Canyonlands Maze District (May 6,7,8,9)

[Jim]

Creating a "Planned" thread for easier viewing of details...

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Says Matt: I purchased the campsite reservations - there was limited availability and I had to work around that to get the areas I really wanted. Here it is:

Thursday	May 6	Sunset Pass
Friday	May 7	Dollhouse
Saturday	May 8	Standing Rock
Sunday	May 9	Maze Overlook 2

* 3 vehicles and 9 person limit per permit - I wasn’t sure if we could have more vehicles but it appears 3 is the limit. Although Jim and Paul were first to jump in, Paul wasn’t able to commit for sure and Trent jumped in. I don’t wanna cut anyone out but at the same time, the permit rules allow only 3 vehicles. I paid $36 for 2 reservations (they must limit 3 nights/permit). I’m covering these permits, anyone else who wants to join will have to secure their own permits.

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Matt, Trent, and I are in for the trip. As of this time, I won't have a passenger though this could change.

[speedkills]

I won't have my rig ready in time for this trip but as someone who went to Utah camping with Matt and Trent last year I'll just say it was the highlight of my year and anyone who can get the time off should jump in on this trip if you can get a spot.

[speedkills]

Also, Ty, are you going this year?

[open_circuit]

This group is capped at 3 vehicles and 9 people totaled due to the restrictions on the permits. More folks could join us if they can get an additional permit, but they would have to reserve those separately. When it looked like Paul was going on this trip instead of me I researched permits and found they were disappearing fast. They may have freed up since then as folks change / cancel plans, but I haven't looked recently.

Edit: I just checked recreation.gov and found at least one campsite available in the Maze every night we are out there. It would be possible for someone else to reserve campsites in the Maze for the same dates as us still, but I'm not sure how close to us those camps are. There are few available sites at this time.

[Java]

I don't think anyone else can join in on this, if you look at a map of canyonlands and the available sites https://www.recreation.gov/permits/4...d-availability there's really no way you'd likely even run into each other if you did. Matt was smart to lock it down when he did!

I know you guys aren't planning a hiking-heavy trip, but there is one "can't miss" hike right from the Dollhouse campground where you'll be called The Granary and it's only a couple of miles. David Day grew up near there and has written 6 books about it; in the Needles and Islands in the Sky there are quite a few things he rates as 5 stars like Chesler Park and Elephant Canyon, but in all of the Maze there is only one 5 star thing (in his opinion) and that is the Granary. https://www.amazon.com/Canyonlands-N.../dp/0966085825

[speedkills]

Sorry about that, I misread the original post and didn't understand that it was already full.

[RockyMtRebel]

I don’t think we will be able to make the hike to Happy Canyon, but someday I want to! It’s just up Poison springs road and then 6-8 miles up Black Jump spur road and then a scramble and hike, wade accross the Dirty devil river and into Happy Canyon. It’s supposed to be one of the most amazing slot canyons that only few make it to explore and photograph.

[goSlo]

I'm jelly! Should be a great time!

We've got our next trip out there planned for 21-26 June.

[Jim]

RockyMtRebel previously posted:

[open_circuit]

Jim, have you run up John Brown Canyon => Onion creek to Moab before? If you have the time and are up for it, we could head out to Grand Junction / Gateway together and then to the LaSalle national forest to camp the night before. That would leave us with a couple to several hours of driving on Thursday to meet Matt depending where we stay Weds night. We could camp up near Moab in the forest or down near Monticello. The Monticello route would probably encourage us to go south to the Hite bridge to cross over to Hanksville.

I am amenable to Goblin State Park if there is a really strong reason to go there. It doesn't particularly appeal to me but I can be convinced.

[Jim]

I did the Castelton > John Brown route. I'd be open to trek JB > Onion Creek (never been on Onion Creek).

I looked at some maps - how is JB connecting with OC? Do you have a map of the route?

Hite to Hanksville would be nice - a new route to travel.

[Java]

this is the whole route from Gateway to 128

[open_circuit]

I was going to post Paul's video but he beat me to it. The route is pretty straight forward since there are few connecting roads along the way

[RockyMtRebel]

We could probably meet up Thursday and hit the trail early afternoon and should have no issues getting to Sunset Pass campsite by dark....... I like this idea. Did you guys decide to camp somewhere near Moab Wednesday night? I might decide to drive out Wednesday late afternoon and camp somewhere along the way.

I made it back home to Colorado over the weekend. I called the Canyonlands Hans Flat ranger station today to get the permits and they told me to call next Monday (or as close to the start date as possible with a printer) so next Monday I will print the 3 permits and sign them and bring them with me (so you guys don't have to worry about printing them because I still technically have to sign them). The ranger was super nice, like every ranger at Canyonlands that I've ever dealt with.

I was going to swap my KO2's out for the KM3's but since I have just a week and it's a pain in the butt I'm going to keep the KO2's on for this trip! I'll have a full size spare (KM3) with me however, just in case..... might even bring a stock 33" spare for extra caution. I do need to pickup some supplies, like the port-a-potty bags and stuff.

[open_circuit]

RockyMtRebel previously posted:

[RockyMtRebel]

Well I would be fine meeting in Hanksville and finding camp together on Wednesday night also, just let me know! That would give us more time on Thursday to explore/hike the area on the way to Sunset pass rather than being in a rush to make it to camp before dark.

[RockyMtRebel]

Weather looks good so far, this week is the moisture front moving thru but at least at this point, next week looks to be dry and 70's-80's

[open_circuit]

It looks like most of the land around Hanksville is BLM land until you get into the Robber's Roost area east of town. Presumably a lot of options for camping there, though the maps I have don't really designate dispersed camping areas out there. Were you thinking of camping somewhere between the Notch (just north east of Hanksville) and Robber's Roost (east of Hanksville)?

Yes, the forecast is looking pretty good. Glad to see overnight lows in the low 50s. Should be fairly pleasant.

[Jim]

I'm flexible as to time & location - let's nail something down as to when/where we'll meet and spend the first night. From there I can backtrack to when to leave home.

Not knowing if dispersed camping is allowed concerns me.

[RockyMtRebel]

I was thinking of camping along Poison Springs road (our route) and camping somewhere before it enters Glen canyon land (which normally is BLM but here camping is restricted as part of The Maze).

so technically somewhere between 38.14299, -110.60640 and 38.07350, -110.20162.

There are a few spur roads off this road with some designated campsites but all of this is BLM land and dispersed camping is allowed