IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

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.

Continue reading

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

Continue reading

On Saturday morning, Amanda and I headed out to the Dome Plateau area north of Moab in search of some arches. The main arch I wanted to find was Covert Arch above Lost Spring Canyon. I figured since we were planning on looking for at least one arch, I should stop by as many as I could find throughout the day and get some photos.

Our first destination for the day would be Covert Arch, so I got off the interstate and took the Yellow Cat Road to the Dome Plateau Road, across The Highlands, and then made our way out on Winter Camp Ridge. When we drove as close as we could to the arch, we began our 1.5 mile hike to find the arch.

Views down into Lost Spring Canyon were very cool.

We followed the canyon rim for a ways and then trekked across a sandy area.

Shadow on the sand

Lots of sand. Luckily it was still moist, so walking across it was pretty easy.

Then we finally found Covert Arch.

Continue reading

Yesterday Amanda and I headed to Arches National Park for the sole purpose of hiking to Delicate Arch. We left home early and ended up staring the hike to the arch shortly after 9:00am. When we reached the arch, we were lucky enough to have it to ourselves for a little while. It seems that the last few times I have headed to Arches, the skies have been nice and overcast for me, and yesterday was no exception. It wasn’t until we were heading back down from the arch that the clouds finally started to clear out. Here’s some photos from our hike.

Arrived at Delicate Arch and had it to ourselves.

Me, under the arch.

Amanda and I.

Amanda next to the arch.

Continue reading

February 13 – 14, 2010

For the weekend following my birthday, I wanted to head back to Capitol Reef National Park. When I was there back in October, I noted a couple of hikes I wanted to check out and figured this would be a good time.

After driving through some thick fog early Saturday morning, we arrived at Capitol Reef and started on our first short hike up to Hickman Bridge.

After climbing above the Fremont River looking back at Capitol Dome with the road below.

Hickman Bridge

On our way back from the Hickman Bridge, we stopped at the Nels Johnson Bridge

Continue reading