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Well I had finally reached my breaking point with my cabin fever this winter so we decided to take advantage of the lower off season hotel rates in Moab.  April and I arranged sitters for the kids and headed south early Saturday morning. We were pretty shocked to see how much snow was on the ground in Price and the north end of the swell.

First hike of the trip was out to False Kiva, we put on our snow pants and made our way down the trail that was covered in 6-12″ of snow.  Luckily someone had made the hike a few days before us and did most of the dirty work of breaking trail. We were very pleased to see that the steepest section of trail was only muddy rather than snow covered. We spent about an hour shooting photos at the Kiva before we hiked backup the hill to the car, round trip the hike was under 3 hours.

Next hike was Aztec Butte where there was at least 8-10inches of snow. The first 1/4 mile or so was packed down nicely but we had to break quite a bit of trail to the slick rock and across the top of the butte to reach the ruins.

We made two quick stops to walk around the Green River Overlook and hike the Mesa Arch loop before we headed off to Dead Horse Point for sunset.

Mesa Arch

Dead Horse Point

Sunday morning we got an early start and headed directly to the Devils Garden in Arches.  Again 8-12 ” of snow covered the trails but at least this time the trail was packed down and well traveled all the to Landscape Arch.

What was once Wall Arch (right side).

Navajo Arch

Partition Arch

Beyond landscape Arch the trail became a bit epic near the now fallen Wall Arch and on the fin leading to Double Arch.  Once we reached Double Arch I was post-holing well above my knees and there were no tracks headed out to the Dark Angel or on the loop towards Private Arch.  We had plans to travel the entire primitive loop but without snowshoes we were not about to break that trail so we gave up and headed back the way we came.  The hike to Double Arch and back with exploring all spur trails took us just under four hours in the snow.

Double Arch

Garden of Eden

After hiking and slipping for 5 miles or so with a side of sunburn we were pretty beat. We made a quick stop at the Garden of Eden view point then headed back to the hotel to shower and eat.  We made a short hike up Millcreek before we headed back into the park just after sunset.

With our packs stuffed with down coats and camera gear my wife and I started our hike up to Delicate Arch about 15min after the sunset.  We got quite a few strange looks from more than a few of the 40 or so people that were hiking down from the Arch. A few of them even stopped to warn us about the snow and ice on the trail above. We passed the last person we would see on this hike just below the slickrock and were forced to turn on our head lamps soon after.  Between the large slick rock ramp and the bowl was the real tricky part of the hike because the puddles were starting to freeze over and in the dark it was hard to tell what was water, ice, or snow.   Of course the most slippery, snow and ice covered portion of the trail was also the most exposed area just before the Arch. We made it to the Arch with only a few “oh shit” moments and dry feet but best of all we had the entire amphitheater to ourselves to take photos and enjoy before we headed back down to the car.

Cell phone shot of the icy trail on the hike down.

Before we left the park we stopped at Balanced Rock and Park Ave to shoot a few star trails under the new moon.

Next morning we just made a quick hike around primitive loop of the Windows before we headed home.

It had been at least six years since April and I had been down to Escalante so for one of our last desert trips of the year we packed up the boys and headed way down south. The drive did not take nearly as long as I remembered and before we knew it we were searching for a campsite along highway 12. We found an excellent spot with a great view then drove to the Escalante River gorge to take a short hike along the river before dinner.

The first night was fairly cool so we had a large fire and tried our best to stay warm. Our campsite would have been a perfect spot to shoot star trails had the moon not been full, so I had to settle on taking only a few long exposures of the Canyon below.

Saturday morning I woke up early and went on a short hike around our camp taking photos of Micro Death Hollow – Check out Dan Ransom’s TR for this canyon here.

By the time I made it back to camp April was making breakfast and the kids were up and ready to hike. We packed up the car and headed down the Hole in the Rock road towards the Dry Gulch trail head. When we arrived we were only the 4th car in the parking area, we put on our packs and headed down the trail. Soon we arrived at the the mouth of Peek-a-boo gulch and got stuck behind a large and slow group of hikers. They had just made it up the 15′ dry fall and were starting to negotiate the first of the 3 potholes in the canyons entrance. We were waiting on the group for a half hour when it became obvious they were not going to complete the obstacles anytime soon, so we bypassed peek-a-boo and headed down the wash to spooky gulch.

The kids LOVED Spooky Gulch so much and it was impossible to keep up with them in the narrow sandy slot.

I could not make it beyond this point. The canyon was just too narrow for my 6′2″ 245lb frame so I had to stay behind while April chased the kids further up the canyon.

We hiked back towards the trail head and took a short hike up the Dry Gulch Slot. I also scrambled up into peek-a-boo to get a shot of the Arch.

By the time we hiked out and made it back to the trail head the parking lot was completely packed. We made some lunch and drove back up the Hole in the Rock road to Devils Garden. The light, sky, and clouds were prefect in the garden. We spent over an hour wandering around with the kids taking photos and enjoying the cooler weather.

April at Metate Arch.

A few hours later we were back at camp making dinner just before sunset. We hung out around the fire and took a few more long exposures of the cloudy sky and full moon.

We packed up camp first thing in the morning and again ate breakfast on the road. I made a quick stop at the Phipps wash overlook along highway 12 to take a shot of the coolest and most scenic stretch of highway I have ever seen.

Our last hike of the trip was Lower Calf Creek Falls. Again we were one of the first cars at the trail head and only ran into a few people on the 3 mile hike up to the falls. The boys hiked really well but Bowen being only two was carried a fair amount of the way up by April. The mist from the falls was quite chilly and hard to keep off the camera lens but I ended up with some some decent shots.

For the hike down I placed Bowen on my shoulders and hiked ahead of April and Lanik. We saw dozens of European tourists hiking up to the falls on our way down and were glad to have the falls pretty much to ourselves while we were there. Once back at the car we made some lunch and made the long 4.5 hour drive home.