We left Thursday after work and went directly to Island in the Sky with plans to shoot stat trails at False Kiva followed by a Mesa Arch sunrise.   We grabbed the last site in the campground and drove out to the False Kiva trail head and began hiking just after sunset.  We rushed down the trail and got the cameras setup just in time to catch the last trickle of day light.  I forgot my flash in the car so I used my black diamond orbit lantern to  illuminate the the Kiva and alcove and it worked out pretty well. We spent a few hours in the dark shooting then hiked out from False Kiva and drove back to our camp site.   After setting up our tents we went for a walk to the green river overlook where it was so  dark you couldn’t see anything but stars.

Friday morning we were up before sunrise and headed to Mesa Arch.    To our delight only 8 or so other photographers there. I’ve  heard at times it can be a real nightmare of people trying to capture this iconic shot so we were pretty lucky to have such a small crowd.

After sunrise we made the short drive back to camp and got ready for the day. We left everything setup in our  Island in the Sky campsite then drove to Moab for a fanstaic breakfast at the Jail House cafe.

Something had gone horribly wrong with my left boot so we stopped by gear heads to make an emergency shoe purchase before driving out on the Kane Creek road to hike Funnel / Cable Arch.   The hike to the arch was short, sweet,  and involved a bit of scrambling.  Funnel Arch is often referred too as Cable Arch due to a large metal cable leading up a fin slightly to the  north. We scrambled up the cable and wandered around for a few hours before heading back to the car.

Watch out, that cable bites hard.

Clint standing on top of the cabled fin just north of Cable / Funnel Arch.

After our hike we made a quick stop in Moab for some ice then made a short uneventful hike up lower Couthouse Wash. We then drove into the main park entrance and scrambled up the crack to the area above Park Ave.  I’ve be wanting to do this hike up above Park Ave for a few years now but it never really seemed to work out.   Such a cool area,  maybe my new favorite place in Arches with some very unique views of the park.

The sky was completely clear and sunset was a bust so we drove back to Island and the Sky. I shot a half dozen star trails around our campsite and the Green River overlook but nothing special.

Saturday morning we were up early and headed home first thing from our short but fun trip. I love getting 30mpg but not having a 4×4 in the Moab area really limits camping options.

In typically fashion (at least for us) the weather forecast for the weekend was sketchy. Mid 60′s on Saturday turning to snow mid afternoon with lows in the 30′s and snow all day Sunday.  We picked the boys up from school a bit early then drove down to Escalante, we had planned on camping on the Hole in the Rock Road but due to the sketchy forecast we decided to stay at the nearly empty Calf Creek campground. This was our first trip of 2012 and Parker’s (5month old) first camping trip ever so we spent the last few hours of daylight setting up camp and watching an uneventful sunset from the hogsback along highway 12.

Camp view

Getting ready for his first night in the tent.

Sunset over calf creek

Star trails and highway12 from camp

Saturday morning I was up early for sunrise and took a few shots along calf creek. We packed up the kids, topped off the tank in Escalante, and then drove out on the hole in the rock road. We made it to the small trail head by 9:30 and started hiking down Half Way Hollow towards Harris Wash and Zebra Canyon.  The approach hike would be absolutely miserable in the summer with no shade and lots of sand.  The kids were great hikers and full of energy once we reached Zebra where we spent the next two hours running, climbing, and playing in the tight slot.

Parker loves to hike.

Normally there would be water here and the canyon tightens up really quick.

The trail out of Harris wash to Half Way Hollow

Once we hiked out and made it back to the trail head the wind started to pick up so we drove down the road to Devils Garden for some lunch and to keep an eye on the weather.   A storm was moving in so we canceled our plans of hiking the slots in the dry fork of coyote and headed back to Calf Creek.

Metate Arch

The forecasted afternoon storm rolling in.

Whitney and I made a fast hike up to the lower Calf Creek falls and made it back to camp just before dark.  The rain started to fall around 10:30 and by morning it had turned to snow.  We had a long sketchy snowy drive over boulder mountain but once we made it to Torrey the roads were dry.

It was a great first camping trip for baby Parker.