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Tag: white rocks trailhead

Ferry Swale to Wiregrass Canyon and the White RocksFerry Swale to Wiregrass Canyon and the White Rocks

Ferry Swale to Wiregrass Canyon and the White Rocks

Friday – Saturday, May 8-9, 2026

After spending the previous week at the foot of the Vermilion Cliffs and Grand Staircase in Kanab, I left right after the conference wrapped up on Friday afternoon and drove east to Page where I grabbed an early dinner in town. Then I topped off my gas tank and then headed west again to explore a few roads in the Ferry Swale as I made my way over to the trailhead for Wiregrass Canyon in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area so I could go on a short evening hike when the temperature started to cool down. Initially, I drove into the Ferry Swale because I was thinking about either hiking to the Thousand Pockets or Dominguez Pass, but it was just too hot for me to want to do any open desert hiking this afternoon, so instead I just kept driving until the road ended at the Lees Ferry Overlook above Paria Canyon and I took in the views from there.

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White Rocks: Gold Star Canyon & The BenchWhite Rocks: Gold Star Canyon & The Bench

White Rocks: Gold Star Canyon & The Bench

Heart of the World | Sunday, October 26, 2025

After spending Saturday morning hiking a big loop in the Colorado National Monument that combined Ute Canyon and Monument Mesa, I returned again early on Sunday morning to hike a shorter loop near Gold Star Canyon from the White Rocks Trailhead. This time I would combine the Mushroom Rock Trail, Gold Star Canyon Trail, Bench Trail and Fenceline Trail to create a nice little 6-7 mile loop and end up back at the White Rocks. I started hiking up onto the Precambrian Bench at dawn and was able to make it to an overlook of Monument Canyon below Mushroom Rock just in time to watch the sunrise.

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The Ribbon Trail to White RocksThe Ribbon Trail to White Rocks

The Ribbon Trail to White Rocks

Colorado National Monument Traverse V
Easter | Sunday, April 1, 2018

This weekend Diane and I stayed close to home so we could go on our annual Colorado National Monument Traverse on Sunday. This yearly hike has sort of become a tradition for us where we plan a longer hike through the Colorado National Monument by combining existing trails and off-trail routes. This is the fifth year we have planned a hike like this and this time I wanted to do something on the east side of the Monument that included No Thoroughfare Canyon. If you are interested in checking out our previous traverses, you can find links to those trip reports here: Traverses of the Colorado National Monument

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Gold Star Canyon SunsetGold Star Canyon Sunset

Gold Star Canyon Sunset

Tuesday, February 6, 2018

All day long there had been nice clouds floating through the sky, so when I finally left work in the late afternoon I thought it might be a good idea to take a short hike into Gold Star Canyon in the Colorado National Monument to photograph the sunset. I have been trying for years to get a nice photo at sunset from this location without success and I hoped that my luck would change this evening.

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Gold Star EveningGold Star Evening

Gold Star Evening

Monday, May 22, 2017

I’ve been wanting to photograph sunset from Gold Star Canyon in the Colorado National Monument for a while now, but every time I think about heading up that way it seems the sky doesn’t want to cooperate with me. Late this evening the sky was looking good for the possibility of a nice sunset, so I headed over to the White Rocks Trailhead and hiked up into Gold Star Canyon. Unfortunately, as I was hiking into the canyon more clouds started to build over the valley and my hopes for a nice sunset never really materialized. While I was waiting around I found out that the biting gnats are now out for the season and they were pretty annoying. I stuck around until about 30 minutes after the sun had set hoping for some color, but it never really happened aside from a little afterglow. I guess I will have to try again another time.

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