We slept in and paid another nights' camping fees. We just wanted to lounge today and worry about hitting the road the next day. We had a nice leisurely paced breakfast with plenty of hot coffee, and Lauren made her always delicious Juevos Rancheros! After a delicious meal we just kind of lounged in the sun and read our books. It was a nice day to relax, and it was equally nice that the wind was not blowing, that the sun was shining, and the temperature was really comfortable. We hung out well into the afternoon before walking down a trailhead near our campsite.
We only hiked down maybe a mile and just sat on some rocks and checked out the pothole formations on the slick rock that were full of water. Can’t really compare them to tide pools, because nothing compares to the ocean, but they are kind of like tide pools in the desert.
They even can contain a teeney tiny species of shrimp that we were able to see in one, and in another we found a ton of snails. At one point Utah was actually under the ocean, way way way back in time. This was responsible for some of the types of rocks that they have.
After our leisurely stroll, we made our way back to the campground and I went out for a quick trail run on the slick rock trail we had hike a few days earlier. It was a really fun trail to run. Ran it just before sun set, so all of the cliff sides and canyons were starting to light up bright oranges and reds from the early evening red sun. After the trail run, I headed back to camp and we made dinner: grilled cheese sandwiches and Pozole soup. We had a fire and ate beside it. It seemed a little colder tonight than the first night; but still not bad. I ate dinner sitting by the fire in my shorts that I had run in; so obviously not frigid if I could bare it in shorts. After dinner we retired to the tent with plans of leaving the following morning. We wanted to get an early start we could do a hike in Arches that I really wanted to do, before getting on the road towards Colorado.
We woke up early, as our tent faced East that way we would get the morning sun and could be immediately warmed up. Another item on the checklist. We had a breakfast full of coffee and oatmeal and then made our way to the trail head. For this was to be a long hike. 11 miles roundtrip. We were both excited at the fact that we slept relatively well and didn’t freeze. We paid for another nights camping. We were planning to pay day by day and let the cold dictate our decision. If it got to cold, we were outta there. We drove down a dirtroad, a pretty easy one that most cars can make, to the trail head. At the trailhead you could either hike, or there was a 4 wheel drive road. Canyonlands has a ton of 4 wheel drive only roads that you can drive on. This would be awesome to do sometime. I do prefer hiking to 4 wheel road driving though, so we chose to hike. I should say that the needles district and the maze district are crawling with 4 wheel drive only roads and you can get backcountry permits and just drive all over the place and camp as well. Also both sections are a backpackers paradise. However with it being november and the park was relatively empty we didn’t need to backpack to escape crowds, so we could just camp at the campgrounds so we could have a fire, b/c there are no fires allowed in the backcountry and enjoy the solitude of a national park with empty trails. The hike was incredible. It was also incredibly windy. Some sections were windier than others, and we were able to escape the wind entirely in several sections, but it was definitely a very windy day. The sun was out however, and the temperature was really pretty warm; which was really nice. We hiked through so many different types of rock formations, look at pictures, I don’t know the names of all the different types. Several canyon overlooks. But primarily we hiked right in between the formations.
Then across a big valley floor that was surrounded with incredible rock formations in every direction. Really awesome!
We got to a point that was relatively out of the wind and in the sun simultaneously so we took the opportunity to eat our packed lunches.
Salami sandwich that we shared, PB&J sandwich that we shared and some m&m’s for snacks. We then jumped off our rocks we were perched on and headed down the trail.
Here is where the trail really changed and got the most awesomest in my opinion.
We were lead down deep into the narrows, with rock walls a few hundred feet tall rising above us on both sides.
The trail was just over shoulder width apart the entire time in here. Sand bottom and just light coming down from above into the narrow little trailway.
We were both really enjoying the trail down here, but were soon back out into the open country.
We then headed back towards the car for the long second half of the hike.
By the end of the day we were both completely exhausted and windblown when we hit the car just before sundown. We made our way back down the dirtroad as the sun was setting and the red rock formations all around us took their turn glowing in the setting sun. we got back and I quickly whipped up a fire while we cooked would be a delicious spaghetti dinner.
The wind was still wicked at this point, so we retreated to the car to eat our dinner. Sounds awful, but we had a good time and were soon in the tent and passed out after cleaning up. We were both really tired from the day and not sure what we would do the next. We knew we didn’t want to wake up early and drive anywhere, so we settled on a total relaxation day of hanging out.
We awoke and excitedly got on the road headed back south towards the Needles section of Canyonlands. Canyonlands, much like Zion, does not have a road that goes all the way through it. It is broken down into roughly three sections, Island in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze. All are supposed to be great, but The Needles was recommended and is a lot more accessible, especially from the direction we were coming from, than the maze was. Island in the Sky is supposed to be awesome, and is in all honesty a little closer to Moab, but The Needles sounded like something we couldn’t pass up so we headed there. Just before entering the park we stopped at Newspaper Rock, a panel full of Petroglyphs.
This was awesome to see. It was behind chain linked fence and had signs everywhere for the penalties of vandalism and graffiti. This made us both appreciate even more what we had been able to see and do down in Bluff, where we didn’t have to view the ancient art from behind barricaded fences with warnings of being prosecuted if we were dumb enough to add our own graffiti. The panel was amazing; again look at pictures.
We quickly hopped back in the car and were in Canyonlands in a matter of minutes.
After checking in at the ranger station and being assured that we would not have any problem gaining a campsite, and that we would be able to pick out any one we liked we were given some hiking recommendations and on our way to select our site. With only about 2 or 3 other cars in the entire campground we made our way through each and every campsite to check out the conditions were to our liking. We based our decision upon a rigorous checklist. Wind blockage capabilities, View, Hammock spot, flat tent area, water spigot distance from tent area, bathroom distance from tent site, and finally proximity to other neighbors.
We found one to our liking that checked off the most points from our criteria list and quickly set up camp and took a nap in the hammock with our beautiful view.
The needles gets its name from the rock formation that are very present in the area. Small spires jutting up towards the sky in concentrated areas out of large former plateau like rock formations. Check pictures. After a nice afternoon nap we went down to check out a slick rock trail loop that had been pointed out by the ranger. This was a really cool loop with 4 viewpoints for different canyons and other points overlooking different types of rock formations.
A short 2.5 mile hike, just long enough to stretch our legs and get back to prepare dinner and get a fire going before dark.
We made a great dish of macaroni and cheese with sausage and tomato, and arugula. This is quickly becoming our favorite car camping meal. It was delicious. The fire was warm. And much to our surprise the low forecasted temperature felt quite warm and manageable after all. We were both legitimately excited to be camping again and out of a hotel. And definitely excited to be out of Moab. No offense to anyone from Moab. I’m definitely up to check it out again with anyone that knows the ins. We hung out by the fire as we ate and then put it out and climbed into the tent to do some reading before nodding off.
We left our hotel that we had stayed at for 4 nights; with full days of adventure in between. We stopped at a small café just down the road from the hotel, since we were in downtown Bluff before everything had closed we had more than 1 option this morning. At the moment I can’t recall the name of the café, I’ll add it once I check my billing summary on my debit card. We both really loved this place. The food was great, and the owner was awesome. This café also housed a lot of art work and jewelry and crafts from local artists in the area. I had pancakes made from blue corn flour, which is a local ingredient, and Lauren had oatmeal. Both were made with fresh local ingredients, which was a great change of pace from the backpacker meals and salami sandwiches we had been living on. We talked with the owner for a while about the café and everything she was selling and our trip, she was really cool and we enjoyed getting to talk to someone new on the trip.
We soon found ourselves beyond the city limits of Bluff and headed towards Moab. It was a relatively short drive, only a few hours. The drive was pretty cool, we saw some really look rock formations just off of the highway and also Wilson Arch, which is just off the highway almost at the turn for The Needles section of Canyonlands. Because the weather forecast was so cold for the nights and it had been so cold at nighttime in Bluff, we thought we would check out Moab and potentially just do day trips with Moab as our base camp for a few days. Much to our dismay, we both hated Moab. I’m sure in the summer time the place is rocking, as it is a mountain biking mecca, but it just seemed like a dead dumpy town. Because we had taken our time getting there it was starting to get late in the day and we didn’t want to make any rushed decisions, so we b lined it straight for the Moab Brewery. We figured the decision making process would be easier after a local beer. The brewery was not the coolest we’ve been to, just didn’t have any character unfortunately. The beer was ok, not great, but not bad either. We had some food, which was good. I had chicken wings and Lauren had a greek salad, which she really enjoyed a lot.
We then ended up in a hotel that neither of us was that excited about. We were able to get a good deal as it was technically the off season for them. But we decided then and there that we couldn’t spend several days, even 1 day, in Moab, or we would both be unhappy with the way we were spending our money. We figured we would try camping in Canyonlands. If it was too cold then we would reevaluate and go from there, but Moab wasn’t going to do it for us. We then did some research online and found a pizza place that had some good reviews and delivered. Paragon Pizza. When in Moab, I would say check it out; it was good and the delivery person was nice. We ate pizza and watched back to back Harry Potter movies on TV; we had to start refreshing our memory since the new Harry Potter movie was coming out in just about a week and we wanted to be ready! So we were fed and excited to have a plan. Moab was definitely disappointing; I think more so for me than fo Lauren.
The only excitement we had was reading the comments that people post on this blog. So, thanks everyone!
We both woke to another morning of excitement. We were headed back towards where we had gone the first day of our adventures in Bluff, over by the Moonhouse. Back over the Mogi Dugway. We quickly were back off the main highways and on the BLM backroads headed for some vague landmark to again look for a somewhat hidden trail marked by Cairns only, hopefully leading us to another ruin site known as The Citadel.
We headed down a wash looking everywhere for the specific landmarks of the trail again and this time we were constantly second guessing ourselves as I think we were scared we might get off trail again and miss out on this ruin.
However, luckily for us we soon found a distinctive trail with heavy footprint traffic and more cairns. It was again a beautiful day in Southeast Utah, the sun was shining and the temperature was great for hiking, somewhere in the mid to high 50s. We soon found our selves out of the wash and on the rim of a huge canyon.
We continued on the canyon rim and could coon see where the ruin laid ahead. We had to make our way down some tricky slick rock canyon parts to access the land bridge which led out to the ruin site. The view was spectacular. The land bridge led in an arc out towards the site and had several hundred feet drops on both sides of us.
The land bridge led out to a large rock mass that was literally surrounded by canyon on all sides. At the very top you could see above the entire canyon rim for hundreds of miles in all directions. We saw a few other hikers on this day at the site. It was a Saturday and we realized that other people do in fact know of these places, obviously. Which we knew the entire time, but when you literally don’t see anybody where you are for days and days, you start to think that maybe only a limited few know of some of these places. And it feels incredible when you are the only ones there. It didn’t take away from what we saw today by any means, but I think it did feel a bit different to see others out in the middle of nowhere Utah backcountry, looking at ruins.
We quickly got out to the site and were excited to check out the ruin. Didn’t see any pottery fragments today, but the ruin was very interesting nonetheless.
This ruin seemed more modern than the others we had viewed. Let the pictures tell you maybe.. this seemed to be made of a brick style wall, built into the side of the cliff. It was built of rock and mud, but the style was reminiscent of the way a brick building is constructed.
There was a way to climb up to the top of the rock that overhung the dwelling, so of course I had to climb up to the top to catch the view.
The view as awesome, and definitely worth the effort. You could now see over the canyon rim in all directions. From the dwelling, you could not. It appears that the dwelling was meant to be hidden and that the inhabitants could then climb up above to see what was going on around them in all directions, possibly to see if an enemy was approaching. There was a small, shin high, arcing wall built at the top, seemed like it was built, so you could lie at the top and watch for enemies without being spotted yourself. This was a really fun hike and an amazing canyon that we were able to check out. We made our way back to the car but because we were hiking into the late afternoon/early evening sun, we were being blinded and soon found ourselves off of our trail. We ended up on a road and after consulting the map realized that we were just barely off of our trail and that if we followed this road out to the main road we came in on we would only be about a quarter mile from where we had left the car. Luckily, this was the case and not just our guess at where we were. We made it back to the car and headed back to town.
We were tired of our backpacking meals and eating in our hotel room, so we headed straight into downtown Bluff to the only open restaurant-the Twin Rocks Café. I had the nights special, Meatloaf, and Lauren again had the homemade chicken noodle soup and a salad. We were now well fed and ready for some rest, as we were unfortunately going to be leaving Bluff the next morning.
It’s strange leaving some of the places we have stayed. You’re torn in both your excitement for the next place and what lies ahead, yet also a bit disappointed to leave because you are having such an amazing time, as we both were in Bluff. The BLM lands and roads that take you through the country is amazing. It was super fun to get to do some legitimate off-road driving and just see the beautiful canyons that you are surrounded by. As well as the seemingly never ending exploring that you could do in that part of the country. Sad to leave, but super excited to check out Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, and Moab; which was all on the agenda for the next week of our trip. I should also add that this extra week was a bonus as Lauren and I both thought that Thanksgiving fell on the 18th for some reason. After talking to my mom about Thanksgiving plans and when we would arrive, we were both dumbfounded to learn that Thanksgiving fell on the 25th… anyhow, another week to explore Southern Utah was OK by us!
We woke up excited for our next day of exploring. We decided to try out 2 of the places that Drew and Carrie told us about. Both of these places were a lot closer to the main highway, so we had a bit more time. I can’t believe how long it takes to drive on those rough roads. Boy is it worth it. As a reminder, these places are not listed, but seem to be passed on by word-of-mouth. I sure hope we're not pissing off Drew or Carrie by writing about these places, because we are so indebted to them.
We slept in, which was great for us, but also giving time for the November desert air to warm up before heading out. We headed towards the Wolfman Panel; which is tucked away in the BLM Cedar Mesa area. The dirt road we followed today was easier driving than the dirt road the day before. We made our way from where we left the car to a small canyon and followed small cairns, stacks of rocks, towards a small trail which led directly to the panel.
People had found these pieces and left them behind for others to view. We were blown away by this and got even more excited than we already were, which I didn’t think was possible. Amazing to think that the potter pieces we were seeing were from hundreds of years ago, and that other people had obviously found them, and even further had the self control to leave them behind for others to view, rather than looting the whole place for themselves. This was incredible. We took our time heading up towards the dwelling, checking out ancient pieces of pottery and arrowheads the whole way. It was the craziest experience. Seeing what you would typically see in a museum, but these were literally just outside of a mud walled hut built into the side of a canyon.
The dwelling was impressive, very small and simple. It was reminiscent of the Moonhouse, but much much smaller in scale and as I mentioned before much more accessible. We hiked all around this side of the canyon looking at more pottery remnants and even some mortar and pestle pieces that were fully intact. The pottery was really incredible. There were several different designs on the pieces we were seeing. Some were straightforward and simple looking, while others contained more intricate design work with layered ripples, while others were painted with alternating color and stripe patterns. Again, see photos, as I’m not going to be able to give a very educated description.
We hung out for a while and just soaked up the sunshine and checked out the area with just the company of a raven the entire time. We both realized we were ravenous as we hadn’t eaten and it was already lunch time; almost 1 o’clock. We scrambled down the hill and past the hornets nest and back up the other side to the Wolfman panel and then up out of the canyon and back across the slick rock to where the car was parked. We then made breakfast for ourselves just outside of the car. I made an egg sandwich with cheese and avocado and hot sauce on toast, while Lauren had a peanut butter and honey sandwich with banana. After eating we felt revitalized and got back on the dirt road and continued further into the middle of nowhere. The road began to get a bit rougher, but just in a fun way, not super technical. I was just commenting on how I couldn’t believe that nobody else was out there when all of a sudden a crazy in a jeep came bombing around a blind curve in the middle of the road doing 45 in an old jeep. I slammed on the brakes and yanked us hard to the right as he just flew past us seemingly barely in control. Crazy driver.
Anyhow, we continued down the road a few more miles before finding our creek that we were going to park at and make our way up to the top of Comb Ridge. The plan was to hike to the top of Comb Ridge to see the sunset. On the way we would be looking for the Procession Panel. Another panel of Petroglyphs, way out in the middle of nowhere. The directions from Drew for this one were really tricky and even stated that he hadn’t actually found this even after looking a few times.
We were excited for the challenge and even feeling like luck was on our side since we had just had such an incredible time a the Wolfman panel. We were taking our time and trying to look for every single detailed landmark in the directions when we suddenly realized that we were on a trail with fresh footprints and even started seeing a few random cairns.
We dropped into a wash bed, climbed up the other side, went down a super small game trail, again through very low brush and vegetation. Made our way down another steep wash bank and up over the next side, as we found our way to the slick rock which led up to the top of the ridge.
We were blown away by our luck in finding cairns and fresh tracks, we knew we were on the right track and definitely going to locate the procession panel. Unfortunately we lost the trail on the slick rock, and neither myself, or Lauren, already a world class Cairn locator, could find the trail we had been on. We continued up and were never able to locate the panel. It was unfortunate, but we were quickly so excited at the view from the top of comb ridge that we didn’t have to be disappointed for long.
We set up the hammock and enjoyed the late afternoon warmth of the sunshine.
We had carried the backpacker stove and quickly heated up some chili and hot chocolate to enjoy the sunset with. The view was incredible.
Comb ridge is sloped on one side, and completely vertical on the other side, dropping several hundred, if not a thousand feet to the ground below.
This ridge line runs for I think roughly 100 miles or so; don’t quote me on that, but I think that is roughly accurate. The sunset was incredible and we were glad to see it. As darkness quickly descended upon us we turned on our headlights and made our way back down to the car. It took about an hour to get back to the car, as we took our time so we didn’t fall or run through a bunch of prickly pear cactus on the way. We made it back to the car safe and sound and were soon back to the comfort of our hotel room. Reflecting on the day we were both blown away by the condition of the Wolfman panel and how many pieces of artifacts still remained at the ruin. Definitely left us both feeling like there are good people in the world, as we would have both assumed before this experience that there isn’t much left like what we were just able to see left in the world. Then the hike up Comb Ridge, we were both so excited at the thought of finding the Procession panel. It’s OK that we weren’t able to find it; this gives us a reason to go back and look again. I’m positive we were hot on the trail and that we could find it if we spent a few more days looking. Maybe that’s being overly optimistic, but would love to try for it again. And finally the view from the top of comb ridge, it was incredible. Just all in all an amazing day. I think definitely one of the favorite days of the trip for both of us.
