[Opus]

(Continued from Part 3: Canyonlands National Park) Driving back north from Canyonlands, I first made a stop at the visitor center and asked about permits for The Fiery Furnace. The Furnace is a huge area of tightly packed sandstone fins, slot canyons, and jumbled rocks. There is no official trail and access is limited to 75 permits per day. I had hoped to go on a ranger guided walk but those were sold out weeks in advance. As luck would have it I grabbed the second to last permit! I had to watch a short video (stay on rock, dont trample plants, you might get lost...) before getting my permit and heading into the rocks.

Hole In The Rock

Giant plastic lizard

Fiery Furnace start

As they said there is no official trail. I found my way into an upper entry point with a chopped set of stairs and metal handrail. Shortly beyond I found an arch over an area of extremely slippery slickrock. I went for a little ski trip as I tried to walk down and nearly into a 6ft deep fissure; that would have hurt. I kept going, keeping a careful eye on my return route to avoid getting lost. The area is indeed a big maze! Many routes that appear to go through instead reach a swift dead end or a steep drop. No footprints to follow since travel is over rock and no guiding cairns. I passed through some very narrow cracks in the rocks, scrambled over some rock areas, and wound up in a cool sandy cavern area about an hour and a half later. I found a cool double arch and then another smaller one beyond it. I couldn't see an easy way to keep going but it was getting close to sunset anyway so I backtracked my route out. I didn't have any trouble finding my way until I dropped down the exit stairs and was disoriented about a quarter mile from the car!

Some kid

Hidden arch

Typical passages in Fiery Furnace

Sense of scale

Another arch

Narrow passage

There was still an hour until sunset so I made a quick stop at Skyline Arch, nicely lit and colored red from the low sun. It was only 0.2 miles from the car so I was back quickly and on the road to camp again. I checked in with the host, grabbed my camera, and headed up to the top of a nice rock fin beyond the picnic area for sunset. As I sat there, two white vans of college students from PLU arrived and made camp in the group area below. They had driven all the way from Seattle and were planning a tour through several other sights in the area. The final sunset of my trip was pretty but short; rain clouds were swirling behind me. I made my way off the fin and back to camp, pitching my tent as far back as allowed behind a tree. I was a little jealous of the campers on either side of me in their RVs and trailers, generators running, likely with heat. Tonight I would have my mummy sleeping bag fully zipped and pulled tight around my face.

Skyline Arch

Dark clouds

Sunset

Sunset

Glowing rain

Glowing tent

I took my dinner up to the amphiteater and watched the ranger presentation about the Wolfe family of settlers who started a ranch and built a historic cabin long ago. The ranger told us, as we left, that "the four letter S-word is in the forecast: SNOW." It was definitely cold enough, already below freezing. I went back to camp and climbed into my sleeping bag to read for awhile before my arms got too cold to hold the book and I turned in early. It was indeed a cold night and I had a layer of frozen condensation inside my tent in the morning. Packed up and off just after sunset I went for a quick hike out to Broken and Tapestry Arches, then a side trip to Sand Dune Arch, just off the highway. I had to wait while a grandfather moved all his kids out of the way so I could get a photo. "Hey runts, get out of the way!" he yelled at them. For my final stop I went out to Windows and Double Arch. Double Arch was gigantic and really impressive! I walked right under it. Then I made my way up to North and South Windows, passing Turret Arch on the way. Blue sky and low sun made for great sights. I wanted to take the photo of Turrent looking through North Window but couldn't immediately see how to get to the outcrop I needed to shoot from. Many signs said "not a trail". I opted to go around the "primitive trail" to the backside and see if there was a good way from there. Along the way I found a ranger lining up rocks along the slickrock surface to keep people from trampling the plants. She was nice but didn't know about the photo, despite it being all over their website and giftshop. She said to stay on trail. I continued on and found yet another ranger just out of the parking lot. He knew exactly where the shot was taken and said just stay on rocks, be careful, and don't cause a helicopter rescue. Good enough for me! I climbed through North Window, dropped down, and did an easy scramble up to a little outcrop, exactly in line for my photo. Too bad the tourons were now out in force and standing all over the place! At least they provide some scale for the size of the place.

Double Arch

Parade of Elephants

Turret Arch

Windows

People in North Window

Turret Arch through North Window

I'd now seen most of the park and was out of time; I had to get back to Salt Lake City for my flight home. I drove back into Moab in search of another shower. The resort on the edge of town had showers but they were closed for cleaning. The RV park next door had showers but they were for guests only. Finally I found one at Canyonlands Campground. They were happy to charge me $6 for the shower and another $5 to use a towel, no soap or shampoo offered! Highway robbery considering their water is piped in, and made Needles Outpost all the more friendly. Cleaned up, I headed out of town for the long drive back. Not far out of town I got a robo-call from Delta saying my flight was delayed. If only I had received it earlier, I could have stayed in town longer. Instead I kept on with the drive, killing time by listening to the stand-up comedy channel on satellite radio. There was plenty of fresh snow on Soldier Pass and on the far side, down into town as well. I still had plenty of time to kill so I drove past the airport and looked for a sign to a park along Great Salt Lake, which I had only seen from a distance. The signs directed me to a "Lagoon" which sounded great. Unfortunately "Lagoon" turned out to be a park with roller coasters and bumper cars. I did pick up signs for a bird preserve that seemed nice. I wound my way through endless new subdivisions only to find they had just closed the gate for the day!

Driving out

Old train in a rest stop

No time left, and little gas left in the rental, I returned to the airport and checked in. I killed the remaining time wandering around the airport and waiting in line at Squatters Pub, which had a surprisingly good beer selection. I got sick of waiting in the long line and instead grabbed a frozen yogurt and went to the gate to read. The plane arrived about 9pm and the attendants rushed to get everyone on board. It didn't even stop as it taxied onto the runway, just took off like a shot. Bye Utah, it's been fun. The flight was smooth but the descent and landing into Seattle was choppy. I hate flying. Humans are not meant to be packed into a metal tube and blasted through the sky on exploding hydrocarbons. Finally free from the plane I found my way to baggage claim and waited a long time for my gear to arrive. Lauren again gave me a ride and told me all about the great (hah!) weather I had missed, along with the high avalanche danger. No snow where I was, so no avalanche danger! I was happy to be home after such a long day of traveling by foot, car, and plane. What a great experience! This was my first time traveling this far alone and I was a little nervous at first but had a great time. I went where I wanted, when I wanted, and just enjoyed the place. Two national parks, some great desert scenery, fun and different hiking, and blue sky. I wish I could have stayed longer and seen more! (Click here for all the photos on flickr)

[Matt Lemke]

Nice photos once again...

[David¹]

So now that the trip is over what do you consider the highlights? Your Fiery Furnace experience sounds like something I would enjoy - I wish I knew that 'self guided' permits were available when I was there last time. That limitless exploring is the reason I liked the Chesler Park area so much - I believe I found that same detour that leads to a high shelf above Elephant Canyon - there were endless possibilities for exploring but also the chance to just relax and take it all in without other people taking away from the wilderness experience. So glad everything worked out well for you.

[Mega-Will]

Sweet, I'm in PDX right now, heading that way!

[dicey]

Lucky you! Looks like you had mostly perfect weather too

[D. Inscho]

Love it Opus! The narrative and the images...

Great shot!

[the Zachster]

Great trip, Opus! As much as I love sharing trips with other folks, Southern Utah is one place that I think I could very happily share with just me and my camera! The Fiery Furnace is a really cool place. We did a Canyoneering/rapelling trip in there and I was really glad to have a guide. It would be really easy to get lost in there. Great shot of the Turret Arch through North! Loved parts 1,2,3 and 4!

[Opus]

[Hikingqueen]

Your adventures are AWESOME! You must have a flexiable career. I now have the time and not enough $ to do all the things I want. Why is that, when you have the money you don't have the time...It's a catch 22. I loved reading and seeing your photos, thanks for sharing as always!

[Sadie's Driver]

Gorgeous! . . . you did make it to the Golden Arches, too, right?

[touron]

Great pictures! Does the green lizard imply you toured the souvenir shop inside the rock?

[MountainMan]

Really nice trips, Opus! Now I'm wondering if I could manage to head down through Utah on my way south soon...

[Opus]

[touron]

Entry fee. I should have guessed by the large white lettering painted on the rock above (not to mention the inclusion of the word "Amazing" on the building). Still, it warms my heart to know that such a tourist trap exists.