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The High Plateaus of Utah: Southern Trek

The Plateau Provence: Peaks & Plateaus of the Colorado Plateau, Part IV
Friday – Sunday, August 30 – September 1, 2024

After spending Friday morning visiting a number of rock art sites along the Old Trappers’ Trail in the Book Cliffs, I left the canyon shortly before noon and continued on to Ray’s in Green River where I stopped and had a burger for lunch. Afterwards, I topped off my gas tank and headed west across the San Rafael Swell into the High Plateaus of Utah for the rest of the weekend. After my recent Northern Trek into the the High Plateaus earlier this summer, I’ve been looking forward to getting back out and going on a loop through the southern plateaus including the Table Cliff, Paunsaugunt, and Markagunt, plus making a return to the Sevier Plateau so I could visit a new peak along the way. Now after this weekend I have visited the highpoint of all the major plateaus on the Colorado Plateau in Utah except for the Kaiparowits Plateau, which is next on my list!

Rock Art Along the Old Trappers’ Trail

Book Cliffs Rock Art VIII | Friday, August 30, 2024

After spending most of Monday hiking with a friend in the San Rafael Swell, we met up again on Friday morning in the Book Cliffs so we could spend a few hours visiting rock art sites along the Old Trappers’ Trail, which was a historic route in eastern Utah that travelled through the Book Cliffs to the Uinta Basin. While much of this rock art is located on private property and some of it is visible from the public road, my friend had secured us permission from the ranch to access their property so we could get a closer look at these images. After viewing and photographing the rock art in this area for most of the monrning, I returned to the Interstate and continued west to Green River where I grabbed lunch at Ray’s and then headed out to spend the rest of the weekend exploring the High Plateaus of Utah. Here are some photos from my morning along the Old Trappers’ Trail.

Rock Art of the San Rafael Swell XVIII

Monday, August 26, 2024

After my plans were washed out in the Book Cliffs on Sunday, I met up again with my friend in the San Rafael Swell on Monday morning so we could spend most of the day visiting and searching for some rock art sites. The storms that had been prevalent the previous week had all cleared up overnight and the weather forecast was looking very dry for the foreseeable future so we didn’t have to worry about any of that today, although it was now a bit hazy or smoky out. Many of the roads we drove throughout the day were in rough shape from all the recent rain, but thankfully they were all dry and we had no troubles getting around in my Jeep. Even though we didn’t find everything we were looking for today, we still had a nice time sauntering around the Swell and now I’m really looking forward to getting back out into the desert more often starting in just a few more weeks!

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Rock Art of the Book Cliffs VII

Sunday, August 25, 2024

After spending Saturday morning on the Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon, I left home early on Sunday so I could meet up with a friend in Green River later in the afternoon. Since I had plenty of time before we were supposed to meet I thought it would be a good idea to spend the morning searching for new rock art sites in the Book Cliffs as I slowly made my way to Green River. Unfortunately, the weather would not cooperate with those plans today thanks to the stormy weather we’ve been experiencing lately and just as soon as I neared the edge of the Book Cliffs it started to rain pretty hard which made the roads I wanted to drive slick and muddy, so I had to turn around and find some better roads. I did my best to get around in the wet conditions, but I ended up spending most of the day just revisiting sites I haven’t been to in a while. I guess I’ll have to come back to search out the new sites when it’s a bit drier out.

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Chepeta Lake: Eccentric Benchmark & Daggett Peak

Headwaters of the Whiterocks River | Friday – Sunday, August 9-11, 2024

After last week’s backpacking trip to the Red Castle Lakes in the High Uintas Wilderness I didn’t have any plans on returning to the Uinta Mountains anytime soon. However, after keeping an eye on the weather forecast around Colorado for the upcoming weekend, I couldn’t find a mountain range within a couple hundred miles of home that didn’t show stormy weather all day and night. It was going to be a wet and stormy weekend in the mountains of Colorado! I was originally hoping to spend the weekend hiking along the Continental Divide in the San Juan Mountains, but on Friday afternoon I made a last-minute decision to head up to the eastern end of the Uinta Mountains with hopes that I would be able to get some hiking in since the weather forecast for this area looked like the best around with only the typical afternoon storms. So for the second time in as many weeks I left from work and drove over Douglas Pass on my way to the Uinta Mountains. After a quick stop for fuel in Vernal I headed out across the Uinta Basin and then followed the Whiterocks River up to it’s headwaters at Chepeta Lake.

Tag: utah

The High Plateaus of Utah: Southern Trek

Rock Art Along the Old Trappers’ Trail

Rock Art of the San Rafael Swell XVIII

Rock Art of the Book Cliffs VII

Chepeta Lake: Eccentric Benchmark & Daggett Peak