IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Moab Area Rock Art XIX
Sunday, January 15, 2012

On Sunday I drove back to Moab to meet up with Marty again to do a little more exploring. I didn’t have any plans for the day in mind when I left home, so I thought we could just figure things out as we went. We ended up hiking an area within Arches National Park that I had not visited before. It was a nice area with some great views along the way. We even managed to come across a new petroglyph panel as we explored the area.

As I was driving to Moab, I saw there was probably going to be a nice sunrise. I quickly looked for an interesting setting to take a photo from, but came up with nothing. So I found a dirt road, pulled off the highway, and put my Jeep in the foreground. I think it turned out pretty good.

Jeep Sunrise by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

As I drove along the icy Colorado River I came across this awesome scene and had to pull over for another photo.

Icy Reflection by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

After meeting up with Marty and deciding to visit a new area inside Arches, we drove over to the Copper Ridge Jeep Trail to start our hike. We had hoped to drive closer to the park on this road, but were stopped by this sign. We would be hiking a few extra miles.

End of the Road by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Part of my birthday present to myself this year arrived yesterday. I was originally going to wait a few more months to buy an inflatable kayak, but I came across a great deal on the boat I wanted that I couldn’t pass up.

Now I just need to wait for the temperatures and water levels to rise so I can get out on the rivers! It should be another great year of exploring!

Here’s an image from the archives. I was going through some photos I took last January and came across this one that I seem to have neglected…so I figured I would process it and see how it turned out. I like it 🙂

Moab Area Rock Art XVIII | In Search of the Polka Dot Man
Saturday, January 7, 2012

After taking the first weekend of 2012 off to get a little rest, it was time to get back out there and start exploring again. I was up bright and early to drive to Moab so I could meet up with Marty and search for some new petroglyphs that I had been unable to find on two previous trips. On the way I was treated to an awesome sunrise and had to stop a few times to take photos.

As I neared the Fisher Towers the sky and clouds began to light up. It was an amazing display!

Fisher Towers Sunrise by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

A closer look at the Fisher Towers.

Sky on Fire by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

After finally reaching Moab and meeting up with Marty we drove up the Poison Spider Trail so that we could begin our hike.

Poison Spider Jeep by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

We hiked into a land of fins and mazes to try and find the petroglyphs I was looking for. I had tried to find these particular panels twice before from below, but had no luck. I was hoping to reach them from above, but that also proved to be difficult. Eventually we did manage to find the area that I thought the petroglyphs might be in, but we could find no way down from above. We tried scrambling down a steep boulder-filled gap between large fins, but were turned back by a ten foot dryfall that we could not climb down. We climbed back up to the top and made our way back to our Jeeps. We didn’t find the petroglyphs from up here, but it was a beautiful area to hike around in.

We found this arch as we explored around the Poison Spider Trail. When I got back home, I looked it up and found out that it’s known as Longbow Arch.

Longbow Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Late afternoon light peeks through openings in between the clouds to light up the mesas in Castle Valley.