Forum Index > Trip Reports > Canyonlands NP, Island in the Sky Backpacking May 1-3, 2013
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John Morrow
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Location: Roslyn
John Morrow
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PostTue May 07, 2013 4:58 pm 
This was a continuation on my Needles backcountry permit, https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8004685, that I just kinda threw on there, but was a heck of a lot of fun in its own right. Unusual logistically. First night was the short walk to the rim near Murphy Point. It is the only "on the rim" backcountry zone. Perfect for me because I could collect myself, shower, and resupply at a leisurely pace in Moab and then check in at the visitor center and begin the 2 mile walk at 5 PM! The highlight is simply to gaze at sunrise and sunset colors from the top of a gaping canyon. It was sooo cold and windy. Yet I was up before sunrise to watch from Murphy Point wrapped up in my sleeping bag as if it were a puffy shaw. First I went up the short Aztec Butte Trail to bag a butte and look at some ancestral puebloan granaries below the rim:
Aztec Butte
Aztec Butte
Trail Canyon
Trail Canyon
Granary
Granary
Granary 2
Granary 2
Here's the views from Murphy Point in evening and morning:
Junction butte sunset
Junction butte sunset
My Shadow!
My Shadow!
Last light on Needles
Last light on Needles
Sunrise on rim
Sunrise on rim
Ekker and Elaterite shadow
Ekker and Elaterite shadow
Over to Maze
Over to Maze
Easiest camp ever!
Easiest camp ever!
back at Aztec Butte
back at Aztec Butte
White Rim
White Rim
After the sunrise, I packed up and went the incredibly short and flat 2 miles, to my car, to catch a ranger talk on geology at Grandview Point. Then I dinked around the visitor center before backpacking down the Gooseberry Trail for about 3 miles to my designated camp (a vehicle camp on the White Rim road). Originally I had a zone permit for Gooseberry Canyon. Feeling tired, and having not scouted an entrance to Gooseberry Canyon through any possible break in the White Rim sandstone (forms a vertical roof around all the lower canyons), the rangers were nice enough to give me the vehicle campsite with the single shade tree for miles!!! Down the steep Gooseberry Trail I went.
Gooseberry Canyon below
Gooseberry Canyon below
a bloom
a bloom
down through that
down through that
With camp set up it was exploration time for two key reasons: one to find an entrance to Gooseberry and Dog Leg Canyons for a future grand loop and, two, to find water. There is zilch on the White Rim. This was fun as heck! For the route I once saw in Backpacker Magazine went, as described, to a "T" and I even found water!
Gooseberry bottom
Gooseberry bottom
Route into Gooseberry
Route into Gooseberry
Down the draw
Down the draw
Precious water!
Precious water!
It was also my first time hiking though a canyon made of the chocolate brown and desolate Organ Rock formation. I grew to like it in a different way, especially when I found seeping water.
down in Gooseberry Canyon
down in Gooseberry Canyon
Gooseberry Canyon
Gooseberry Canyon
the exit/entrance route, note vertical white rim
the exit/entrance route, note vertical white rim
penstemon
penstemon
walking below the rim
walking below the rim
Above Dogleg Canyon
Above Dogleg Canyon
Dogleg Canyon, distant Colorado River greenery
Dogleg Canyon, distant Colorado River greenery
vibrant!
vibrant!
White rim at camp
White rim at camp
camp sunrise, Gooseberry vehicle camp A
camp sunrise, Gooseberry vehicle camp A
the Wingate alive
the Wingate alive
I knew the hike out was going to be a bit of a grind with 1500 vertical to climb but it went real fast on the steep trail in the coolness of the morning.
Gotta go there???
Gotta go there???
back up
back up
NPS step work
NPS step work
almost out!
almost out!
Overall, weird in that I drove to a different trailhead in the middle of a 2 night backpack, but great for logistically planning a future (more grand) tour of the Island In the Sky District of the National Park. Island In the Sky District is really only known for the one Taylor Canyon/Trail Canyon/Syncline Loop backpack that I did a few years ago dscribed in this link: https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7975577&highlight=

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” ― MLK Jr.
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ragman and rodman
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ragman and rodman
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PostTue May 07, 2013 9:23 pm 
With all of your ski trips and Utah adventures you have already had an amazing year... and you still have 8 months left in the year. up.gif up.gif

"Teanaway 70" Peaks List... a guide to hiking and scrambling in the Teanaway Area. ----------------
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John Morrow
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Joined: 03 Apr 2007
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Location: Roslyn
John Morrow
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PostWed May 08, 2013 7:23 am 
ragman and rodman wrote:
With all of your ski trips and Utah adventures you have already had an amazing year... and you still have 8 months left in the year. up.gif up.gif
Thank you gentlemen! Just pulled back into Roslyn last night. Already missing the reds, yellows and oranges of slickrock so I am really looking forward to diving into April in Sedona trip reports! (looks like much good beta for a future trip!) Had I known you were there I may have simply invited myself and shown up at the step of the guesthouse! Turns out I had a real nice last night in Bryce campground swapping desert stories with Rainie Too and compadre's.

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” ― MLK Jr.
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John Morrow
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John Morrow
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PostWed May 08, 2013 8:39 am 
Abert wrote:
The kind of color that shows up as my desktop background this time of year. I get the Zion, Capitol Reef, Cedar Mesa, Canyonlands, Arches loop but Bryce on the way home? It seems like there was an extra left-hand turn in there. I was in the Bryce visitor center once ten minutes before closing time and a guy came through and said he had to be in LA that night and wondered what else he should see on the way.
Great observation! I was on I-70, nearing the turnoff for Price (and home) and I couldn't take the exit ramp! Next thing I know I am asking myself, what now with my bosses expecting my return? I begged for a couple extra days. But I didn't want to go back to Cap Reef, and Escalante seemed like a longer 2 lane drive than I wanted. Bryce is such a cush place with the lodge breakfast buffet, a campground with openings usually, cheap showers, and some easy trails for these tired legs!!!! Plus, a fast path to the interstate for the departure and long drive home. A vacation during my vacation to finish the month! I had to feel the glow of that Claron formation before I said goodbye to the land of endless rock, clefts, fissures, and wonder. A bit foolish, really, but even as a tourist park I can not help but love walking among the hoodoo land. There's gotta be prominent points to bag too, I figured.

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” ― MLK Jr.
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GaliWalker
Have camera will use



Joined: 10 Dec 2007
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GaliWalker
Have camera will use
PostWed May 08, 2013 10:49 am 
There you go again, posting yet another fantastically envy invoking SW trip report. On the one hand I can't bear to read them, while on the other I can't get enough of them. Great job, once more. up.gif

'Gali'Walker => 'Mountain-pass' walker bobbi: "...don't you ever forget your camera!" Photography: flickr.com/photos/shahiddurrani
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John Morrow
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John Morrow
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PostWed May 08, 2013 1:55 pm 
Thanks Gali, sounds like you ought to try an escape before the temps get too hot! Of course, believe it or not, I enjoy my time in the Laurel Highlands over the winter solstice and holidays about as well. John

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”-Mary Oliver “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” ― MLK Jr.
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silence
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silence
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PostWed May 08, 2013 3:04 pm 
up.gif

PHOTOS FILMS Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb. – Bob Dylan
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