Moab, Utah, August 2002

Summary:

Who: Gregg, Rachel, Mom, and Dad
What: Arches and Canyonlands National Parks
Where: Moab, UT
When: August, 2002
Difficulty: Moderate to Hard

Trip Report:

Day 1

Mom and Dad had driven out to Southern California to visit in early August. For their trip back home to Illinois, Rachel and I decided to follow them - at least to Utah. The trip from Pasadena to Moab takes about 12 hours, so we headed out early the first morning. This was a combined camping and Bed and Breakfast trip. One extreme to the other, with the old folks keeping at one end.

Departing for Moab
Toys
Toys

Day 2

Mom and Dad had seen Arches on a previous cross-country trip. So the plan was for us to all see Canyonlands first before they continued on home. So the second day we headed into the Needles section of Canyonlands National Park. Needles has very little in the way of paved roads, so we all four drove down in the 4Runner. I had reserved a backcountry pass for the Horse Canyon Road that heads south starting near the Ranger Station. This road has a locked gate, so if you plan a trip here, make sure you get a permit. Prior to the trip, Mom read a description of the road that had the word "quicksand" in it. This raised a few eyebrows, but we decided to give it a try. It wasn't that bad. A few spots had deep sand, but otherwise no problem.

Out first stop was Paul Bunyan's Potty. This actually took us a couple of minutes to find, but once you see it, it's definitely looks like a big pot. We also took the side trip to Tower Ruin. Very cool. Ruins up in the side of the hill.

Near the end of the road, there's a section that's a little tricky to get through without scraping paint. Let's just say that the various colors on the rock overhead were not natural. Having a couple spotters helped.

There are a couple of hikes at the end of the road. One to Castle Arch and another to Fortress Arch. First, we had lunch. After lunch we looked for Fortress Arch. After looking for a while in the blazing heat, we found something that could have been an arch at one time, but wasn't currently. We decided it must have just fallen and headed back for shade and water.

It was so hot, we sat in the air conditioned car to cool off before starting off to Castle Arch. After walking a few hundred feet, we could see it in the distance and that was enough. We took pictures there and just sat in the shade.

Horse Canyon

Paul Bunyan's Potty

Tricky Part

Castle Arch

Day 3

On the third day, we explored the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands. There are more attractions near paved roads in this section. In the morning we stopped at Mesa Arch and the White Rim Overlook with Mom and Dad. Then we said goodbye and went our separate ways - Mom and Dad heading east and Rachel and I heading down into the canyon. We had camping reservations for the next two nights on the White Rim Road. This also required a permit (which, for most of the summer, must be reserved well in advance).

This was our big off-road trip. It's a loop that's almost 100 miles long. The Colorado and Green Rivers come together to make a "Y" with the White Rim being in the upper section. The road first follows the Colorado River to the confluence, then back up along the Green River. The majority of the rim (and the road) is at the same elevation - a mid level between the paved roads at the top level and the rivers at the bottom.

But first we had to get down to the rim taking Shafer Trail. This was definitely not flat. It was fairly well maintained (many people just went down and back up) but had a lot of steep switchbacks. We met a couple of interesting characters that were heading back up: one old couple that said it was "in the top 10 stupidest things he had ever done, and another family was complete with jokester Dad, video-taping Mom, and giggling kids in the back.

Once we got a few miles from the bottom of Shafer Trail, we were pretty much alone. And once we got to camp, we were very alone. But on the way, we stopped at an overlook of the Colorado River. And every turn had a different, incredible view, with steep cliffs heading up, deep canyon heading down, and cool formations in the distance. The road would come within a few feet of the rim edge (many pictures were taken from the car).

We got to our camp with plenty of time to relax. Unfortunately, this was about all we could do. We had a couple of hikes planned, but it was way to hot to do anything serious. So we just walked around exploring, set up camp and made dinner. Our "camp site" (one of two and this "camp ground") consisted of one bush and one pole to mark the spot. But we did have a pit toilet.

It was eerily quiet. No animal noises. You couldn't even hear the wind. The only animals we saw were bats, fire ants, and one little bird. We both had sandals on and we both got bit in the toe by a fire ant. These little guys pack quite a punch and had Rachel in pain for much of the night.

Day 4

After sweating our asses off the first night, we decided to skip camping on the second night, and just drive all day to complete the loop. It was miserably hot for 22 hours out of the day (it may have gotten below 90 between 4 and 6 am). That night, Motel 6 never felt more luxurious.

But all of this was well worth it to see all of the incredible views we saw along the way. Our second day on the rim had even more rock formations, more steep cliffs and drop-offs, and more beautiful sky. The last leg of the road, before heading back up to the top, brought us up close to the Green river. We got out to have lunch and did a little exploring along the bank.

There were really only a couple of sections of the road were technically challenging. I give it a difficult rating mostly because of the distance and the conditions. The ground was so hard, that even on the "flat" sections of the road, there were many large rocks that made for a very bumpy ride. But as I said before, well worth it.

View From Camp

Green River

White Rim Road

Day 5 and 6

Our last two days continued to be off-road, but on foot instead of in the car. We hiked just about every hike in Arches, each one with a different arch (usually several arches) along the way.

Day 7

Day 7 was the long, boring trip home from what was definitely one of our best trips.

Maps, books, etc.

We had quite a bit of reference material and equipment for this trip. We bought a book on backcountry hiking and driving - "Exploring Canyonlands and Arches National Parks," A Falcon Guide - and a Trails Illustrated Map of Canyonlands. I also plotted out our trips in the GPS, with printouts of sections along our planned path. And of course when we got there, we picked up a map at the park entrance.

Moab Overview

Needles

White Rim

Waypoints