Utah's Grand Gulch. Click to enlarge.
Every time I go to Utah's Cedar Mesa, I find myself wondering why I don't visit more often. When I really think about it, the answer is a combination of factors, with the largest being:
- Distance - It's a 24-hour drive from home. Anything over 19 hours is a slog - even for the younger me, who could conquer long drives and still hike the next day. Even when the Tacoma is stored in Las Vegas, it's a 9-hour trek - nearly a full day of driving - just to get there!
- Death Valley - Much of the time I'd want to be exploring Cedar Mesa - in the spring and fall shoulder seasons - I also want to be soaking in the sights at my favorite National Park. Only 2 hours away from Vegas, it's almost too good to be true.
Still, I can't let a little thing like distance keep me from seeing some of the most beautiful sights - and coolest history - this country has to offer. And yet, Cedar Mesa is a big place. Like Death Valley, I could spend my entire life exploring nothing but this place and still only scratch the surface. And so, I need a plan.
I'll start small. Or, small-ish. Meandering along the western edge, Grand Gulch is a serpentine canyon entrenched into the otherwise gently sloping surface. My plan is to hike nearly the whole thing. I'll do it a bit at a time, working my way in from various access points to enjoy the sandstone walls and Native American (Ancestral Puebloan) history that hides within.
And I'll start* with Collins Canyon.
* sort of. We hiked the Bullet-to-Sheiks Canyon loop a few years ago.
One Day, Twenty-Four Miles; Hiking Shangri-la Canyon | Grand Gulch #1 - Every time I go to Utah's Cedar Mesa, I find myself wondering why I don't visit more often. When I really think about it, the answer is a combination of factors, with the largest being: Distance - It's a 24-hour drive from home. Anything over 19 hours is a slog - even for the younger me, who could conquer long drives and still hike the next day. Even when the Tacoma is stored in Las Vegas, it's a 9-hour trek - nearly a full day of driving - just to get there! Death Valley - Much of the time I'd…
What Have We Done? Hiking Water Canyon | Grand Gulch #2 - After hiking 24 miles through Shangri-la Canyon - a few more miles of Grand Gulch than a sane person should in a day - cool temperatures made for one of the best night's sleep we've had in a long time. And, even waking up an hour before sunrise to "do it all over again, only in Water Canyon," we were well-rested, having fallen asleep just after 8:00pm, and only a few minutes after climbing up our ladder. All ready to go, no shadows yet playing across the land. From the little I'd been able to find about Water Canyon, it…