By Saturday December 4th, my brother and I decided that we would see the sun if we drove south at least as far as Moab Utah. We were wrong but that didn’t stop us from spending the day in Arches National Park pretending it was warm and sunny.

We first stopped at the visitor’s center for a few pictures.

This also gave us a chance to stop long enough to take pictures of a few obscure and small road side natural arches.

We were surprised how many hikers were there, probably trying to do the same thing. We met a group of them at Courthouse Wash who said something about being part of the local Sierra Club. They just returned from upper Courthouse and quickly emptied out the crowded parking area when they left.

We took a short hike northwest up Courthouse Wash from where the park road crosses the wash. Along the way we ran into remnants of the previous hiking group that had been exploring side canyons.

We took the first side canyon on the north side which allowed us to visit Running Coyote Arch  a small class ‘D’ arch.

Further up the canyon, we also visited The Tunnel, a class ‘C’ tunnel arch that is not that large but about forty feet long.

On the way back, we were surprised by a yodeling hiker and his female companion, high up the cliffs on a precarious rock. We stopped long enough to make sure that they were not in trouble up there before continuing our hike. They probably belonged to the Toyota FJ Cruiser from California that we were parked next to since it was the only vehicle left when we pulled out.

The entire hike was under a dreary “Winter Sky” which really didn’t help the few photographs that I took.

We never did see the sun. Still, it was good to just be out again.

Any day hiking in Utah is better than any day sitting in front of my work computer.

We were looking for a class ‘C’ natural arch that another hiker had told us about. He called it Squint Arch. We had never heard of this arch and wanted to visit it. With just a little searching, we located the arch within sight of the Goblin Valley State Park access road. Because the arch faces almost south, the view from the road would not look like a natural arch.

We obviously had driven by this arch for years and did not know it was there.

We then had the rest of the day to just explore this area. We headed almost south far enough to jump several small ravines so we could then climb up the steep rock to the west. Along the way, we found a class ‘D’ arch that we could add to our arch list. We called it Ogle Arch.

The climb to the rim of the white sandstone to the west was a bit of a gut buster but it wasn’t hard picking a safe route as long as you avoided the drainage crevices that were worn into the sandstone face. At the top, we had a nice view into Wild Horse Creek (or Wash) directly below us. This is where the wash cuts half way through the San Rafael Swell edge and then drains to the northeast between the rock layers for about 1.3 miles before finishing the cut and exiting the swell edge heading southeast.

We climbed around in the rocks near the top to make sure nothing interesting was hidden in the area. We then headed back down again and returned to the vehicle.

We were tired but still had some daylight. Back on the state park road we drove north until we crossed the Temple Mountain road and then continued north on dirt roads until we could take the North Temple Wash road heading west. Here we visited several small class ‘D’ natural arches and a Indian pictograph panel.

By then it was late enough to head for home again.

Since we still had a flat tire on one of the ATVs, David and I decided to drive down to the Temple Mountain area in the San Rafael Swell to hike Farnsworth Canyon, just north of North Temple Wash. And what a beautiful day for exploring the canyons!

We had visited the top end of Farnsworth Canyon over ten years earlier when there was still a jeep trail into the drill site located at the top of the canyon. At that time we had hiked up the side canyon to visit San Rafael Bridge, Hidden Bridge and Jug Handle Arch. However, we wanted to hike the canyon from the bottom and then again visit the side canyon that contained these natural arches.

We parked near the end of the canyon where Farnsworth Canyon sliced through the edge of the San Rafael Swell and becomes a wash.

The hike was a pleasant walk up the dry creek bed. Shortly after entering the steep sandstone walls of the canyon proper, we noticed a class ‘D’ natural arch hanging in a crack on the north side of the canyon which we referred to it as Farnsworth Canyon Arch.

The dry creek bed cut through the first levels of the San Rafael Swell edge and then opened up into a wide pocket. This is the “Between the Reef” area.

Soon we were hiking through a quarter mile or so of slot canyon before the canyon opened up again to a wide but fairly deep sandstone canyon. There were a few minor choke stone boulders in the slot canyon area but they were fairly easily to climb up.

About a mile up the canyon, where the canyon opened up from the slot canyon area, there was a short side canyon to the north that looked interesting.

At about the 1.8 mile point, we found the collapsed remains of a cabin or shed. This was not far from the abandoned oil drill hole.

Here we noticed that the cedar and juniper trees had been beat up, with the new growth ends of branches ripped off and scattered on the ground. We also noticed that the soft ground areas were pock marked. It appears that this area recently experienced a violent hailstorm with hailstones at least the size of marbles. I’m glad we missed that event.

From here, we turned to the north and began hiking and/or climbing up the side canyon that we knew hid three major natural arches and bridges. The side canyon was still badly clogged with bus sized choke stones. Climbing through this area was exhausting, which I remember also being the case the last time we were here.

When the canyon floor began to level out a bit, we could see the San Rafael Bridge high in the cliffs above us. A short climb up the side of the hill was necessary to get a good view of the class ‘B’ natural bridge.

By following the hill along the west wall, we could enter another side canyon area that would let us climb up to a level where we could see a class ‘C’ arch called Jug Handle Arch, just above us.

Climbing up this narrow area required some steps building which allowed us to climb up the dry falls.

On the way back down the west side canyon, we stuck to the north hillside so we could traverse around the corner almost immediately under the San Rafael Bridge to gain access to a level where we could glimpse Hidden Bridge, a class “B” natural bridge immediately west of the San Rafael Bridge.

When we started the descent out of the canyon, we found some relief by staying on the east hillside. This also allowed us to get a better view of Hidden Bridge though from a greater distance.

It was good to get back on nearly level ground again once we reached the main canyon. Near the abandoned drill hole, I notice drill samples spilled on the ground.

We then headed back down the canyon and back the vehicle.

When we arrived at the beginning of the slot canyon area, we took some time to explore the other side canyon that we had noticed on the way up the canyon. It had some interesting rock formations but the only thing we found was some modern hiker signatures scratched on a wall.

On the way up this side canyon, I spooked an owl that attempted to escape further up the short canyon only to turn around and fly directly over my head as it left the canyon. It is amazing how silent those great wings can be. I couldn’t hear even air movement as it swooped overhead.

Back at the vehicle, we enjoyed a rather colorful sunset before heading for home.

A perfect end to a beautiful day!

Total hiking mileage for the day = 5.1 miles.

From Moore Utah, we took the newly paved “Moore Cutoff” road which heads east until it intersects with the I-70 freeway on the west side of the San Rafael Swell. After taking a few panorama pictures from the rim of Eagle and Fab Canyon, we backtracked to a dirt road heading north along the west rim of Eagle Canyon.

To the west we could see storm clouds rolling over the distant mountains. We road the ATVs northward but kept an eye on the clouds.

Eagle Canyon is rather an interesting canyon inasmuch as it appears abruptly in the San Rafael Swell as a deep canyon cut into the sandstone walls. The canyon drains west and then north under the I-70 freeway until it cuts through the west side of the San Rafael Swell. Here the drainage continues to the northwest but the canyon walls lessen until it opens onto the flats near The Red Ledges. Now Eagle Canyon is just another wash in mostly flat country. It soon joins North Salt Wash which proceeds north until it cuts into the west side of the San Rafael Swell, becomes a deep sandstone canyon and dumps into the San Rafael River near The Wedge.

The jeep trail that we were exploring was a good dirt road until it tries to cross Eagle Canyon after the canyon has become a deep wash. At that point, the maps seems to indicate that the road either ends or continues as a faint trail a distance up the wash before it climbs the hills to join a dirt road again.

Just before we hit Eagle Canyon, David had a flat rear tire. We tried to pump it up so we could find and patch the hole. When we finally found the leak, it turned out to be a three inch tear. We plugged the tear with a number of plugs which allowed the tire to hold at least a couple of pounds of air pressure. That would get us by since it was obvious that the day was going to get cut short by the approaching storm anyway.

At the Eagle Canyon crossing, Carsonite trail signs warned that the trail was about to get “Difficult”. We walked down the hill into Eagle Canyon (Wash?) and found the last drop off to be the worse. Looking back up the hill, we recognized the hill as being the site of an ATV rollover documented on YouTube.

Suddenly, the top of the hill looked steeper than we wanted to try.

We decided to walk up the wash to see how the trail was and if it was possible to exit the wash. It looked like there had been several flash floods through there recently and there were major rocks lining the “trail”.

Just around the corner, I exited the wash to examine a shallow alcove that seemed right for shelter for ancient hunters. On the walls, we could make out very faint pictographs and I found a piece of pottery shard (which I, of course, left for someone else to discover). That seemed an odd place for anything but a temporary hunter’s shelter so I was surprised to see pottery of any kind.

About .7 mile up the wash we found were the trail exited the wash but we could only see one motocross track that indicated anyone had attempted the ride in recent months.

We headed back to the ATVs and immediately elected to head back to the vehicle. The storm was moving in quickly. Soon we were being treated to light freezing rain driven by thirty mile per hour wind. Fleeing into the wind at about twenty miles per hour meant that we could use the phrase “stinging rain” accurately. OUCH!

We also discovered that we could drive fairly well just using one hand while the other hand attempted to keep the rain from pinging our noses and lips.

By the time we had arrived back at the vehicle, loaded up the ATVs and climbed into my Ford Explorer, we were soaked and frozen… on just our front sides. A few miles down the road, the rain opened up on the heavy side. The drive over Soldier Summit was in the snow but it was still warm enough not to freeze to the roads. By the time we hit Utah Valley, there was only light rain.

Oh well. We did get a few hours exploring Utah.

However, something tells me that my carefree summer is about over.

Total ATV mileage for the day = 17.2 miles.

For the last couple of years, I have been using Google Earth on the internet to look for interesting areas of Utah to explore. One of the places that I had noticed on the Google Earth satellite photographs, was an area hidden in the hills south of Goblin Valley State Park, several miles outside of the park. The area looked like a valley of taller goblins, organized in almost a square shaped arrangement. This “Goblin Square” intrigued me to the point where I finally decided to visit the area. I figured that along the way, there would be plenty of photography opportunities even if Goblin Square turned out to be a bust.

That morning I drove down to Goblin Valley State Park near Hanksville. After paying the $7 entrance fee, I parked at the Goblin Valley overlook and pavilion.

I then began hiking southward down the main drainage, which skirts the west side of Goblin Valley One, then Valley Two and finally Valley Three. I continued southward following the meandering wash called Red Canyon, that was usually dry. However, recent rains made the upper wash a bit muddy in spots. The further I hiked southward, the muddier it got until I had to stop occasionally to knock several pounds of mud off my boots so I could continue. Soon I was outside of Goblin Valley State Park and into the Curtis Formation hills.

Occasionally I would take a detour up a side wash if I could see a colony of sandstone goblins nearby.

I had estimated the distance to Goblin Square to be about three miles from the Goblin Valley State Park parking area but with all the meandering and side trips, I probably stretched that distance to at least four miles. About the time that I had planned on climbing over the hills instead of following the wash, I found a side wash coming in from the east. Less than fifty feet up this wash I encountered a class ‘C’ natural arch which I called Red Canyon Arch. This was NOT an area that I thought I would find a natural arch!

I then continued up this side wash until I could climb the hillside and walk across the top of the hills to a viewpoint overlooking Goblin Square.

WOW! This area was fantastic!

To enter the valley, I skirted along the top of the hill heading east until I could descend and enter the valley from the east side. I then spent the next couple of hours just wandering the many corridors and alleys, enjoying the fantastic shapes and forms created by decades of erosion in the Entrada sandstone.

This is probably what Goblin Valley looked like before years of tourists tipped over the more delicate structures and pounded the dirt into concrete.

Once I finally headed back again, I left the wash about the time that I re-entered the park so that I could visit the third valley and then the second valley on the way. I found that third valley and  a good deal of second valley were just as fantastic and just as tall as Goblin Square. Since the light was running out, I decided that I needed to return at least one more time to further explore these two valleys.

It was dark by the time I arrived back at the parking area. There were several photographers also loading up and I got to speak to one guy from Canada who was spending several months exploring throughout the western states just to take pictures. He had already been to several Utah parks and asked me if all of Utah was as “arid”. He thought that he had spent enough time in the desert and was anxious to head to California so he could drive the coast highway back to Canada. (”Arid”? Wait until he sees Nevada!)

Gee. I wonder how would it be to have that kind of time and funding?

I found myself rather sore (physically and emotionally) for the next couple of days at work… while sitting in front of a computer screen.

Arid? Utah? Really?

We drove into Sheep Creek Canyon via “the back way” so that we were actually at the top of the canyon driving down the canyon towards Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the main highway. Once we were in the canyon, we stopped for a lunch picnic at what used to be the Palisades Campground.

The Palisades Campground was destroyed in 1965 by a flash flood which killed seven campers from Salt Lake City. The site is now a picnic ground with a nearby monument memorializing the lose of life during the flash flood.

I remember the event when I was a kid and how long it took before the road was re-opened so my grandfather could take me fishing there again. For years I remember passing the remnants of crushed cars among the boulders.

We also stopped briefly at the Bennett Cabins which are the only buildings in the canyon. My mother is a Bennett and we had attended at least one family reunion at this location, just a few years earlier.

In the fields below the Bennett Cabins, we found a few mountain sheep grazing. Seeing mountain sheep in this canyon is fairly common. They soon crossed the road and disappeared into the heavy brush on their way back up the south hillside.

The next stop was at the Dowd Grave site. Cleophas Dowd was a famous outlaw/lawman that lived in this area.

We then continued down the sometimes paved, sometimes gravel road to the main highway just before Sheep Creek dumps into Flaming Gorge Reservoir. We then turned north and took the highway into Manila Utah.

Manila is the county seat of Daggett County and only one of two towns in the county. (Dutch John Utah being the other town.) Though small, there is a Post Office, a LDS church, schools and the usual county offices.

Behind the Daggett County Courthouse is the Manila Library and behind that is the old jailhouse, now a museum.

Nearby is the rodeo grounds where they put on an impressive rodeo every summer.

From Manila Utah, we drove down the road heading directly eastward to the shores of Flaming Gorge Reservoir which is part of the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. A short distance from shore is where Linwood Utah used to be located, now underwater.

We then headed back to the cabin to enjoy the rest of the weekend with the rest of my family who joined us the next day.

A nice way to enjoy the last warm days of fall.

We left on Sunday after a hailstorm dropped almost an inch of hailstones.

Oh well. Time to get back home for another week of work.

So Saturday morning, brother David and I headed for Arches National Park near Moab Utah in my Ford Explorer (and no ATVs). Once inside the park, we stopped at the visitor’s center so we could scope out the surrounding hills to see if we could find a small class ‘D’ arch called Rainbow Arch. We had looked for it before and now it was becoming an obsession to find the pesky thing. We did finally locate it directly west of the visitor’s center, hidden in the jumble of rocks.

We then headed north on the main park road to the Balanced Rock area. We then turned west on a gravel/dirt road which is called the Willow Springs Road. I understand that this road used to be the original road for accessing the arches area before the area became a national park and even for a while after the area became a national park.

Several miles down the Willow Springs Road, we parked at Willow Springs and began hiking the sandy wash heading north up Fourth Wash in the Herdina Park area. Just to the east was Third Wash, Second Wash and even First Wash which begins near Eye of the Whale Arch. These are all fairly short (and dry) washes that drain out of some fairly deep but short sandstone canyons. We wanted to see if any of these short canyons hid any natural arches or bridges.

Less than a mile into our hike, we had visited several small class ‘D’ arches hanging on the east cliff wall called Figure Arch and Reflex Arch.

We soon encountered dry falls that stopped us from entering the more interesting part of the upper canyon.

We backed down the wash until we could find a side canyon that let us climb out so we could walk along the west canyon rim.

On the way out of the wash, I found the remains of a man-made bundle made out of cedar limbs and cedar bark rope. Since cedar deteriates very slowly even in Utah weather, it could have been part of something made by ancient Indians or it could be something made more recently. Either way, I found it interesting for a picture.

Once on top, we could see the area we wanted to get in to but struggled to desend the cliffs to get there.

We finally found a way down on the far west side which then required that we hike north around the cliffs until we could enter a pocket in the east sandstone cliffs.

We then had to hunt around for an access to the top of Fourth Wash. We finally found a side wash partially hidden by a huge cedar tree that had grown so large that it had splayed into five separate trunks. It was interesting to see that all of the separate trunks were still living and even thriving.

After climbing up the side wash on the south side of this pocket, we were able to find our way into the upper part of Fourth Wash where we found Flying Buttress Arch, a class ‘C’ arch.

Beneath it we also found two more class ‘D’ arches called Slot Arch and Slat Arch.

Finally we were at the top of Fourth Wash.

On our way back to the pocket, we continued to the northeast to visit some deep alcoves that we could see in the low cliffs. This turned out to be a long cliff of alcoves, one of which was a rather deep cave.

I carefully entered the cave which required crouching and waiting for my eyes to become accustomed to the low light so I could check for snakes. (We haven’t seen a rattlesnake for over five years now but one of the last ones that I met was in Arches National Park.) Because the cave was well protected from the weather, I could see tennis shoe tracks from previous visitors that could have been a few months old or over twenty years old.

One of the deep alcoves was so deep that it actually broke through to a short canyon to the north. This made it an arch which we found out later was called Hidden Canyon Arch.

I climbed through the hole to take a look but cliffs stopped me from seeing much on the other side.

The day was getting late and we needed to head back.

We headed back by skirting along the west side the cliffs which then became the west rim of Fourth Wash and dropped us directly back at the vehicle. I then walked over to Willow Springs to take a few pictures of the remains of a shed or shelter that was located there.

Total hiking and climbing mileage for the day: 5.2 miles. (A distance confirmed by my legs the next morning.)

We then headed out of the park by continuing our drive westward until we hit the Moab Canyon highway. Along the way, we stopped briefly to examine the dinosaur tracks and signage located next to the rough road.

Including a quick stop at the black dike the road passes near.

When we hit the end of the dirt road in Last Chance Wash, the trail split for roads heading either east or west. Last Chance Wash was too rocky for a vehicle trail to continue down the wash but it is a great place for hiking.

The day was partially cloudy which was a nice break from the cloudless and hot weather that Utah was experiencing for the last month or so. We even saw a little rain in the distance but nothing to threaten our hours of exploring Last Chance Wash.

The first couple of miles of Last Chance Wash was fairly boring since the terrain was mostly loose dirt hills.

As the wash deepened into a serious canyon, we finally hit sandstone levels and began looking for natural arches. Though the sandstone wasn’t the type where natural arches are plentiful, any kind of rock can produce at least small ones. Sure enough, before long we had found several small class ‘D’ arches and one class ‘C’ arch.

And that was about all we expected.

We were almost ready to turn around and head back when we rounded one last bend in the wash to discover a beautiful and large class ‘B’ arch in the east cliffs.

We called it Last Chance Wash Arch (of course) and wondered how many people had ever seen it in this obscure wash/canyon.

By the time we made it back to the main Last Chance Wash road, we ended up driving the ATVs back to the Explorer (many dusty miles away) in the dark.

Another perfect day in the Utah desert!

After a very long and hectic week, it was nice.

On the way up the mountain, we stopped so I could hike the short trail to an area called “The Grotto” though Nancy decided not to go the entire way. It turned out that a lot of other people had decided to get out and enjoy the wonderful weather and a lot of them had also decided to take the walk to The Grotto. Distressing when you just want to get away from people and take a few pictures.

When I got to The Grotto, a photographer was taking engagement pictures of a young and clueless couple. I moved off to one side and we tried not to get in one another’s pictures.

After I got back from The Grotto, we continued driving up the mountain, stopping whenever there was a view to enjoy. We stopped for a while at one of the Payson Lakes and then headed back down the mountain because the sun was setting.

Nice!

We left Thursday evening as soon as we could get off work, and drove to Monticello Utah in my Ford Explorer Sport. (We did not take the ATVs this time.) When passing through Moab, we noticed that there were a lot of tourists on the streets which made us worry about the availability of motel rooms in the area. However, this was Thursday night and we figured there HAD to be rooms available during the week. In Monticello, our fears were confirmed when we found all motels full. We continued on to Blanding Utah and found the same thing there. In fact, one motel operator let us know that they had already been notified that there were no rooms from Mexican Hat Utah to Green River Utah and even into Colorado. We were simply out of luck.

Not a good start for our long weekend.

Though we hadn’t packed for camping, we ended up spending the night on a remote side road between Monticello and Blanding. Luckily we did bring our own pillow and had emergency Mylar “blankets”.

It was a LONG night.

I can’t sleep sitting up even in reclining car seats. I tried sleeping on the hard ground next to the vehicle but I ended up mostly just watching the brilliant stars blasted across the perfectly clear sky and counting the shooting starts. (That part was nice.) I probably got a total of about 3 hours of naps.

The next morning we drove into Monticello for a hot omelet breakfast. We then began hitting all the motels to see if we could at least get a room for Friday night. We managed to get nearly the last room in the second motel we checked. (Yes! Thank you National 9 Motel!)

We then grabbed some snacks, filled the gas tank and headed for the Needles area of south Canyonlands National Park.

We planned on purchasing a day vehicle pass to allow us to go back into Horse Canyon and finish hiking to several natural arches that we had missed the last time we were there in May. We had our fingers crossed that they hadn’t already given out the 10 passes allowed per day. This would have been the only thing that could mess up our plans at this point.

Wrong!

At the Visitors Center, we found that there were NO passes being give out at all. In fact, both Horse Canyon and Salt Creek were completely closed. Major monsoon thunderstorms on August 17th had caused flooding in the canyons and all roads had been destroyed…. again. They were waiting for the area to dry out again so that they could repair the trails to the point of being passable again.

ARGHHHH!

Time for a change of plans.

While we couldn’t drive into Horse Canyon, we could drive to the locked gate and hike east into Salt Creek Pocket to visit several natural arches in that area. This allowed us to see some of the trail damage in the area, which was significant. At least one trail side swamp had been created and as we passed it, the mosquitoes (probably Culex tarsalis) swarmed over us almost chasing us down the wash. We were away from the wash and into the pocket before we were rid of them.

The original plan was to hike just over 2 miles to several known natural arches and then return. However, on the way we kept finding other things that grabbed our attention, including several new arches including one small class ‘D’ arch we called Snout Arch.

This added miles to our trip though the way was mostly level through sandy flats and tumbleweed fields.

The late summer blooming Sticky Asters were abundant as well as a few quick blooming wildflowers that were taking advantage of the summer rains.

When we finally reached the furthest natural arch, called Salt Creek Pocket Arch, we found a beautiful class ‘B’ arch after passing a smaller class ‘D’ arch on the way. That alone made the hike worth while.

In the nearby cliffs we also noticed another small class ‘D’ arch I called Another Arch. (We must be running out of nouns.)

It was now over 90 degrees and the lack of sleep was beginning to wear on us. We found a nearby shaded and sandy alcove for a long nap and a snack.

While hiking through this area of Canyonlands National Park, I found it interesting that there were no signs that cows had ever been ranged here. In areas near protective cliffs where cows would naturally gather, there were no old cow dropping, which never really disappear even over long periods of time. Neither were there any fences, corrals or man-made water catchments. I also did not see any Indian petroglyphs in spots were I expected some.

We then made a side trip to the next pocket to the south after climbing over a low pass in the cliffs.

We had noticed several deep alcoves in the high cliffs to the south and needed to get a closer look. Once of the alcoves did turn out to be large class ‘C’ arch that we called Faucet Arch.

Near the cliffs, it was now shady and cool so we took another nap.

This area was well hidden by cliffs and large cedar trees. Near the cliffs we found an old cowboy camp defined by a large number of rusty cans that had almost rusted away completely. In a flat area, we found what was either a bed platform made from cut cedar branches, or perhaps a low table. This would probably have been enclosed by a canvas tent since it was the only flat spot in the area. Next to the cedar limb platform I found the lid of a dutch oven cooking pot. (Now what cowboy would loose the lid of his dutch oven?) I also found several spent 32-40 (W.R.A. Co.) gun cartridges with a unique tapered design that I had never seen before. Nearby I also found a horseshoe and the base plate of a pocket watch. (The plate that all the gears and springs are mounted on.) The base plate had a bullet shot indentation in it.

With no cattle ranging nearby, it would be interesting to know the story behind that camp… if there is one.

From there it was a long, hot hike through the tumbleweeds and sagebrush back to Salt Wash. Then we had to hurry to the vehicle again to outrun the vicious mosquitoes.

At that time, my vehicle was reporting that the outside temperature was 104 degrees. Luckily, it hadn’t been that hot for the earlier part of the day.

Total hiking distance = 8.01 miles.

Ouch!

We then drove back to Monticello for a much needed night of sleep in real beds.

The next morning we had a cold breakfast and headed back to the south end of Canyonlands National Park.

This time, instead of driving into the Needles area, we pulled off the main park road and took the jeep trail to the south up Davis Canyon.

The flooding from the August 17th storm had rearranged the trail and the dry wash that makes up the trail but at least it was dry all the way to the Canyonlands National Park boundary. As we approached the canyon and the cottonwood tree area, the trail was missing in a number of places but previous vehicles had already defined new trails around the problem areas. At the park boundary, we found the “Flood Fence” completely ripped out by the flooding in spite of the fact that steel cables had been anchored into the cliff sides and heavy metal posts set in concrete.

The foot hiking starts at this point, which limits the amount of Davis Canyon you can visit without camping overnight.

We made it to the intersection of canyons where Junction Arch (a large class ‘C’ arch) can be found high in the north cliffs.

Smaller class ‘D’ arches were nearby including class ‘C’ Davis Canyon Bridge (really an arch).

At another nearby canyon intersection, we could see four Indian granaries in a high alcove and some handprint pictographs surrounding one of the structures.

It was much too hot and we were too tired to do much exploring. Soon we were forced to head back with much of the canyon still unexplored.

Once out of the park, we did stop one more time for a quick distant picture of Granary Arch which is just inside the park boundary, in a side canyon. We would had to have climbed up the north side of the cliffs to get decent pictures of the arch and the Indian granary located underneath. That was out of the question by then.

We then headed for home back in Utah County.

In spite of our busted hiking plans, we still managed to enjoy a couple of days exploring new areas of Canyonlands National Park.

It was a good trip.