Tres Westbrook
Member
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2013
- Messages
- 122
For Memorial Day week this year, my wife and I planned our first trip to Canyonlands National Park in eastern Utah. We decided to rent a canoe from Tex's Riverways in Moab and travel down the Green River from Mineral Bottom to Spanish Bottom (on the Colorado River) over 6 days, exploring a few areas along the way. We flew into Grand Junction, Colorado Friday night, and drove to Moab the next morning.
The plan was to pick up our rental ice chests from Tex's (so we could have them loaded and ready the next morning) then grab some lunch and head into Canyonlands for a quick "touristy" overview of the park, and hike down to False Kiva, which I had learned about while researching the area. It is a class 3 archaeological site that the NPS does not mark on any maps and so it isn't as well known or as frequently visited as other sites in the park. I had been inspired to see it by a stunning nighttime photo of the site with the Milky Way in the background. In other photos, the view was equally gorgeous.
Of course, it was Memorial Day weekend, and when we approached Moab from the north we ran into hellacious traffic at the entrance to Arches NP. On the way back out of Moab a couple hours later the traffic was not quite as bad, but there were signs announcing that Arches NP was closed. I hadn't seen that kind of traffic outside of Great Smoky Mountain NP, and never had seen a national park closure.
Anyway, we figured Canyonlands would be a zoo. But it wasn't so bad. We had to wait in line about 10 minutes to get into the park, but inside traffic was reasonable. However, the parking areas at all the trailheads were were full up. When we approached the parking area, it too was full, so we decided to go to the end of the road and visit another area first. Well, traffic was worse there and folks were parking well away from the designated parking area just to join the mobs. It was reminiscent of Disneyworld. So we drove on back, and got a break as there was someone pulling out of the parking area just as we approached.
In accordance with my research, we headed down the road and came to a clear trail off to our right, and although it didn't look exactly like the photos I had seen, we followed it. When it shortly thereafter bared to the right, I was suspicious that we were on the wrong trail, despite periodic cairns. We took our time admiring the blooming cacti and other desert flowers (the sky was overcast most of the afternoon and we got hit with some light rain a few times, which the flora soaked up) and just enjoying walking in the desert. We don't get to do it very often, so just walking in the desert is a wonderful experience. So, even though I knew we probably were going the wrong way, I figured we would just walk until we cliffed out and then go back and start over. And after a while we did. So we headed back to our truck and had lunch on the tailgate. While my wife was making sandwiches for us, I walked back down the road to scout for the correct trail. On the way I came upon a couple from the Ukraine who were visiting the park with their teenage daughter. They were eyeing the trail we had taken earlier. I did my good deed for the day by telling them that I thought the trail was just a little bit further down. We walked on down a little bit further and there was the trail, looking just as I imagined it would from the photos I had seen. They headed off down the trail and I walked back to the truck to join my wife for lunch.
After lunch, we headed down the correct trail for False Kiva. It was raining on us when we left but the trail never got muddy or slick. The rain either evaporated or was sucked up by the flora, sand, and rock. The trail was very pleasant - generally an easy walk with a few fun ups and downs. And the view was just as I had imagined it. And the icing on top was that we saw only one three people - the Ukrainian family - during our whole hike. I found it remarkable that of the thousands of people who were in the park that day, apparently the only other people who knew about False Kiva were from half way around the world.
Beautiful desert flowers. The whole floor was just exploding with color. My picture can't do it justice.
Looking southeast from the trail. Anderson Bottom, where we would spend the next two nights, is in the background.
Looking up at the alcove where the kiva is located.
My wife along the trail (the Ukrainian family is heading down from the kiva).
Selfie form the kiva alcove.
View from the kiva alcove.
Another view of the kiva. We spent about a half hour up there, just enjoying the quiet beauty, views, and solitude.
Selfie from where we cliffed out on our first attempt.
Anyway, based on this first trip to the Islands in the Sky District, and from reading so many Canyonlands trip reports on BCP, this is another area that we have to back to for further exploration. Our subsequent canoe trip just exposed us to even more places to explore next time we can get out there.
Featured image for home page:
Video of our hike to False Kiva:
The plan was to pick up our rental ice chests from Tex's (so we could have them loaded and ready the next morning) then grab some lunch and head into Canyonlands for a quick "touristy" overview of the park, and hike down to False Kiva, which I had learned about while researching the area. It is a class 3 archaeological site that the NPS does not mark on any maps and so it isn't as well known or as frequently visited as other sites in the park. I had been inspired to see it by a stunning nighttime photo of the site with the Milky Way in the background. In other photos, the view was equally gorgeous.
Of course, it was Memorial Day weekend, and when we approached Moab from the north we ran into hellacious traffic at the entrance to Arches NP. On the way back out of Moab a couple hours later the traffic was not quite as bad, but there were signs announcing that Arches NP was closed. I hadn't seen that kind of traffic outside of Great Smoky Mountain NP, and never had seen a national park closure.
Anyway, we figured Canyonlands would be a zoo. But it wasn't so bad. We had to wait in line about 10 minutes to get into the park, but inside traffic was reasonable. However, the parking areas at all the trailheads were were full up. When we approached the parking area, it too was full, so we decided to go to the end of the road and visit another area first. Well, traffic was worse there and folks were parking well away from the designated parking area just to join the mobs. It was reminiscent of Disneyworld. So we drove on back, and got a break as there was someone pulling out of the parking area just as we approached.
In accordance with my research, we headed down the road and came to a clear trail off to our right, and although it didn't look exactly like the photos I had seen, we followed it. When it shortly thereafter bared to the right, I was suspicious that we were on the wrong trail, despite periodic cairns. We took our time admiring the blooming cacti and other desert flowers (the sky was overcast most of the afternoon and we got hit with some light rain a few times, which the flora soaked up) and just enjoying walking in the desert. We don't get to do it very often, so just walking in the desert is a wonderful experience. So, even though I knew we probably were going the wrong way, I figured we would just walk until we cliffed out and then go back and start over. And after a while we did. So we headed back to our truck and had lunch on the tailgate. While my wife was making sandwiches for us, I walked back down the road to scout for the correct trail. On the way I came upon a couple from the Ukraine who were visiting the park with their teenage daughter. They were eyeing the trail we had taken earlier. I did my good deed for the day by telling them that I thought the trail was just a little bit further down. We walked on down a little bit further and there was the trail, looking just as I imagined it would from the photos I had seen. They headed off down the trail and I walked back to the truck to join my wife for lunch.
After lunch, we headed down the correct trail for False Kiva. It was raining on us when we left but the trail never got muddy or slick. The rain either evaporated or was sucked up by the flora, sand, and rock. The trail was very pleasant - generally an easy walk with a few fun ups and downs. And the view was just as I had imagined it. And the icing on top was that we saw only one three people - the Ukrainian family - during our whole hike. I found it remarkable that of the thousands of people who were in the park that day, apparently the only other people who knew about False Kiva were from half way around the world.
Beautiful desert flowers. The whole floor was just exploding with color. My picture can't do it justice.
Looking southeast from the trail. Anderson Bottom, where we would spend the next two nights, is in the background.
Looking up at the alcove where the kiva is located.
My wife along the trail (the Ukrainian family is heading down from the kiva).
Selfie form the kiva alcove.
View from the kiva alcove.
Another view of the kiva. We spent about a half hour up there, just enjoying the quiet beauty, views, and solitude.
Selfie from where we cliffed out on our first attempt.
Anyway, based on this first trip to the Islands in the Sky District, and from reading so many Canyonlands trip reports on BCP, this is another area that we have to back to for further exploration. Our subsequent canoe trip just exposed us to even more places to explore next time we can get out there.
Featured image for home page:
Video of our hike to False Kiva:
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