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

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

November, 1, 2009

Since I had changed my mind about camping in the San Rafael Swell the day before, my Sunday was now free to go exploring elsewhere. I didn’t want to get too far away from home, so I ended up heading out to the Dome Plateau & Yellow Cat areas north of Arches and Moab to explore some other trails and spurs in the area I had not been on yet. I started out heading towards Moab on UT 128, but turned off a few miles before the old Dewey Bridge onto Wood Road.

Early section of Wood Road

Nice views over Yellow Jacket Canyon and Squaw Park

After following a section of the Kokopelli Trail, I turned off and found some good dinosaur footprints….actually some of the best I have seen so far.

Continue reading

Date: October 10, 2008

Friday was my day to lead a trail. I had volunteered to lead the Klondike Bluffs trail earlier this year for the event. A few weeks earlier Amanda and I had come down to Moab and pre-ran this trail along with the alternate exit along Copper Ridge that I took so that I could get it into my GPS. The Klondike Bluffs trail is not a difficult trail and the group we had was not as big as I was expecting, so we were planning on finishing a bit early this day so that everyone would have some time to relax before heading to the big dinner and raffle in town that night.

Our group at the trail head

Small ledge to drop off of

Dinosaur track

Making our way across the slickrock

Continue reading

Amanda and I headed to Moab this weekend so that I could pre-run the trail I am leading in October for the 25th Anniversary event and get it into my GPS.

Here’s some pictures from the weekend.

The Klondike Bluffs in the distance

There are a number of dinosaur tracks in the slickrock

Remnants of an old copper mine

Continue reading