RichardHu
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2025
- Messages
- 1
Hi all, first time poster here!
I am planning on doing a two night backpacking trip in Southern Utah over Presidents' Day Weekend in 2026 (2/14 - 2/16) and had my eye on the Syncline Valley -> Upheaval Canyon -> Taylor Canyon -> Alcove Spring loop in the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands. I have plenty of solo experience on and off trail (winter R2R2R, Sierra high country, Picket Range, Wrangell-St. Elias) and one of my buddies also has a lot of solo experience off trail in the High Sierra but the other 2 in my group are pretty new backpackers (like 1-2 total nights in the backcountry each). I think given the time of year, the group experience, and the time allotted, the route should be reasonable but wanted to get a second opinion since my Desert Southwest backpacking experience is limited to a single R2R2R trip I did this February. Additionally, I had a few questions:
1. What does the water situation look like along this route in mid Feb, excluding the Green River? I found https://backcountrypost.com/threads/syncline-taylor-loop-island-in-the-sky.1980/post-21937 which suggests that there's plenty of water along the Syncline Trail in March (so I assume I should be fine there in Feb) but I couldn't find too much info about the water situation in Taylor Canyon.
2. What is the LNT guideline on disposing of human waste out in the desert? I know there's the whole cryptobiotic soil thing going on and I swear I read somewhere that everything has to be packed out in wag bags but I can't find where I read that from lol. Catholes or no catholes?
3. Is there any kind of weather instability out there I should be worried about at that time of year? I am expecting at most microspikes-level of snow (and most likely no snow at all) and stable weather.
4. Any other gotchas I should keep in mind? Like things you wished you knew before you went backpacking here or in similar areas?
Thanks!
I am planning on doing a two night backpacking trip in Southern Utah over Presidents' Day Weekend in 2026 (2/14 - 2/16) and had my eye on the Syncline Valley -> Upheaval Canyon -> Taylor Canyon -> Alcove Spring loop in the Island in the Sky district of Canyonlands. I have plenty of solo experience on and off trail (winter R2R2R, Sierra high country, Picket Range, Wrangell-St. Elias) and one of my buddies also has a lot of solo experience off trail in the High Sierra but the other 2 in my group are pretty new backpackers (like 1-2 total nights in the backcountry each). I think given the time of year, the group experience, and the time allotted, the route should be reasonable but wanted to get a second opinion since my Desert Southwest backpacking experience is limited to a single R2R2R trip I did this February. Additionally, I had a few questions:
1. What does the water situation look like along this route in mid Feb, excluding the Green River? I found https://backcountrypost.com/threads/syncline-taylor-loop-island-in-the-sky.1980/post-21937 which suggests that there's plenty of water along the Syncline Trail in March (so I assume I should be fine there in Feb) but I couldn't find too much info about the water situation in Taylor Canyon.
2. What is the LNT guideline on disposing of human waste out in the desert? I know there's the whole cryptobiotic soil thing going on and I swear I read somewhere that everything has to be packed out in wag bags but I can't find where I read that from lol. Catholes or no catholes?
3. Is there any kind of weather instability out there I should be worried about at that time of year? I am expecting at most microspikes-level of snow (and most likely no snow at all) and stable weather.
4. Any other gotchas I should keep in mind? Like things you wished you knew before you went backpacking here or in similar areas?
Thanks!