One Corner of Fun - Part III

I arrived in Moab around 8 pm and spent about 2.5 hours looking for a campsite. Note to self: Don't visit Moab anywhere near a weekend! It seems like all the visitors to SE Utah concentrate at Moab on the weekend. You'd think they would hang out elsewhere since there really isn't a plethora of great non-motorized recreation around Moab. I guess that is the rub. Many people seem to be looking for the motorized type of recreation, either 4-wheeling or scenic driving through Arches. In fact, in the two days I spent near Moab it became increasingly evident that Moab is little more than a rest-stop for petroleum based tourism!!

Enough ranting. I ended up camping way out in Potash on the Colorado River and was abruptly woken early in the morning by a group of obnoxious adolescent rafters. On the plus side I finally got to sleep outside due to clear warm skies.

Since I still had a full day before my friend John would arrive for a backpacking trip, I drove into town and rented a mountain bike for a day. I took the souped up Ellsworth Moment out to the Poison Springs and Portal trail which starts near the Dinosaur tracks on Potash Rd. I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun I had trying to wear myself out and get my money's worth biking all over the slickrock. Although I had never ridden a full-suspension bike and had never ridden sand/slickrock after about a 1/2 hour I got the hang of it and I was soon passing ATV'ers on the uphills. Bombing down slickrock and catching little jumps was awesome and reminded me alot of skiing. In fact I liked it so much I did a few laps of the same runs!

After a full day of biking I got cleaned up, bought some supplies and went to the Moab Brewery to slurp brews and wait for John to arrive. I was really excited to get to hang with John since he lives in Denver and we only get to meet up about once every year or two. Even though he has alot of responsibilities with his family, job and school he took some time off and even rented a car in order to drive out to Utah for our trip. Thanks alot John! You are a totally rad friend!

So on April 21 we drove down to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park and were lucky enough to pickup a day-of backcountry permit for a 4 day backpacking trip. Getting started wasn't too easy since I was only prepared to carry a lightweight pack and yet we knew that we were due for some stormy weather. It took awhile but we finally got on the trail with John carrying the heaviest load (he needed the exercise anyway). Fortunately for us middle-aged casual hikers the trails in the Needles are relatively short and have very few climbs and descents. So for most of the trip we were able to take our time and enjoy the scenery while hiking from camp to camp. Although the distances between camps were short and the canyons were relatively small and homey I was extremely impressed with how undisturbed and wild the canyons seemed. After the first day we rarely saw anyone but saw a plethora of wildlife and really felt like we had the place to ourselves.

The trails were so short we even had time for a day-hike on our first day. After arriving at our designated campsite we continued up Elephant Canyon and found Druid Arch bathed in sunlight while the canyon was in the shadows. This spectacular arch was a little hard to photograph because of the position of the sun so the photos are only the best of the bunch.

On the second day we decided we needed a little adventure so we day-hiked down to Spanish Bottom on the Colorado River (technically we were across the river from Spanish Bottom on the Lower Red Lake trail). Although this hike may have been on the order of 19 miles round trip and included a bit of steep hiking it was well worth the extra effort. It was cool to have the trail all to ourselves especially considering that we were visiting the mighty Colorado just before the entrance to Cataract Canyon, one of the most wild sections of the river! At Spanish Bottom we saw a large group of boaters no the opposite side of the river. After a short lunch we headed back up the trail. Before reaching camp our good luck ran out and John got sick which is how he would remain for the rest of the trip. In addition the weather took a turn for the worse with some wind and rain showers.

The next morning we awoke to heavy rain showers. Since neither of us had a functioning watch, who knows when we finally got up, but it definately wasn't until after the rain had stopped (briefly) and it was likely around 10 AM. John was even sicker than the day before, but like usual showed very little sign that he was virtually on his deathbed, and certainly did not complain! What a trooper!


Anyway I was fortunate enough to go outside the tent just in time to hear a somewhat disturbing sound of rushing water coming from up-canyon. I ran down to the bottom of the canyon just in time to see the leading edge of flowing water advancing down the dry wash. Although this "flash-flood" moved no faster than a walking person and was no deeper than knee deep, it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It was so cool I had to take a bunch of photos to show the water's progression down the dry streambed.

In the afternoon we ambled along under drizzling skies to our next and final camp in Lost Canyon. Here we spent a relatively uneventful night before heading back to civ on April 24. After getting back to Moab John jetted back to CO and I cleaned up, fueled up and headed back south toward Grand Gulch . . . To be continued.