IntrepidXJ's Adventure Blog

Second Wave Storm by Randy Langstraat

A snowstorm in the distance over the Second Wave formation in Coyote Buttes North. Just a little preview of my weekend down on the Paria Plateau.

Moab Area Rock Art XXI
Saturday, October 20, 2012

This weekend, even right after my week-long trip, I was ready to get out hiking and exploring again. I figured that since I hadn’t been down to Moab for a while it might be a good time to get back for a day trip. Last year I spent some time exploring Mill Creek Canyon and wanted to get back to continue my search for rock art.

Before driving into Moab, I stopped at La Boca Arch to catch the sunrise. Here’s the arch in the soft dawn light before the sun came up.

La Boca Arch Dawn by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Early morning light striking the arch.

La Boca Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

A closer look at the underside of La Boca Arch.

Under the Arch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Tuesday & Wednesday, October 16-17, 2012

Just a few short days after returning from my adventures in Northern Arizona and Southern Utah, I was ready to get and photograph some of the fall colors here in the Grand Valley. I ended up driving up to the Colorado National Monument two consecutive days after work to take a few photos.

I first went over to Ute Canyon to see the cottonwood trees along the stream in the bottom. The canyon was already in the shadows, but the top of the mesa and the Book Cliffs were still receiving direct sunlight.

Ute Canyon Sunset by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

The Book Cliffs across the Grand Valley near sunset.

Book Cliffs Sunset by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

The Grand Mesa in the distance glows pink beyond Rim Rock Drive.

Evening Road by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

A lone yellow leaf on the bark of a large cottonwood tree.

Leaf on Bark by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Arizona Strip & Southern Utah Wanderings | Day 8
Saturday, October 13, 2012

It rained again on Friday night. Not near as much as the previous night, but enough to make everything wet when we took down camp in the morning. Once we got our camp packed up into the Jeep and had a little breakfast, we drove over to the Bullet Canyon trailhead so we could start our hike for the day. Our main destinations for today would be Perfect Kiva and Jailhouse Ruin, but we would explore the canyon along the way, too.

About seven miles to Grand Gulch from here, but we weren’t planning on going that far this time. I’m definitely going to have to check out the full canyon on a future backpacking trip.

To Grand Gulch by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Shortly after descending into Bullet Canyon from the rim, Jared spotted these pictographs.

White Pictographs by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

We also passed the remains of a tower up on the rim of the canyon.

Rim Tower by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr
 

Arizona Strip & Southern Utah Wanderings | Day 7
Friday, October 12, 2012

Sometime after midnight the skies finally opened up and it started raining. There was a little lightning and thunder, too. It would rain harder and softer but remained pretty constant for the rest of the night. Around the time we wanted to get up in the morning it started to rain the hardest yet, with a few close lighting strikes. We waited in our dry tents for the storm to let up so that we could finally get outside.

When the rain finally stopped for a short time I got out of my tent and snapped this photo. There was a small wash next to our tents that was flowing pretty good. We were high enough that it didn’t affect us.

Wet Camp by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Shortly after we got out of our tents, this rainbow appeared across the desert.

Desert Rainbow by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr

Our original plan for the day was to hike the Slickhorn Canyon #1 and #2 loop, but I wasn’t up for hiking the loop in the pouring rain and neither was Jared. We could see more storms approaching, so we decided to drive over to the top of the Moki Dugway so I could get some cell signal and check the weather forecast.

While driving back to the highway we spotted a small double rainbow in the distance.

Rainbows & Jeep by IntrepidXJ, on Flickr