Canyonlands and Arches Trip

[Erick Brown]

Better later than never.  Just wanted to post a recap of a backpacking/packrafting trip in Canyonlands and Arches last September.  For those unfamiliar with the area, I’ll reiterate what countless people on this site have said; do not underestimate this terrain and pack plenty of water!  It is a beautiful place and was a lot of fun but I was definitely glad we were well prepared!

My two backbacking buddies and I flew into Salt Lake City on Friday night.  After a few flight delays we finally got in the rental car and started the drive down to Canyonlands.  We camped at SuperBowl campground which is just off route 211.  It’s also free to stay so since we didn’t arrive until after 11 p.m. it was perfect for us.  We woke up the next morning and headed to Canyonlands where we picked up our permits and dropped off our itinerary with the Ranger Station.  We also checked water conditions and were told it was hotter than normal and many of the water sources were running low.  Definitely glad we packed extra water bottles for everyone.

We started our hike at Elephant Hill and then hiked down the jeep trail where we eventually linked up with Lower Red Lake Trail and headed towards the Colorado River.  The view of the Doll House across the river as we headed down the canyon was awesome

We finally arrived at the river late afternoon and took a while to cool down by the river.  We then inflated our packrafts and crossed the river and then set up camp.  The sunset over the canyons was spectacular.  There was one other group rafting down the river camping near us but other than that group we wouldn’t see another backpacker for 3 days.

View towards Spanish bottom and the Brown Betty rapids.

The next morning we had a steep hike up to the Doll House so we woke up early to start the climb as it had been very hot the day before and was supposed to be hot the whole week.  Looking back the way we came it was definitely steep.

We finally reached the top of the doll house and stopped for a drink.

After a quick lunch we started the 5 mile trek along the jeep trail towards Chimney rock.

After reaching chimney rock we started the steep descent into the canyon towards Harvest Scene.  The trail down was extremely rugged but view into the Maze was awesome.

After reaching the bottom of the canyon, we refilled our water bottles along the creek and welcomed some hiking in the shade.  A few miles after reaching Harvest Scene we setup camp for the night.

The next morning we woke up very early because we had a long day.  We started hiking at 5 a.m. to try and beat the heat.  We headed up the steep trail to the Maze Overlook. This trail is no joke.  It is extremely steep.  We definitely made sure to take our time and used ropes to life up our packs so that we could climb up the steeper parts without the pack weight throwing us off balance.  Pictures of this trail don’t do it justice.

Getting to the top reminded me of the Johnny Drama victory cry for those who watch Entourage so had to give that a reenactment.

The next part of our trip was by far the most grueling.  The trail was not difficult but it was long and there were limited water sources along the way.  We intentionally did a majority of our hiking in the early morning and early evenings and setup our tent and played cards under the shade during the hottest part of the day.  We headed along the jeep trail for 5 miles until we hit the North Trail Canyon where we veered backed towards Ekker and Millard for another 22 miles.  We stopped at Ekker along the way.  If we had to do this trip again we would try to cut out this piece because hiking along the jeep trail for that long can get a bit monotonous.  But at the time, it was the best way for us to experience as much of the green river on our packrafts as possible.  After the most brutal part of the trip we set up camp at the bank of the Green River at Millard.  The view from the tent in the morning made the hike worth it.

We spent the next two days packrafting 30+ miles down the Green River.  We saw a lot of other people rafting and canoeing on the river so we took our time with the rafting since the cold water felt amazing.

We finally hit the confluence and packed up our rafts at Spanish Bottom where we camped the first night.  We then hiked the ~9 miles back to our car at Elephant Hill.  Outside of my friend almost stepping on a juvenile rattlesnake the rest of the hike back was uneventful!

After a long week of hiking and packrafting we decided to stay at a hotel in Moab where we crushed some margaritas and mexican food and hit up the Moab Brewery for a hard earned brewski.  The next day we drove up to Arches NP and spent the day driving around the park doing short day hikes before finally flying back out of Salt Lake City the following day.  Canyonlands is obviously way more remote than Arches which is what drew us to the park; but Arches is still definitely worth the visit.

 

 

[Ben C]

Looks like a great trip  Thanks for sharing

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