Canyonlands National Park

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Chase
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Canyonlands National Park

Post by Chase » April 9th, 2013, 6:05 pm

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Recently spent several nights in Canyonlands (Utah) on a solo adventure. The park so large and geographically diverse that they have it divided into three districts. I spent all my time in the Maze District. Edward Abbey describes his adventure into the Maze in a chapter of Desert Solitaire. That was 45 years ago and he claimed only person knew their way around there back then. Nowadays you can run into a group or two each day if you are there in the spring or fall. That said, I do not think this is a place one should go to alone or with inexperienced backpackers. It is potentially dangerous (see 127 Hours for an example) and any number of things could go wrong. Please use caution not only for yourself, but for the fragile ecosystem as well, if you should ever go.

Rather than discuss all my hikes and places I went, I'll let the photos/videos speak for me.

I met up with a group of campers from Orange County at the Maze Overlook. You can see one of them with me in this time lapse:



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99 years before Desert Solitaire, J.W. Powell and his men explored this part of the Colorado.
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Sometimes no tent was needed:
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Tibbett Arch:
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The Fins:


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Indian Paintings (part of "The Harvest Scene"):
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How about another time lapse?


Another? OK.


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Because I randomly take off one shoe. Or maybe to show what a good find of water looked like on some days.
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Chimney Rock:
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I got there via a water taxi from Moab, but you can also get there if you have a high clearance four wheel drive truck or a cool motorcycle. The awesome people I met from Orange County gave me a ride in their trucks one day:


From a video I started making to sum up the first two days of the adventure. It didn't turn out very well, but I'll post it anyway:

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Sean Thomas
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Re: Canyonlands National Park

Post by Sean Thomas » April 9th, 2013, 6:31 pm

Epic adventure, Chase. The pic above the harvest scene photo is awesome. Sounds like it was a great time and a trip to remember.

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Eric Peterson
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Re: Canyonlands National Park

Post by Eric Peterson » April 9th, 2013, 6:34 pm

Nice JP!

Used your iPhone for all the work or?

Time lapse sequence is uber cool :)

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Chase
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Re: Canyonlands National Park

Post by Chase » April 10th, 2013, 7:11 am

Used three different cameras. Most of the good ones were taken with my wife's Nikon p510 CoolPix. Easy to do time lapse with that bad larry.

Also made my first .gif

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jdemott
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Re: Canyonlands National Park

Post by jdemott » April 10th, 2013, 7:39 am

Great TR! Sounds like a wonderful trip. I've spent some time in the other districts of Canyonlands (Needles, Island in the Sky and Horseshoe) but I haven't been to the Maze. Looks like fun. Did you find that GPS was useful there?

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Chase
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Re: Canyonlands National Park

Post by Chase » April 10th, 2013, 8:15 am

jdemott wrote:Great TR! Sounds like a wonderful trip. I've spent some time in the other districts of Canyonlands (Needles, Island in the Sky and Horseshoe) but I haven't been to the Maze. Looks like fun. Did you find that GPS was useful there?
Yes! But sometimes in the more narrow/slot canyons it would lose signal, so I did not rely on it 100%. When I was on the plateau I practiced my map and compass skills a bit, which was a great place to practice because the landmarks were so easy to reference.

raftingdog
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Re: Canyonlands National Park

Post by raftingdog » April 10th, 2013, 8:23 am

car that can make this off road? any rental car....no problem!

mcds
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Re: Canyonlands National Park

Post by mcds » April 10th, 2013, 9:35 am

Great TR! It sounds like a wonderful trip.

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kepPNW
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Re: Canyonlands National Park

Post by kepPNW » April 10th, 2013, 10:40 am

Beautiful! I've never had the opportunity to experience that sort of landscape other than from a car. Would love to do that. How long were you out there? Thanks for sharing this!
Karl
Back on the trail, again...

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Chase
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Re: Canyonlands National Park

Post by Chase » April 10th, 2013, 11:06 am

kepPNW wrote:How long were you out there?

March 31 - April 5. Will have to go back for a longer stay next time. So much to explore.

I forgot to mention the wildlife. Lizards, birds, an otter, a dead calf (?!), ants, and deer.
Ravens were very common:
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