Dillon Pinnacles

When I drive out west to go hiking out where the scenery is really something, (which so far has mostly been in either Utah or Colorado, although Wyoming has tempted me a lot too—and one of these days I'll go even a little further and explore New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California) I always try to find a way to get as far out of the Great Lakes region as possible on the first day so I can take my time and enjoy the western scenery a bit more leisurely the second day of driving.  For instance, on two trips to the Uintas, I've made sure that I got as far as either North Platte or even Ogallala Nebraska, and then went and spent a couple of hours at Chimney Rock and Scotts Bluff National Monument, hiking and messing around, before then enjoying scenic drives over the Medicine Bow mountains and the Flaming Gorge area.  (The interstate drive across the red desert isn't nearly as bad as a lot of commuters I talk to claim it is, but interstate drives are never as good as little country roads if leisurely enjoying the scenery is your goal.)  Sadly, my sister-in-law doesn't live in Vernal anymore, so that option isn't really a very good one anymore, but with a different destination and a different route, I have some new opportunities this time around.

If I'm going to start hiking in the Needles district, for instance, then I'll want to spend my second night on the road—right before I hike—in Monticello Utah, I think.  It's closer to the Needles area than Moab.  And that gives me an opportunity to still have the same first day of driving, but then cut through Colorado instead of Wyoming, and drive through Gunnison and some other areas that are quite on the way to where I'm going anyway.

So for my Sunday afternoon stop driving and hike around for a little while pit stop, I'm thinking of the Blue Mesa Reservoir near Gunnison with it's fabulous Dillon Pinnacles rock formation.  There's a four mile round trip trail (although I think it's actually just a point to point that you backtrack on with maybe a little lollipop like loop at the end) and it's not very far out of the way at all, if it is even out of the way.  And, although the season isn't as exciting as if it were summer or fall, I'll also be driving right by Mount Sneffels, which will be fun.

It always helps that I gain two time zones heading west, and also that daylight savings time will have started by the time I'm making this trip, but assuming I get to Ogallala the first day, I've only got 10½ driving hours.  With the extra time zone crossing and plenty of daylight, if I get a nice early start, and have easy like Sunday morning traffic (on Sunday morning) then I should easily have a couple of hours in the early to mid-afternoon to check out the Pinnacles, hike the little trail, and just have a nice drive around the area.

Which is nice.  I actually really like Scotts Bluff and Chimney Rock, but I've seen them twice already, and I'd like to see something else this time.

Next time I do southern Utah, which I'm sure I will do because I'm only seeing a fraction of the red rock paradise that I'd like to see, I may even make a couple nights stop in Grand Junction and see Colorado National Monument, camp there, and hike for a couple of days before crossing the border into Utah again.  But for now, this'll be a nice way to get psyched up for the hiking trip while still driving.

April Desert hiking

Well, it looks like I'm going.  I'll be gone the same time my wife has planned to take the boys during their spring break to Utah and Idaho, ostensibly to pick up my daughter's stuff from storage in Rexburg, visit her sister (and see her first Tabernacle Choir concert) and see General Conference while they're out there.  It'll be the week before General Conference, and the plan is that I'll meet up with them on Friday sometime and go to the first Saturday morning session with them before we hit the road for home together.  I'm a little disappointed that neither of the boys will be with me, and honestly, I think maybe they are too—or at least, they'd rather do that then go back to Rexburg, which for whatever reason they kinda felt was a depressing place, at least during Spring Break when it's still cold, windy, brown, etc.  Maybe we'll talk about that, but I really think I can handle being on my own better than my wife can, even though I'd like to have the boys hike with me.

Anyway, as I said earlier, sadly, I have to use the weekend to travel, because that's the only thing that works out from a timing perspective, so I'll be driving Saturday and Sunday and arrive in... Monticello, I think, on Sunday evening sometime.  Let's do a day by day break-down of my plans

• Saturday March 30—Drive to mid-Nebraska; stay in hotel
• Sunday March 31—Drive to Monticello; stay in hotel
• Monday April 1—Go to Needles District of Canyonlands and hike into Chessler Park.  Camp overnight
• Tuesday April 2—Explore Chessler Park, Druid Arch, etc. Continue camping in same place.
• Wednesday April 3—Hike out, drive to Dead Horse Point State Park, set up camp
• Thursday April 4—Explore Dead Horse Point State Park, whatever I wasn't able to see the day before.  Drive to Goblin Valley State Park, set up camp
• Friday April 5—Explore Goblin Valley State Park and Little Wild Horse and Bell slot canyons.  Drive to Stansbury Park, or wherever my wife is staying Friday night.
• Saturday April 6—General Conference morning session, and start driving home
• Sunday April 7—Finish driving home.

I do feel like the Dead Horse Point and Goblin Valley State parks are a little rushed, and I wish I had another day (maybe even another day each) to explore them more, but I'll probably be OK.  I don't need to literally hike every single trail at each location.

Needles and Moab

I'm still trying to decide what I'm doing for my solo hiking trip this year.  As February comes to a close, my chances of making it to Moab during the Spring season start to diminish; I still don't have a date, or even a serious plan, so how likely is it really that I'll actually be putting boots to ground in a month or even two or heck—even three?  And three is already starting to lean into weather that's likely to be too hot, honestly.  If I'm really serious about going, I need to nail down a schedule in April... or put it off until the fall.  I can always go in October or even early November, I suppose.  Although then I start to step on other commitments; Alex will be eligible to go on his mission starting late September when he turns 18, so October or early November is probably when he's leaving.

And I'm reconsidering some of what I'd planned.  I do still want to do Chesler Park and camp there, maybe two nights, for a relaxed, packless exploration of the region.  But I'm now starting to become increasingly convinced that the Salt Creek area should be the subject of it's own trip that focuses just on that area, and is done as a point to point with some kind of shuttle, or two cars, or something.  So, I should just ditch that (for now) and look for some other stuff to do in the Moab area after doing a Chessler Park backpacking trip for... I dunno, three days and two nights or so.

Luckily, there are a lot of potential day trips or short in and out one-nighters in the area that look really good too.  There's a six mile loop trail at Dead Horse State Park that few people take (because they just hang out at the drive-up lookout point and then leave, mostly) which is highly recommended: https://www.outdoorproject.com/adventures/utah/hikes/east-west-rim-trails-loop

There's always more to see at Arches, although avoiding crowds can be a challenge in its own right: https://www.outdoorproject.com/adventures/utah/hikes/klondike-bluffs-trail-tower-arch-hike
https://www.outdoorproject.com/adventures/utah/hikes/devils-garden-primitive-trail

And there's a few other spots in Canyonlands worth taking a look: https://www.outdoorproject.com/adventures/utah/hikes/horseshoe-canyon-hike

And, of course, there's plenty of BLM land that I'm curious to see more of: https://www.visitutah.com/things-to-do/hiking/moab-hiking/hidden-valley/
https://www.visitutah.com/things-to-do/hiking/moab-hiking/fisher-towers/
https://www.visitutah.com/things-to-do/hiking/moab-hiking/negro-bill/
https://www.visitutah.com/things-to-do/hiking/moab-hiking/hunter-canyon/

And this link has some of the same options listed above, but a few other ones as well:  https://www.explore-mag.com/10-of-the-Best-Hiking-Trails-Near-Moab-Utah

Of course, if I do a lot of day hiking like that, I need to figure out where I'm actually staying at night; a campground somewhere?  A hotel? 

Either way, if anything is going to come of this, I need to get on it pretty darn fast.  Now that my wife is home from her girlfriends cruise, it's time to pivot to my solo vacation (which is actually solo, unlike hers) and figure out what I'm doing.  Maybe I'll even piggyback off of their trip out west to see conference and do a few other things during Spring Break in April.  It'll be a little odd, because I've had the fact that I can't go with them on my mind from the get-go, due to vacation schedules, and my own requirement that I get my solo backpacking trip that I missed in 2018—so going with them to go backpacking will be weird.  But maybe for the best after all.