IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Sunday, November 29, 2009

After a good nights sleep we left Green River and made our way to the White Wash Sand Dunes via the Ruby Ranch Road. When we reached White Wash, we followed the sandy wash around the dunes in the area. Then Amanda took over driving and drove over a few small dunes along the wash.

White Wash

Wide well traveled wash

After playing around in the sand, we continued on past Red Wash and arrived back at the Tenmile Point Road. From there we made our way to the Dubinky Well Road again and cut across Deadman Mesa to reach Spring Canyon Bottom.

My original goal was to finish the Hey Joe Canyon trail, however when we reached Spring Canyon Bottom, there was a slow moving Jeep heading down the trail and I was feeling impatient. Instead, we took a left at the intersection and followed around the Bowknot Bend of the Green River the other direction. It was a little narrow and washed out in places, but still very drivable.

After heading back from the Bowknot Bend, we made our way to Moab to have some lunch at the Moab Brewery. From there we headed home across the Dolores Triangle where Amanda was excited to drive my Jeep across the Dolores River.

It was a nice relaxing weekend after Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Since Amanda had to work on Black Friday, we had to wait until Saturday before we could head anywhere on the Thanksgiving weekend. There were some trails north of Moab that I had been wanting to check out for a while and we didn’t want to head too far away from home, so we ended up heading that way for the weekend. Our main destination would be the Crystal Geyser near Green River, but we would of course take the long way there 😉

We took I-70 to the Floy Wash exit just past Crescent Junction and headed south on the Ruby Ranch Road. We took a left onto the Blue Hills Road and then turned off onto the Dubinky Well Road. After looping around Tombstone Rock we started our first trail of the day….Rainbow Terrace (aka Rainbow Rocks). Since I’ve been on this trail before, Amanda drove the whole thing.

You can see the colors in the rocks above this trail.

After finishing the trail we headed west to Tenmile Point above the Green River.

Amanda taking a break from driving

After taking in the views, we headed back to the start off the Crystal Geyser trail.

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Sunday, December 6, 2009

Today Amanda and I headed out to hike the popular Serpent’s Trail within the Colorado National Monument. The original vehicle entrance to the Monument, this route was once called the “Crookedest Road in the World” and is now on the National Register of Historic Structures.

According to my GPS, the trail was just under 2 miles one way and there were about 14 switch-backs. From the parking area at the bottom of the trail, it climbed steadily all the way to the top with an elevation gain of about 830 feet. Coming back down was much easier for us 🙂 Here’s a little more info on the trail:

Constructed between 1912 and 1921, Serpents Trail provided the only automobile access to Colorado National Monument until 1937 when the Fruita Canyon portion of Rim Rock Drive opened. Serpents Trail reflects engineering techniques used in the construction of early automobile roads in difficult terrain and was specifically designed to optimize the scenery of the park. John Otto, the original booster of the park’s scenic wonders and the custodian of Colorado National Monument from 1911 to 1927, designed the original route and was involved in its sporadic construction. The project also provided access to the Glade Park region, and local engineers and citizens contributed to its construction and funding.

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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Cedar Mesa | The Citadel

South Comb Wash | River House Ruins

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Cedar Mesa | House on Fire

Cedar Mesa | Arch Canyon Rim

Cedar Mesa | Seven Towers

Sunday, November 22, 2009

After making our way back to the highway from Arch Canyon Rim we crossed and headed back to Mule Canyon….this time on the other side of the highway. After a short half mile drive down a 4×4 road and a quick 100 yard hike down a rocky wash, we reached the Seven Towers (also known as the Cave Towers and Mule Canyon Towers).

Located here on both sides are the ruins of seven circular towers that once stood at the head of this canyon. A few still have some walls standing, but most are reduced to piles of rubble. I also spotted some ruins in an alcove located below in Mule Canyon.

If you look closely in the following picture, you can see some tower ruins on the other side of the canyon.

Looking across the canyon at the biggest remaining tower

After checking out these ruins, we headed back to the highway and made our way back home. It was another great weekend in Southern Utah!