Feral Hiker

Rest of Utah trip

I wanted to spend more time hiking in the Capitol Reef and Escalante areas but the weather was perfect- for spread of sagebrush pollen. The pollen eventually overwhelmed my antihistamines and I could barely see. I gave up and headed for the the mountains where I could get away from sagebrush for the night. The next day I headed east for Canyonlands and Arches NPs. My first day in Canyonlands in the Needles district. On the way I stopped at Newspaper Rock and got a couple of decent pictures, above.




The first day I mostly just drove around and did a short hike on the potholes loop. It had not rained recently so the potholes didn't have any water in them but there was one whimsical rock formation I really liked.

The next day I was more ambitious and walked along the Salt Creek 4-wheel drive track starting near Cave Spring. The only vehicles I saw were exiting as I was preparing to enter. The road was nearly flat and easy except for deep sand the vehicles had gone through. I was often able to take alternative routes on harder sand. There was more vegetation here than in other areas of the park I visited.


I wanted to go as far as the petroglyphs area but thick clouds to the west became worrisome and I decided to turn around since I was hiking in a creek bed. I only saw 2 other hikers, I mentioned the clouds to them and they seemed unworried so maybe I was overreacting. However, the pictures and other warnings at various visitor centers made me cautious.

Labels: Utah

posted by feralhiker @ 12:24 PM