Canyonlands Maze District - Day 1 (May 5, 2021)

[RockyMtRebel]

I planned this trip late last year and made the permit reservations in December. The Maze is the 3rd and most remote section of Canyonlands National Park. I’ve done multi day trips to the other two sections of the park but this was my first time in the Maze! Huge thanks to Jim and Trent for joining me and making this a truly memorable experience! If I didn’t already consider these guys my friends!, I do now!

Jim, Trent and I left Colorado last Wednesday and we all met in Hanksville, Utah to gas up, grab a burger and head off to find camp up Poison Springs road. We found an awesome camp spot about 5 miles in! Had a soft and flat sandy ground, lots of cottonwood trees and huge rock walls with petroglyphs. After driving 7-8 hours we were all tired of driving and setting up camp with daylight left was nice! We hung out talking and watching stars and the “starlink” satellites cross the sky until close to midnight and then we turned in. I had a great night of sleep and woke up as the sun was rising. Jim and Trent slept in while I hiked around and climbed a dry waterfall onto the amazing red cliffs and enjoyed the moment and location. It was AWESOME!

Once the guys woke up, we started making coffee and breakfast. Trent was generous enough to share bacon! It was a great breakfast and we enjoyed the quiet and beautiful morning. We took our time since we knew we had a fairly easy 35 miles to camp that night so we soaked in this place while we had it for ourselves!

***I’ll continue posting the other days as separate reports. I’ll add videos and Jim & Trent can add if and when they can

[open_circuit]

Start of the trail - Poison Springs Canyon Road

[RockyMtRebel]

[goSlo]

What a great spot!
Thanks for sharing with us!

[Jim]

I'm home. The three of us separated at the end of the trails - them north and me south. I did end up visiting Moki Dugway and Valley of the Gods - both very cool places - though the switchback of the dugway are in no comparison to the switchback of the final day / that morning!

I'm happy that I was able to join the group of Matt and Trent. This is the first visit to the Maze District - it was a solid intro to what is out there.

End of a quick note so say I'm home. When I was in Moab / deciding to drive through the night or stay (and maybe some dirt the next day), I texted with Trent and Matt about the weather. The wind was fierce in Montecello. Clouds and some spitting rain. The nearby mountains were clouded in with what looked like snow. Those conditions had me consider - no tent tonight. They weren't saying bad things about the snow on I-70 so I turned east. Vail Pass at midnight. Stars overhead thought he roads were moist. No windshield wiper use needed. Very little traffic - bonus. Dropping down into Denver is where the rain started. A bummer in that at the Johnson's Corner truck stop the engine stopped running (as yet, unknown reason). I was towed to home - and took a shower and went to bed. Up at Noon to get the day going. I'll take a peek at the jeep later (other than to say - at the start of the trip the starter motor gave serious issues. I just parked on an incline for the whole trip - or used a strap pull-start [once] - it was no significance to the trip.)

[Jim]

A few highlight photos are listed below.

If you'd like to see a complete set, visit this link for the day's photos:
www.JimWilliamson.net/automobile/2021-05-05--canyonlands-national-park--maze-district--with-moki-dugway/05-wed

To visit the main trip page, here's the link (all days and photos jump from here):
www.JimWilliamson.net/automobile/2021-05-05--canyonlands-national-park--maze-district--with-moki-dugway/