
Friday, October 10, 2014

After another good night of sleep under the stars we awoke to clear skies with the morning sunlight striking the Straight Cliffs in the distance. Today we planned to hike to a couple of popular and short slot canyons known as Zebra and Tunnel. Jared and I had actually planned on hiking to these two slot canyons back in 2010 when we were in the area for our first October trip to southern Utah together, however we were chased away by heavy rain and flash flooding that week, so we never did get to visit them. After a quick breakfast we packed up camp and drove back to the Hole-in-the-Rock Road and parked at the trailhead for Halfway Hollow. We hiked down Halfway Hollow a few miles until we reached it’s confluence with Harris Wash and then hiked up Harris Wash a short distance to the entrance for Zebra.

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The White Rim

Canyonlands National Park’s 50th Birthday
Friday – Sunday, September 12-14, 2014

So far I’ve had a great year exploring many new areas of Canyonlands National Park. I was finally able to backpack through Salt Creek Canyon in The Needles, which had been a longtime goal of mine and one of the main reasons I started backpacking in the first place. Then I spent a nice weekend in The Maze with Diane and made it to the Maze Overlook and also discovered what a wonderful place Millard Canyon is. We even made it to The Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon on that trip so that Diane was able to view some of the magnificent rock art there for the first time. With all these great trips this year I thought I would try my luck again at completing the White Rim Road in the Island in the Sky, too.

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