IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Since I wasn’t planning on going anywhere with the Jeep today, I decided to get up early and head over to the Kokopelli bike trails near Loma to check out a popular trail named Rustler’s Loop. It was a great 3.5 mile loop with excellent views over Horsethief Canyon and the Colorado River. Here’s a few pictures from along the way….

Sun coming up over the Grand Valley

Nice overlook over the Colorado. The trail follows the edge of the bench below

It was a great way to start the day! Now it’s time to get some yard work done around the house….

After packing up camp on Sunday morning, I revisited the San Rafael Bridge in the light before we took off.

Then I stopped at the Buckhorn Wash Pictograph Panel again, this time in some better lighting.

We continued along the Buckhorn Draw Road and then headed west on the Oil Well Dome Road to Castle Dale. This road followed part of the Old Spanish Trail.

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I’ve spent plenty of time in the San Rafael Swell in the past, however it always seems that whenever I go, Amanda is not able to go with. This time Amanda was able to go with me, so we ended up hitting up a lot of sites that I’ve been to before that she hadn’t. Don’t worry, I also checked out some new trails and sites along the way, too.

After setting up camp near the San Rafael Bridge, we made our way up Buckhorn Draw. Of course we stopped at the Buckhorn Wash Pictograph Panel, but the sunlight was shining right on the panel, so I didn’t take any photos at this time. Next we continued on past the ‘Mat Warner’ inscription.

Followed by the Buckhorn Cattleguard Petroglyph site….

…and then a quick stop at the dinosaur track just off the road.

Soon we were headed towards The Wedge and the Little Grand Canyon overlook.

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Sunday, April 11, 2010 | Day 4
Monday, April 12, 2010 | Day 5

We had camped pretty close to the end of the trail the previous night, so once we were up and packed up we made our way back to the highway. I didn’t stop for anymore photos on the way out. Once back at the highway, a few of us stopped at Cal Black Memorial Airport to fuel up. Everyone else was heading back home, but I had one more day to do some exploring. On my way back towards Blanding I decided to try and head down Red Canyon to Lake Powell.

It started out as a recently maintained county road through some great scenery

Henry Mountains in the distance

Eventually the road started to get a little rougher and had not been maintained recently. There were a lot of rocks and small boulders that had fallen from the canyon walls and had to be avoided…..even one large boulder I was able to squeeze by.

Unfortunately I took a wrong turn by staying on the main road and not following the bottom of Red Canyon and didn’t quite make it to Lake Powell. By the time I realized my error, it was time to turn around and head back out, so I’ll have to come back other time to finish all of Red Canyon. There are a number of side trails in the area, so I need to go back anyways 😉

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Saturday, April 10, 2010 | Day 3

After a near perfect night camping, we were up early again so that Dave and I could hike down to Cottonwood Hill from the end of the 4×4 trail. On our way down we passed a number of grooves carved into the rock from the cables used to drag the wagons up the hills.

View of Aladdin’s Lamp along the way.

The Hole-in-the-Rock in the distance, beyond Lake Powell. Cottonwood Canyon below.

The trail down into Cottonwood Canyon. This is where we stopped and turned around.

Nice scenery along the way

Another trail marker

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