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Capitol Reef May 2010

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

Typically we don’t venture out on memorial day weekend but this year we decided to tag along with Tyler and Alene to Capitol Reef. Alene left early Thursday to get a site in Fruita but the campground was already full, we ended up meeting up with her just outside the park and set up camp near the Fremont river just after sunset. We spent the rest of the night hanging out under the huge cottonwood tree at our campsite and I shot a few long exposures.

Friday morning we left our camp and drove south past Notom to hike Sheets Gulch. The wind was really blowing and there was a bit of flowing water and a giant mud bog where Sheets crossed the main road. Looking at the tracks of the last vehicle that tried to drive up the wash it was obvious they only made it 20′ before getting extremely stuck in the mud.

Rather than hike the sandy wash to access the slot of Sheets we back tracked to the north to hike up Pleasant Creek. The wind was still rocking away at the trail head but once we made it around a few bends of the creek we were sheltered by the canyon walls. The kids loved splashing in and out of the creek as we made our way up canyon. We only came across two other groups of hikers as we leisurely made our way up the canyon a few miles then headed back to the car.

Downtown Notom

We made our way back to Capitol Reef and had lunch in Fruita. We all sat back and relaxed for a few hours while the kids ran around the park then headed down 24 to hike up Grand Wash.

Once we were a bend or two away from the choke point and my 3yo really started to meander around the wash. We gave him 2 or 3 minutes to get it out of this system before my sister, 6yo son, and I started hiking again. We were just a few dozen paces up the canyon when we heard a series of intense cracks, I immediately scanned the skyline around us and saw a huge slab of rock just up canyon hit the wall about 150′+ above the floor and break up into 500 pieces. A cluster bomb of sandstone rocks ranging from baseball to basketball size pounded the canyon floor a little over a hundred feet away. After we gathered our thoughts and waited for the dust to settle we hiked up to view the aftermath. A 75′ section of the canyon floor was pelted with little craters each with a small pile of sand in the center. Had we been just 60 seconds further up the canyon I have a hard time believing we would have survived. I did manage to squeeze off a few shots of the dust after the initial impact but I was using my 11mm and did some back pedaling so it seems further away than it really was.

and back to hiking….

Magic hour at the Castle

Last hike on Friday was a quick trip up to Hickman Bridge, Whitney and I lagged behind a bit and waited for the sunset and it was worth the wait. That night the sky was filled with clouds again so again no star trails.

Saturday morning we drove back to Fruita to hike Cohab Canyon. The kids did great hiking up the switch backs and we spent about an hour exploring the short side slot canyons before half our group hiked back to the cars to pick of the rest of the group on the other side of the canyon.

Next up was Sulphur Creek, I dropped Tyler and Alene off at the trailhead and pointed them in the right direction. While they did the five mile hike we ate a large lunch and let the kids play a bit in Fruita then started hiking up Sulphur Creek from the Visitor Center. 2.5 hours after they started we met back up with Tyler and Alene at the lowest waterfall.

Tyler then dropped Whitney, April, and I off at the upper trail head and we started our five mile hike . We worked our way down canyon in and out of the creek scrambling over rocks and waterfalls. I have to say the Sulphur Creek is one of the best hikes I have ever done, its really does not get much better than this.

awesome log jam at the first waterfall

second falls

Sulphur Creek was awesome and definitely the highlight of the weekend. We met up with everyone in Fruita then drove into Torrey to grab some food and Ice. We made it back to our camp next to the Fremont just after sunset and got all the kids settled down. The skies cleared up just before the full moon came up and I was able to shoot what I think is my best star trail shot yet.

Awesome trip.

Tags: capitol reef, desert, fruita, hickman bridge, hike, hiking, Sulphur creek, torrey, trip report, water, waterfalls
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Arches Winter 2010

Friday, February 19th, 2010

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.