The Mighty 5 – Part 1 (7th -14th June)
The Mighty Five are called the 5 National Parks in Utah.
Arches, Bryce Canyon, Canyonland, Capitol Reef and Zion. We had done 3 in the
past Arches, Canyonland and Zion. This time we wanted to do all of them, at
least the 2 missing….
After hiding the rain and flash flood warnings at the
Spanish Trail RV Campground in Moab , on Sunday, 7th June, we started
early to enjoy the sunny weather and do some nice hikes in Arches National
Park.
First we got groceries and had breakfast in town at a
restaurant with internet so we finally could update our blog. The quality of
internet in the RV parks sucks… we only had like 3 good spots… thinking that
you pay between 30-45 USD/night, just to park there is quite expensive…
compared with National / State Parks where you normally pay 15-25 USD with much
more space and normally better views. Anyway, once we got the blog updated we
went to Arches National Park http://www.nps.gov/arch/index.htm and started off at the last hike at the end of the
paved roads at Devils garden. We had been in Arches and Canyonland before, so
we didn’t need to see everything, just wanted to spend a nice day there. We
hiked Devils garden. The weather was stunning, but we still could see the
impact of the rain the last days. Just right after Landscape Arch we heart music
and somebody was playing the Mundharmonica on top of the Double Arch a mile
from us. Due to the acoustic in the arch, it sounded really good with natural
amplifiers. In some areas instead of walking we had to cross lakes…. We were
rewarded with lots of vegetation… we had not seen before in Arches. The
primitive trail back to the parking lot was really challenging with water crossing
and scrambling… we did not remember it this hard. We really enjoyed this
beautiful day in the Arches National Park and it will be worth another visit
when we are in the area.
We camped on a free campsite just off the highway at Willow
Springs road
a dirt road which leads to Arches National Park on the back side.
Around Moab a lot of free Campsites on BLM Land where restricted, so it seemed
that the remaining spot had become more popular. As the weather was nice we
enjoyed sitting outside watching the sunset and the bright stars in the sky.
Impressions on Arches National Park:
The next morning, on Monday 8th June we headed to Canyonlands National Park http://www.nps.gov/cany/index.htm. As the Park is divided in 4 Sections, and we had already visited Maze and Needle area on our prior trip to Utah, we focused this time on the “Island in the Sky” area. We did some nice hikes. First we hiked out through a meadow to the rim at the Lathroh trail looking down to the Colorado River, then we hiked the Great overlook trail out on the rim to observe the valley with the Green River (which we were kind of following since Yellowstone) before it joins the Colorado River 20 miles further in the Mesa area of the park (we had visited in 2006). So we spend another sunny day, enjoying the views and landscape of Utah. We went back to the same boom docking site at Willow Springs Rd and had a nice fire cooking salmon and German burgers Frikadellen (which we decided to finish up in a pan… somehow German burgers need to be broiled in oil to taste the way they should).
Impressions of Canyonland National Park:
On Tuesday, 9th June we headed towards Bryce Canyon south west of Moab. We decided to spend the afternoon in the Goblin Valley/ San Rafael Valley doing a really nice hike through some narrow canyons http://www.outdoorsinutah.com/goblinvalley-camping.htm. This one was called Little Wild Horse canyon just 5 miles from the Goblin Valley State park. The hike was awesome… we never had seen a canyon that narrow and we had a lot of fun exploring the area. Afterwards we looked for a nice isolated spot on BLM land 3 miles off-road from the parking lot of the trailhead. We were the only people out there camping and finally could make use of our outside shower.
Impressions of Little Wild Horse Canyon and boom docking in Goblin Valley:
On Wednesday, 10th June we continued and spent the day in Capitol Reef National Park http://www.utah.com/nationalparks/capitol_reef.htm. The weather had changed again and we got up with rainy sky. Once we arrived at the National Park the weather was mixed clouds with some sunshine, so we went for a short hike for 2 miles to see the Hickman Bridge, a 45 foot natural bridge in the mountains. It started to rain a bit during the hike, but once we arrived back to the parking lot, it was quite sunny. We had nice views down into the valley and once we arrived in the visitor center in the valley at Fruitas, an ex Mormon Farming community, the sky was sunny and we were supposed to have a nice afternoon. There was no Cherry picking (even though that’s what the brochure states… so we decided to take the scenic drive up the canyon to get an impression of the valley. The last 3 miles of the road was a dirt road and afterwards we took a short 1 mile hike into the canyon to see some Waterholes called tanks in the mountain. It got cloudy again and we could hear some thunders far away. We joked about how to react when it starts to rain and how long it would take to flood the wash bed we were walking on into the canyon. The wash was about 15-20 yards (15-20m) wide so we estimated that it would need to rain at least an hour before we would see water on the road. The last 300 yards / 300 m up to the tanks by the sudden the thunders got closer and we felt some sprinkle rain. So what… we had seen this before… Thunders and a bit of water, which evaporated even before it hit the earth from the heat in the air. You would not imagine what happened next. 5 minutes later it poured and we had 2 chances. Run down the hill or find a cave or hole in the rocks to hide. Thunders and lightening came closer within seconds. We found a small hole about 3 feet tall/ 6 feet wide in a rock where we took shelter. 2 minutes later the trail we had walked on converted to a little river and it started to hale. We squeezed ourselves into the hole to be better protected as the thunderstorm was now just over us. There was one lightening/thunder where our hearts just stopped. And water flow everywhere. The ground was converted in small creeks and on the mountain in front of us a huge waterfall started to pour down. There was a moment when water came from all sides even in the cave it dropped on us sideways and the creeks increased in seconds, where we just looked at each other thinking… Shit just got real! Luckily 10 minutes later it started to calm down and we waited a while before we looked around to see what had happened to our trail. Down in the valley our trail back to the parking lot had converted to a huge river (about 20 feet wide) and all around us waterfalls… We could not see how deep it was but was running fast and the current seemed dangerous. It stopped to rain and we waited a while before we hiked down to the main trail (valley) to see what had happened and how we could get back to our truck. Down in the valley we spotted the Swiss couple we had met at the parking lot before. They were stranded in the walls of the canyon, with 10 inches waters covering their feet, no way to move anywhere. We did not know what to think… we were grateful that we had survived this flash flood , something we had not experienced before, but still struggling when and how we would be able to get back to the parking lot. About 1 hour later the water started to go down, the Swiss couple who already were freezing and with cramps standing still at one spot for nearly 2 hours took the adventure to cross the wash to the other side where there was some dry spot. They had 2 dogs in their camper and wanted to get back as soon as possible. We still waited a while until the water level dropped, so we could walk -in the wash/river… After waiting about 1.5 hours we got out off our hiking boots and started to test the water and make our way back to the parking lot. Water was still about 5-6 inches (aprx. 12-15cm) high. It took quite a while to walk the 1 mile back to the parking area, but once we heart more thunders we speeded up even though we hurt our feet with the stones around. At the trailhead the Ranger was already waiting. He said the road was bad and a bulldozer was coming to clean the road. The Swiss couple and a Dutch couple we had met on the hike made it as well… A German, a Swiss, a Dutch and an American couple got hit by the flash flood…. That is usually how a joke starts J once the bulldozer came the ranger headed the convoy out to the paved road. By the time we got back to the paved road it was already after 6pm, sunny and no cars around at all. Our plans for further hikes were buried and we headed out the park to our dispersed campsite which we had found just out of the park http://freecampsites.net/#!2354&query=sitedetails. Once we got there it was rainy again so no campfire that night. The site filled up with about 6 campers and tents by the time we went to bed and of course, it was raining again….
Capitol Reef National Park and Flash Flood:
On Thursday, 11th June we continued our trip and got on Scenic Byway 12. We arrived at the Dixie Forest …. 11000 feet elevation (3500m) which is supposed to be a beautiful road. We did not see anything but rain and clouds... temperatures went down to 45F, about 6C… We stopped at the apparent bigger city Boulder… the only thing we found were 2 gas stations and 2 restaurants. We found a nice spot with free wifi had a good burger and continued our trip to Calf creek http://www.outdoorsinutah.com/goblinvalley-camping.htm, our stop for the day. This is an oasis down in the valley of the sandstone plateau, and has a nice waterfall. Our idea was to hike there to have a refreshing swim in the lake beneath the waterfall. When we arrived it was still rainy and the campground looked like a mess. Water everywhere. The previous night they had a big thunderstorm (probably the same we were caught in the flash flood) and they had to carve dams around the tent spot to prevent the water getting in. About 2 hours later the weather improved and we started the hike to the waterfall. We had not seen so many hikers on a trail so far. Not even in the National Park. There were lots of bigger groups of young people and the parking lot was full of mini vans. The hike was really nice along the edge of the creek up into the valley to the waterfall. It was still kind of windy so no swimming this time. We got back to the campground and enjoyed a nice evening.
Highway 12 and Calf creek area:
The next morning on Friday, 12th June we got up early to go to Bryce Canyon National Park http://www.nps.gov/brca/index.htm before noon. This is number 3 of the mighty five of Utah. We wanted to make sure to get a camp spot in the park so we could stay there for 2 days enjoying the park. After a quick stop in a grocery store in Escalante (nearest Walmart in this area is about 100 miles away!!) we arrived at the Campground in Bryce Canyon by 10.30 am and the campground was half empty, so we could choose a nice site close to an open meadow and edge of the Pine Forest. As we did not had breakfast the first thing after settling in was getting a nice breakfast/ lunch. By 12.30h we were ready to take the shuttle bus as we wanted to do the tour to the end of the park that afternoon. We had to find out that this shuttle is a special shuttle and you need a reservation, again. So we decided to go to Bryce Point and walk around the rim of the canyon to Sunrise Point, and from there hike down into the canyon/ valley. The views on the Queens/ Navajo Loop were spectacular and the sun was out. Perfect day for a hike! In the evening we were struggling to get a fire going but in the end we could still enjoy a nice steak.
The next day on Saturday, 13th June, Steffi got up at 5 am to see the sunrise while Robert still listened to the pillows J Afterwards we tried to get on a bus to take the tour to the far end of the park just to find out that is was full for the day so we reserved a place the next day at 9 am. So the rest of the day we hiked again on the rim, just the other way around. In the evening we had a nice fire and watched the stars in the sky while enjoying some nice pasta.
On Sunday, 14th June, we got up early packed the camper and went to the bus station outside the park. At 9am the tour started and our tour guide / bus driver had a lot of information for us and he had a good sense of humor.
Bryce Canyon was very nice but now it was time to move on… Next destination is the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. We stayed at a Lutheran campground in the middle of nowhere to get our laundry down and get a nice warm shower! And planning the next weeks of our trip…
Impressions from Bryce Canyon:
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