san rafael swell

Intro: Last year (2010) we had to stop this hike, due to heat, jet lag and health problems. Now we started a new try. The hike Black Dragon Slickrock Trail is another highlight in the Reef region. Map: Spotted Wolf Canyon. Trailhead: Parking lot near Black Dragon Canyon Date of Hike: 06 / 2011...

It's been a long time since I've been camping. The longest stretch since probably 2009. 84 days to be exact. Back in November, just two days after the 2012 finale trip through Larry Canyon and Lost Spring, I went in to get some work done on my knee. They weren't quite sure what would have to be...

On Saturday I took the RZR out for a ride. As usual I was out the door late and heading toward the Moore cutoff road. I parked near Lookout Point and unloaded my RZR. I turned off onto Salt Wash road and headed toward I-70. The road had been washed out in several places but there had been enough...

I had a somewhat lackluster camping trip last weekend. My son's birthday party was on Saturday and we took him out to dinner that evening, and because of those plans I'd been thinking I wouldn't be able to do an overnighter during the weekend. That changed mid-week when I got an e-mail from...

Another weekend, another winter's day spent hiking. This Saturday Alan and I hiked in Old Woman Wash. He and I had each separately explored the area before (my trip was almost a year ago), but we'd seen different rock art panels on our trips. This time we visited all the known sites in the area...

After failing to find the Bill Tibbetts inscription last weekend (I almost hate to use the word fail since it was a worthwhile outing by itself), Alan and I returned to the San Rafael Desert on Saturday and successfully located it. Alan drove this time, and he parked his truck near the edge of a...

I got a quick trip in before the snow hit this past weekend. I'd been hoping that the weather forecast would be wrong, as it so often is for this area. There was a chance of snow on Thursday night and an even greater chance on Friday, which is pretty much how it played out. I was hoping to get...

I need to get caught up on a couple of trip reports... The weekend of 2 Nov 12, my wife and I took a trip down to southern Utah. We first headed down to Muddy Creek on Saturday, with our first stop at the Hidden Splendor Mine. The road out to here wasn't bad at all, and it was really nice...

I dodged a bullet this weekend, weather-wise. The forecast called for a 50% chance of rain/snow, a low of 29 degrees, and heavy wind with gusts of 55 MPH. Chris had to work until 3PM, and by the time he got to Price and loaded his gear into my Jeep it was 6PM. I drove south on US-6 and took the...

A few weeks after my solo trip with my daughter to this area in the San Rafael Swell, my wife and I were able to head down there alone to do some hiking and camping. We took Friday off and headed down fairly early from Salt Lake City. We got down around noon and hiked Horsethief Canyon to a...

My wife was out of town for the weekend so I decided to take my 16 month old daughter down to the Swell since it had been too long. Drove down Saturday morning from Salt Lake City and went near the Smith Cabin off of the Tidwell Draw road to Horsethief Canyon north of I-70. It was 3 by the...

This is one of those trips in retrospect you look back and go what an awesome disaster.. And wonder how you could be such an idiot sometimes. That said, here goes.. Last wed I was invited to do some canyoneering with a friend who I don't know super well. I ended up knowing 2 guys prior to the...

I got back from hiking the Chute of Muddy Creek last night a little after midnight. I left on Friday afternoon with three students from my Econ 581 class at BYU: T.J. Canann, Chase Coleman, and Huang Ruidi. Ruidi and I drove our 4WDs down. We went via I-15, through Scipio to Salina and then...

On September 15, drclef, nick, gnwatts, neiloro, and I descended into the murky subterranean depths of the Lower Black Box in the San Rafael Swell. Nick has already put together a very nice trip report for this excursion, which lets me off the hook writing-wise. You can find his detailed...

After the fun, but long day we had in the Lower Black Box, we did a little re-thinking of how we wanted to spend the rest of our weekend in the Swell. Our original plan was to do the Upper Black Box next, but after spending such a long day in the lower box, something different seemed in order...

The Lower Black Box is a section of the San Rafael River just south of Mexican Mountain, before the river cuts through the reef. It's a long, narrow stretch of canyon that is infamous for it's high flash flood potential. Several lives have been lost in the canyon over the years when people...

I was planning on going backpacking to Island Lake in the Uintas with the BCP group this past weekend, but early in the week I started having back pain that I was hoping would subside by Friday. I had some relief from the pain by late Thursday but not enough to risk strapping on my 40+ pound...

For a few weeks now I've been having desert withdrawals. The weather's just been too warm to venture into the low country, but last weekend I couldn't take it any longer. With a forecast high of 98 degrees and a 20% chance of rain showers, I set out to find some petroglyphs in Ernie Canyon that...

On Sunday, May 6, my wife Jo and I picked up ladigue_99 (henceforth known as Ladigue) at the Albuquerque airport. She was arriving from Italy for a two-week journey through the southwest. Jo accompanied us for the first leg of the trip, to White Sands, and then departed for her own adventure in...

I had done the Lower Black Box a few years before and really enjoyed it, so we decided to try the Upper part. It was a long hot day, capped off by a few miles of water and blessed shade. The first part of the hike is through beautiful if un-spectacular terrain. I always try to enjoy the entire...