Day 50 - Canyonlands Needles Pt 2

Drive on the scenic road until it dead ends. Continue along the direction of the road on a trail that quickly drops and descends to the canyon floor in front of you. Go south along the canyon bottom and then ascend a side canyon coming in from the right or east. Go around the cliff ledge aways, going down a bit then back up, until you reach a ladder. Climb the ladder.

Follow the slick rock up to the peak of the canyon wall and look west. You then will descend a series of rock steps, weaving left and right, until you reach the bottom of the second canyon. Follow a well-tread path for a mile along this canyon floor. Once you reach a cliff wall, climb up the Kayenta ledges to the next cliff top. Enjoy the views all around. Continue over the ledge west and down to a safe grassy area. Intersect a Jeep road.

The path continues across the Jeep road once. Climb a shallow canyon wall and then descend to a beautiful sage grass valley with spires towering in every direction. Intersect the Jeep road again. This time follow it west or left for a spell until it dead ends. The foot path continues up a cliff straight ahead. Follow it. Once up continue for a half mile to a outcropping of boulders. You have reached the confluence of the mighty Colorado and Green Rivers. They meet a thousand feet below you, down a sheer cliff. Look for the line at the confluence where the currents meet. Take funny photos at scenic, rare site.

Backtrack, away from the boulders, down the cliff, along the Jeep road, taking the Jeep road an extra mile and a half this time around the grass valley, back on the trail east, ascend the canyon wall, down and along the long valley floor, up the next canyon ledge, enjoy views of white-capped mountains ahead, down the ladder, down the valley of the last canyon, up the final steep ascent and to your car.

Day 50, good job.

Tomorrow, Colorado.

Comments

Day 104 - Glacier to Vancouver

The hike up Balu Pass was supposed to be fairly easy, beautiful and dotted with waterfalls, but when I talked to the park ranger and learned that Vancouver was an eight hour drive away, I decided to skip Balu and drive west. I left behind this pretty view. And drove many hours through pristine mountains, fewer and fewer snow-capped ones the further west I drove. Some of the valleys were flooded to make reservoirs, leaving scenic sights. I eventually made it to Vancouver and drove right on through to Point Roberts USA, a five mile by five mile coastal land just below the 49th parallel and thus in the USA. The park ranger had suggested this as a good place to camp but being late of the Thursday night before the Fourth of July there were no spots available. I drove around instead and stopped at a forested coastal park. After ten minutes of walking I came to my first grand Pacific view with Mount Baker 60 miles east. The San Juan Islands and Orca Islands could also b...

Day 122 - Mount Saint Helens

Mount Saint Helens is sinister and wonderful. I spent the morning at Rainier watching the end of the British Open on my phone, then drove south to Saint Helens. I arrived at the park's northeast entrance by early afternoon. A massive bulge of rock built up on the northeast side of the mountain before the 1980 eruption and then caused a tremendous landslide when the eruption started. I drove to the Windy Ridge at the end of the road, listened to a ranger describe before and after photos of the mountain, then hiked up to a high viewpoint. You can see the circular ridge with a notch missing where the landslide occurred, the desert-like exposed right-side where the landslide blew away life and covered 15 miles of terrain with 150 feet of dirt and rock, the greenery that was on the lucky side of the eruption, and Spirit Lake which was covered by dirt and slime and fallen trees for years. The mountain was over a thousand feet higher before it erupted. After taking in t...

Day 62 - Colorado National Monument

Established as a national monument early in 1911, Colorado NM is known for its high canyon "rim road" and sandstone spires of Monument Canyon. The canyons of west Colorado are pretty--as they have more green trees and shrubs than the more famous Utah canyons. This gives them a more alive feeling, although the sandstone spires were formed many thousands of years ago by erosion. Rim Rock road curves up the the top of the canyon cliff, goes through several round tunnels and is lined with scenic viewpoints. The best views were in he Monument Canyon section, and included in sequence, the Coke Ovens, The Kissing Couple (behind my head), and the most famous of all: Independence Monument, the tall spire in pic 3 and viewed from the side in pic 4. The original promoter and caretaker of the park, John Otto, was the first person to climb Independence Monument and now it's a climbing right of passage. Every July 4 climbers ascend and mount an American flag at the summit. Fun! ...

Road Trip Daily

Search This Blog