low-elevation slickrock ramble?

regehr

regehr

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Mar 28, 2012
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I had planned out a short backpack next weekend with one of my kids, but with very low nighttime temps in the forecast, and likely some mucky roads due to this week's storms, we'll probably need to adjust plans a bit.

Something that might work is parking around where 276 crosses Swett and Woodruff, and then exploring the navajo dome zone to the east, perhaps camping out on a rim where we have a nice view of Hoskinnini Monument.

But I'm curious if anyone has ideas for a similar fun route or area for this kind of outing? Basically I'm looking for easy road access, fairly low elevation, and good opportunities to get the morning sun. No water needed, we plan to carry what we need.
 
I'll throw out a few if your kids are younger. 2 places I can think of that I took my kids when they were young that helped my wife sleep a little better because they aren't too remote. Both are paved all the way to the trailheads. Both usually have other people around in case of injury or emergency. Elevation may be a higher than you want. The Needles in Canyonlands and Frying Pan/Cassidy Arch in Capitol Reef might work for you for a weekend trip. Now a days we prefer to avoid people because they are older teenagers- but these National Parks worked well when they were younger.

I've not seen the Hoskininni monument- now I will need to devote my lunch time to some research on this! Let us know what you end up doing and how it goes!
 
thanks! I was thinking Needles is too long a drive but it's probably only 30 minutes longer than the part of highway 276 I was thinking about, and there's a lot of territory there we've not seen yet.
 
It looks like single digits in many places in the desert, uh... Yah, you are likely not going to like this idea, but you could consider going way off trail in Valley of Fire. Temperatures will be around freezing at night. Nothing but cool slickrock. Don't know the backpack permit situation. Obviously it's a busy park, but not when you are off trail. Well- that's a long drive from SLC, I just checked....
I will PM you about The Needles.
 
I do not always drive far enough south for the "low elevation" requirement, hahaha

Like @Titans said, the weather does not look like it is warming up quite enough this weekend for the Escalante/Boulder and especially Torrey area if cold is an issue. However, there is an infinite supply if that cold seems do-able. I could offer some of those if interested.

Farther south, it is a little pain to get the permit, given CRNP visitor center hours, but Upper Muley has two specific places where I have stayed the night and those Strike Valley views are great. Still at a higher elevation though.

Hoskinnini and some of that area has long been on my list, so if you go. My interest is piqued.
 
yeah my original plan had been in the Capitol Reef area, but the near-zero temps and the possibility of nasty mud on the Notom-Bullfrog road convinced me that we probably need to look at other options. I feel like a sunny slickrock walk is the ticket, especially if there are some views, and then also it looks like some of the side canyons of Swett / Woodruff might be fun to explore from the top
 
regehr said:
yeah my original plan had been in the Capitol Reef area, but the near-zero temps and the possibility of nasty mud on the Notom-Bullfrog road convinced me that we probably need to look at other options. I feel like a sunny slickrock walk is the ticket, especially if there are some views, and then also it looks like some of the side canyons of Swett / Woodruff might be fun to explore from the top
Click to expand...
My fault on the temps. I read your original post wrong thinking when you wrote "next weekend", that you meant March 5-6, so I was no help at all. I should have said Peru where it is summer right now. lol. Good luck and hope you have a great trip!
 
There is also a lot of slickrock exploration to be had along 95 near the canyoneering areas without having to take the side roads.
 
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