A little late to posting... but had a great trip to Cedar Mesa area May 20-25. We planned to do another loop but because of a water concern, we decided to do Fish and Owl canyons, where we knew there had been recent reports of decent water. We had a great time and are really excited to explore again!
Day 0
My partner and I drove down from Jackson, Wyoming where we live. We picked up friends from Seattle who flew into Salt Lake. On the way through Moab, we had to take a quick stop to show them Arches and they loved it! That night we camped at Comb Wash campground which was really lovely. There's Amman camping area with a toilet and such, but we drove a bit further down the road and found a quieter more isolated spot with a big site for us to hang out and camp.
Day 1
We got a late start on this day due to needing to pack our bags and sort our food and such. We ended up hiking around 10:30 or so. We knew it'd be pretty hot but we had plenty of water and were prepared for a low mileage day and taking it slow. Very early one, we were super excited to see some ruins that we got to hike to and explore! The first couple miles down owl canyon were slow because we were so eager to find ruins and petroglyphs and we were really taking in the sites! We really loved Nevilles arch. That as a cool landmark and the only person we saw on the whole backpacking trip was a person, about 1000 feet from us, who was all the way up next to the arch. Later on, we spotted some ruins with our binoculars from pretty far away and while the heat of the day impeded our motivation to go up and explore those ruins closer, it was fun to see them from afar! We ended up camping at the confluence, where we knew from reports that there was no water. We weren't worried because we had plenty and knew from reports that we'd find some in the morning. Up until about 1.5 miles from the confluence, there were pools of water, including one quite huge one a couple miles in which proved to be a great place to take a break. At the confluence where we camped, we walked a mile down the lower canyon to explore and see if we'd find water because if we did, we considered spending time the next day exploring this canyon. It was beautiful but there was no water.
Day 2
The next day, it was about 2.5 miles up fish canyon until we found drinkable pools of water. If we'd been really desperate, there were some very small dirty pools early that we might have been able to filter, but we had the luxury of being a little picky and were able to wait for bigger pools. We filled up and enjoyed the journey. We had a much earlier start this day so we could skip the heat. We took a lunch time siesta underneath a big shaded tree and eventually found camp. Our campsite had water and was also right across from some ruins. We climbed up into the canyon walls and were able to get pretty close to the ruins. We are also pretty experienced hikers and comfortable with scrambling and exposure, so we felt very comfortable and really enjoyed the adventure and exploration!! The ruins were incredible. We saw some really cool pictographs and then a ruin that was just a beautiful intact wall just right up in the cliff, so high up and tucked away you can't see it from the trail. It was amazing and this few hours of evening exploration was definitely a highlight.
Day 3
We woke up early again because boy did we prefer walking in the cool morning air! Climbing out of the canyon was definitely steep, but doable. I read before the trip that some folks were worried about climbing up this part of the canyon at the end so they did the route in reverse, but I was glad we went this direction. Climbing up was steep but fine. I can imagine climbing down from this side would be quite slick with the dry desert trail and it would be tougher going down. We got almost all the way out of the canyon and just had that one little more technical spot before getting out of the canyon. Our group was pretty comfortable with this scramble, but we did use a rope we brought to pull up a couple packs since climbing up was a little easier without the extra weight and bulk. Once getting out of the canyon, it was smooth sailing back to the trailhead!
From here, we drove to the citadel. Our car made it down a lot of this road to the trailhead but we did have to drive half mile or so down the road because it got pretty intense for my SUV. The citadel was around 4 miles round trip and I think we track about 9 or 10 miles total this day. Walking to the citadel was pretty amazing and we could look down into Road canyon and see with our binoculars how amazing 7 kivas looked. The citadel itself was an amazing sight and we really enjoyed this walk.
We consdiered going from here to slickhorn trailhead and doing a small 6 mile looping 1 night backpack, but we were tired and hot. So instead, we decided to camp at Sand Island Campground right on the San Juan. The drive was gorgeous, going down this super windy steep gravel road and watching the landscape change. The campground was definitely a change from the solitude we had just experienced, but boy were we glad to swim in the river!
Day 4
On this day, we decided to explore comb ridge. Now we were on the other side of it from when we camped the very first night. We had a great walk to the procession panel and met some folks were backpacking a lot of that ridge. They had originally driven the length of the ridge and dropped themselves water, but after a couple days, they were bailing on their trip because they hadn't anticipated how much water they would really need. Procession panel was really awesome. We considered going to monarch cave, and we have some regrets about not going, but we decided instead to try to make it to the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum in Blanding before it closed, stopping on the way real quick to see some Dino tracks which was pretty cool. We were really glad we made this decision to head to the museum! It's a pretty incredible museum and helped explain a lot of the history and cultural context behind where we were and what was saw. It was a highlight for sure.
After some burgers in Moab, we camped down Potash road in a tents on site which was great for us. We explored some petroglyphs and Dino tracks down there too and were grateful for a final night of camping and taking in this beautiful region.
Day 5
Early in the morning we headed out of Moab and drove to Salt Lake where we dropped off our friend at the airport and continued the 5 more hours back home to Jackson! Overall, it was an incredible trip and we are so excited to go back to cedar mesa to keep exploring and seeing all it has to offer.
Photo 1 is from arches, photos 2-9 are from fish and owl, 10 and 11 are the citadel, 12 is procession panel, and 13 is Sand Island Panel
Day 0
My partner and I drove down from Jackson, Wyoming where we live. We picked up friends from Seattle who flew into Salt Lake. On the way through Moab, we had to take a quick stop to show them Arches and they loved it! That night we camped at Comb Wash campground which was really lovely. There's Amman camping area with a toilet and such, but we drove a bit further down the road and found a quieter more isolated spot with a big site for us to hang out and camp.
Day 1
We got a late start on this day due to needing to pack our bags and sort our food and such. We ended up hiking around 10:30 or so. We knew it'd be pretty hot but we had plenty of water and were prepared for a low mileage day and taking it slow. Very early one, we were super excited to see some ruins that we got to hike to and explore! The first couple miles down owl canyon were slow because we were so eager to find ruins and petroglyphs and we were really taking in the sites! We really loved Nevilles arch. That as a cool landmark and the only person we saw on the whole backpacking trip was a person, about 1000 feet from us, who was all the way up next to the arch. Later on, we spotted some ruins with our binoculars from pretty far away and while the heat of the day impeded our motivation to go up and explore those ruins closer, it was fun to see them from afar! We ended up camping at the confluence, where we knew from reports that there was no water. We weren't worried because we had plenty and knew from reports that we'd find some in the morning. Up until about 1.5 miles from the confluence, there were pools of water, including one quite huge one a couple miles in which proved to be a great place to take a break. At the confluence where we camped, we walked a mile down the lower canyon to explore and see if we'd find water because if we did, we considered spending time the next day exploring this canyon. It was beautiful but there was no water.
Day 2
The next day, it was about 2.5 miles up fish canyon until we found drinkable pools of water. If we'd been really desperate, there were some very small dirty pools early that we might have been able to filter, but we had the luxury of being a little picky and were able to wait for bigger pools. We filled up and enjoyed the journey. We had a much earlier start this day so we could skip the heat. We took a lunch time siesta underneath a big shaded tree and eventually found camp. Our campsite had water and was also right across from some ruins. We climbed up into the canyon walls and were able to get pretty close to the ruins. We are also pretty experienced hikers and comfortable with scrambling and exposure, so we felt very comfortable and really enjoyed the adventure and exploration!! The ruins were incredible. We saw some really cool pictographs and then a ruin that was just a beautiful intact wall just right up in the cliff, so high up and tucked away you can't see it from the trail. It was amazing and this few hours of evening exploration was definitely a highlight.
Day 3
We woke up early again because boy did we prefer walking in the cool morning air! Climbing out of the canyon was definitely steep, but doable. I read before the trip that some folks were worried about climbing up this part of the canyon at the end so they did the route in reverse, but I was glad we went this direction. Climbing up was steep but fine. I can imagine climbing down from this side would be quite slick with the dry desert trail and it would be tougher going down. We got almost all the way out of the canyon and just had that one little more technical spot before getting out of the canyon. Our group was pretty comfortable with this scramble, but we did use a rope we brought to pull up a couple packs since climbing up was a little easier without the extra weight and bulk. Once getting out of the canyon, it was smooth sailing back to the trailhead!
From here, we drove to the citadel. Our car made it down a lot of this road to the trailhead but we did have to drive half mile or so down the road because it got pretty intense for my SUV. The citadel was around 4 miles round trip and I think we track about 9 or 10 miles total this day. Walking to the citadel was pretty amazing and we could look down into Road canyon and see with our binoculars how amazing 7 kivas looked. The citadel itself was an amazing sight and we really enjoyed this walk.
We consdiered going from here to slickhorn trailhead and doing a small 6 mile looping 1 night backpack, but we were tired and hot. So instead, we decided to camp at Sand Island Campground right on the San Juan. The drive was gorgeous, going down this super windy steep gravel road and watching the landscape change. The campground was definitely a change from the solitude we had just experienced, but boy were we glad to swim in the river!
Day 4
On this day, we decided to explore comb ridge. Now we were on the other side of it from when we camped the very first night. We had a great walk to the procession panel and met some folks were backpacking a lot of that ridge. They had originally driven the length of the ridge and dropped themselves water, but after a couple days, they were bailing on their trip because they hadn't anticipated how much water they would really need. Procession panel was really awesome. We considered going to monarch cave, and we have some regrets about not going, but we decided instead to try to make it to the Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum in Blanding before it closed, stopping on the way real quick to see some Dino tracks which was pretty cool. We were really glad we made this decision to head to the museum! It's a pretty incredible museum and helped explain a lot of the history and cultural context behind where we were and what was saw. It was a highlight for sure.
After some burgers in Moab, we camped down Potash road in a tents on site which was great for us. We explored some petroglyphs and Dino tracks down there too and were grateful for a final night of camping and taking in this beautiful region.
Day 5
Early in the morning we headed out of Moab and drove to Salt Lake where we dropped off our friend at the airport and continued the 5 more hours back home to Jackson! Overall, it was an incredible trip and we are so excited to go back to cedar mesa to keep exploring and seeing all it has to offer.
Photo 1 is from arches, photos 2-9 are from fish and owl, 10 and 11 are the citadel, 12 is procession panel, and 13 is Sand Island Panel
