False Kiva

Baby Parkers first desert hike

We spent a while soaking in the views at False Kiva before heading up the trail and back to the car. We made a short hike to Mesa Arch and then hung out at the Green River overlook for an uneventful sunset.  As soon as the sun dropped below the horizon it became windy and very cold so we piled in the car, drove to Moab, and checked into our hotel for the night.

Mesa Arch

Sunday morning I was up early and driving back to Island in the Sky to try and catch a sunrise with Mark, Tyler and Britnee. The light was totally flat and there really wasn’t a sunrise at all.  We made it back to the hotel, rounded up the rest of our group and headed into Arches to hike around in the Devils Garden.  We hiked out to Navajo Arch together as a group then a few of us completed the full primitive loop and we all met up back at the cars.

Next up was a short walk to Sand Dune Arch before the wind and rain picked back up and we headed back to the hotel. Whitney, Tyler, and I headed back into the park for sunset but were skunked yet again.

I lugged my 5lb crystal ball around the entire weekend.

60 second sunset.

Monday morning once again I was up early for sunrise and captured the first decent light of the trip. I waited in the cold for the first light to hit the north window, took a few shots, then drove to the courthouse towers to catch some reflections in the puddles that formed overnight.

We checked out of the hotel then made one last hike up to Corona where we only saw 1 other person on the trail. Gotta love Moab in the winter, it may be a bit cold but the trails and parks are so empty it’s always worth it.

Not much snow accumulated in Kanab that night but  we were a little worried about the conditions of the House Rock Valley Road so we checked out of the hotel well before sunrise and headed off towards the wave.  The further east we traveled the snow storm increased its production.  We reached the house rock valley road just before sunrise and got out to check the conditions, 4-5inches on the road and it was still pounding down. The best news was that the road was frozen solid under the snow so we had no issues making it to the wire pass trail head.

Things were starting to light up but the snow was still pounding down as we put on our snow gear and started making first tracks on our way out to the wave.    The miles or so of trail was pretty easy with just a few inches of snow covering the sandy wash bottom but once we reached the slick rock things became quite treacherous.   Slick rock and snow are a bad combo, I took a few falls and in all honestly considered turning around but we kept on going.  At one point I walked in a knee deep drift and became terrified that the wave would be completely covered in snow.    Once we made it too the wave it all became worth it.  We had the place to our self’s and the biggest concern in life I had for the next few hours was keeping snow flakes off my lens.

After a few hours of shooting in flat light things had warmed up and the snow was slowly melting off the wave. A a group of 4 showed up (with moon boots and an umbrella) and we talked to them for a few moments before we hiked up to the second wave and brain rocks   There was an easy 5 inches of snow in this area and hiking the snow covered slick rock was pretty sketchy.

Watch your step!

Again the clouds and flat light plagued us at the second wave so we at a late lunch then wandered our way back to the wave where we ran into the  a  couple from Vancouver.  They had picked up some walk-in permits that morning  and were told at the field office that they were the only people with permits and on the  previous weekend over 100 people put in for lottery.  Pretty amazing how a little cold weather will scare off the masses.   For the first time that day the sun actually started to poke out of the clouds and I started shooting the wave once again.

We started our hike out and because most of the snow had melted we  made great time compared to our slippery slog on the way in.   We made it back to the car just 7.5 hours after we left,  a pretty long day for such a short mileage hike.   The house rock road had yes to freeze over and and there was definitely a few scary muddy moments on the drive out but we made it back to the highway with no real problems.   We made it to the horsebend just in time for an uneventful sunset.

I was so sore and tired that night I had no trouble sleeping. We woke up and ate then headed west to the rim rock hoodoos for a shot hike.  It was clear cold and windy so we spent about 2 hours wondering around before we started the long drive back to Utah county.

Great trip, it was so amazing to see the wave covered in snow and only a hand full of people.  I have edited a few  photos and still have lots more to post and print over the next few months.