san rafael swell

A couple of friends and I decided to try this short section of Eardley. Only Steve had technical experience, so we were relying on his expertise. We decided to hike in the day before, carrying full size packs with dry bags inside for sleeping bag, camera etc.. So the packs were less than 25 lbs...

Late last year I got an e-mail from Listorama (Dave) asking if I'd be interested in a hike in the San Rafael Reef sometime in April or May. I'd met up with Dave once four years ago for a little hiking, and checking out the Reef with him sounded like fun. He got in touch again in mid-April and we...

A good friend of mine had some friends in town from Cali, and wanted to show them what Utah had to offer. Since they had no real canyoneering experience, we decided to take them on something short but fun. Goblins Lair in Goblin Valley was decided up, with a trip to ride dirt bikes in Hanksville...

On Saturday, we left to camp at Hidden Splendor and hike the Grand Gorge in the morning. We left around noon so we could find us a campsite. After getting closer there were a lot a people down in that area. As we approached the airstrip there were four other campers. Just as we got to the end of...

On April 17th I drove down early for the semi-annual San Rafael geocaching event. I got off work that day at 1:00PM and got a few last-minute things ready just as Dave showed up so we could convoy to our campsite. I'd been having problems with the engine in the truck momentarily cutting out in...

April 2012 It's been an extraordinary spring backpacking season. I haven't gotten out on as many long trips as I wanted because it's been tough to find people that want to do those kinds of trips, but I've still crossed a lot of cool places off of my list. I didn't really know that Chimney...

First off, I want to say thanks for all of the advice I received on my trip planning thread. It was a ton of help, and the scouts and leaders had a great time. We were able to send a leader down early Friday afternoon, and secure a spot just west of the park along Wild Horse Road in the open...

This was suppose to be about the Buckskin, but unfortunately a buddy had to drop out and with just two of us going we figured we'd go somewhere closer and save gas $$$. Day1: We left Cache Valley Wednesday morning and headed south. Made it to Price for lunch and picked up groceries for the...

When Tyler made plans for a weekend backpacking trip in March I planned on just staying home and entertaining our two youngest. That was until the weather was so unbelievably awesome and I realized it would be even more awesome in the San Rafael Swell. I knew I couldn't ask for better conditions...

With the threat of a big windstorm looming, I decided to do just a day hike in Devils Canyon. The road down into Devils Canyon is a rough road but there is one spot in the road that stopped me from going any further. It is small ledge that looks like I would of bottomed out on. So I parked...

October 2010 We ended up all over the place on this trip. We left SLC early Friday morning under rainy skies but fortunately it was sunny and beautiful by the time we made it past Price. The huge storms over the weekend had me really worried about the condition of the roads, especially...

Yep--another trip to the San Rafael Reef, and my fifth since Christmas. In typical fashion, after my last trip there I learned of some rock art in the same area that I wasn't aware of at the time. A very knowledgeable friend read my last blog post and generously offered up some waypoints to...

My last few trips to the San Rafael Reef were done with a particular destination in mind, but this time I just picked a canyon at random and hiked up it. I drove down after work on Friday and made a quick stop in Iron Wash. There's an old pioneer signature there that I wanted to see, and I found...

This weekend, took a trip down by Goblin Valley. It had been a while since I was down in this area and couldn't believe they had paved the road all the way to Little Wild Horse Canyon. That TH was crammed full of cars but we kept on driving. Our destination was a little further down the road...

This past weekend we camped in the desert on one night, and at close to 10k feet the next. Only in Utah. We followed Bill and April down Hwy 6 to the San Rafael Swell where our destination was up on the actual swell (not in front of the reef like we typically do). The first area we stopped at...

San Rafael Swell Rock Art IX New Years Eve | Saturday, December 31, 2011 The Original Trip Report on ADVENTR.CO We finally made it...the last trip of the year 2011! On New Years Eve morning I met up with Marty in Green River so that we could head over to the San Rafael Reef and Desert to...

March 2008 We had a GREAT time down at the Swell this past weekend. We planned on taking advantage of the time Caiden had off from school and head down Friday morning. We brought along one of Alene's co-workers, James, who likes the outdoors thing too and is a cool guy. The plan was to head...

November 2010 I was able to piece together a quick overnighter to the San Rafael Swell this past weekend. I had originally planned a longer trip further south to the Cedar Mesa area but my friend couldn't get out of work as planned so we adjusted the itinerary a bit. I was just stoked the trip...

San Rafael Swell May 2009 - Crack Canyon, Skylight Arch, Day 1 Well, our original plan for our 5 days of no work was to go to Capital Reef National Park, but we kind of chickened out. Our biggest worry was for Bailey and having her sleep well. We figured we would rather go somewhere we're...

Lately I've really enjoyed looking for rock art in the San Rafael Reef. On my past two trips there, I found some pictographs that I was previously unaware of, and I know of nobody else who has seen or heard of them as well. This past weekend, I went on another trip to the Reef and hiked up Old...