Our trip started out by Clint picking Lanik and I up at my place in his Tacoma. This was my second trip in the new truck this year and I must admit that I’m pretty jealous… I think I need one but without the payment. We then stopped by my parents house to grab Whitney and load up on firewood (thanks mom) then headed south to Escalante. We arrived at our campsite above Sooner Rocks around 11pm where we set up camp, played around my new light painting tool, and shot a few star trails before we called it a night.

My first time light panting a dome:)

Morning light at Sooner Rocks.

The sun was up early so we packed up our gear and drove 2 miles to the Willow Gulch TH. There had been a recent flash flood and the canyon had changed quite dramatically compared to the conditions of our trip earlier this year. Most noticeable was the layer of clay that covered everything the recent flood had touched. Anytime you touched the water you would sink 4″ to 12″ in the muck and it made the water pretty murky.

We made it to Broken Bow arch then packed up to our campsite under the biggest alcove I’ve ever seen. We set up camp then spent the rest of the day hiking down Willow Gulch and up 40mile creek. The canyon tightens up a bit below broken bow so the muck wasn’t as bad at all until we reached the choke point. In May the choke point in Willow just above the 40 mile confluence was only Knee deep, but now it was chest deep and full of  mud and sediment on the bottom. We had the cameras packed away in double dry bags so nothing got wet but most importantly no one lost a shoe.

Lanik and I at Broken Bow

One of the many little plunge pools in Willow Gulch

We reached the confluence and started hiking up 40mile. Much more mud and muck up there especially after the bend with the big glowing alcove. We hiked up for a few hours and once we reached the hanging garden section we saw the first (only) people who were hiking a loop down 40 and up Willow. Not long after that I met my match…. a giant patch of mud that spanned from wall to wall. Whitney Clint and Lanik ran across it while I sunk. I tired a running start and just ended up on all fours. So I that point I turned around slowly hiked back down towards 40mile while Clint and Whit explored further. Lanik and I only waited for 20min at the confluence before we were all back together and hiking back up Willow to our camp.

Near camp we filtered water then cooked dinner and spent the night shooting stars from under our alcove. Clint brought along a new mini gas powered backpacking lantern that provided a great campfire like glow on the canyon walls.

Saturday morning we packed up, shot a few photos of Broken Bow Arch, and headed out of the canyon. We made it back to the truck around 11 then spent the reset of the day driving further down the hole in the rock road stopping at various places. This was a my first time driving to the end of the hole in the rock road in contrast to everything I had heard in the past the last few miles of the road was in amazing condition.

Whitney Jumping above our Camp.

We set up camp in a awesome site that came highly recommended by Nick near the end of the hole in the rock road.   We napped for a bit then hiked down the hole in the rock and did a bit of swimming in lake Powell.    We had a great night around the camp fire and shooting star trails then headed back home first thing in the morning.

After work we packed up and hit the road around 4 and headed up Spanish Fork canyon towards the swell. The original plan was to drive down to the San Rafael Desert to hike Moonshine, Colonade Arch, and Horseshoe Canyon then head to Goblin Valley to our reserved campsite for some showers and time in the goblins. As we approached Green River the pounding rain and thunder made it quite clear that we would not be driving the long dirt road into the San Rafael desert this trip. We gassed up then decided to stick on the pavement and head to goblin valley. As we drove down highway 24 all the washes along the road were full of running water. Straight wash (or Eardley Canyon) was running much higher than the San Rafael river.

The rain let up a bit as we approached temple junction so we decided to leave the pavement and try our luck at one of our favorite “go to” sites near temple mountain. The roads were very slick and muddy and as we came around the first bend we saw a wet, cold couple waving their arms at us. We pulled up next to them and they told us their story of a short day hike that turned into an epic experience. They had parked in a wash and started day hiking before the storm hit. After the flood waters went down they made it back to their car to find it it completely destroyed along with all of their expensive camera gear. We made room for them in the cars and drove them to the Goblin Valley visitors center where they waited for a Sheriff to give them a ride back into town. We got their email addess and wished them well then we set out to find a campsite before dark. We drove down the little wild horse road to find a campsite. When we came to the crack/chute canyon drainage it was flowing like a large river.

We settled on one of the sites just outside goblin at the base of the Entrada Cliffs. It was a muddy, muddy mess and continued to rain for most of the night.

The morning after we left our tents up so they could dry out and we headed north to check out a few canyons. Because all the slots would have standing water we opted to hiked the wider wild horse creek and visit the wild horse window. The water was flowing in Wild Horse and Bowen (4yo) got completely soaked after falling into some quick sand and a deep pothole. I ran back to the car to get him changed while April, Whit, and Lanik hiked up and down Wild Horse Canyon. After our hike it was off to Goblin Valley, we followed the kids around for a few hours and just let them have some fun and run around the goblins.

We checked into our campsite that we reserved a week prior then ended up switching it for an open walk-in site that I found more photogenic for my star trails. Whit and I ran back to our camp from the previous night and loaded up our tents in the back of the truck and moved them to our new site in Goblin.

It was a pretty lazy day for us. We watched the kids run around the goblins in our camp then followed it up with a sunset hike in goblin valley. That night I set up and shot a few star trails from within our campsite, the goblins made for great foregrounds.

Again not much hiking on this trip but my wife is pretty awesome to have the desire to go camping when she’s 8months pregnant.