Colorado National Monument

While not as spectacular nor as remote as the Needles District, it is more lightly traveled by hikers and backpackers, so given my failure to get a permit for Canyonlands in time, I've decided to make Colorado National Monument my alternate destination.  I'm still working on the exact itinerary, but here's my rough thoughts:

• Saturday March 30—Drive to North Platte NE.  I've already got a reservation.
• Sunday March 31—Drive to the Curecanti National Recreation Area.  Pick up one of the more remote first-come first served individual campsites and set up camp.  Presumably there will be time to explore a bit before dark.  
• Crystal Creek would be desirable, assuming snow is clear.  Dillon Pinnacles is the must-do hike.
• Monday April 1—Finish exploring the recreation area.  Drive to Colorado National Monument and take a site at the Saddlehorn Campground.  Get my backcountry permit, but otherwise take it easy.  Assuming that there's time, do some drive/short hike exploration, including possibly:
• Artists point
• Canyon View/Window Rock
• Otto's Trail
• Tuesday April 2—start of actual "backpacking".  Route is a loop from Monument Canyon Trailhead through Wedding Canyon, joining Monument Canyon at Independence Monument, getting up via Coke Ovens and the CCC trail to the Black Ridge Trail heading south.  Once I hit the trailhead down there, take the Liberty Cap Trail to the other side of the monument, and the Bench Trail back towards the Monument Canyon Trailhead, dropping down via Gold Star Canyon to the cliff base trail, and arriving back at my starting point.  Trying to decide if I want to stretch this out via two nights so I never feel rushed... and I kinda think that I might.  Although that means carrying quite a bit more water.
• Wednesday April 3—Continue backpacking.
• Thursday April 4—Continue backpacking.  Arrive at car and drive to Goblin Valley State Park, where I'll spend the night one more time car camping.  Any exploration of Goblin Valley that I have time to do is great; I'd prefer to do this more this evening.
• Friday April 5—Do the Little Wild Horse Canyon and Bell Canyon loop.  I need to start fairly early, because this will take until lunchtime.  Eat lunch and drive to Stansbury Park, or wherever my wife is staying.  This is another good four hours, so I'll be arriving late afternoon; hopefully without there being any stress about being on time to help my wife turn her rental car in before it's due and she has to pay another day.
• Saturday April 6—Go to the first session of General Conference and then hit the road, hoping we get a good enough signal to at least stream the audio of the next sessions.  Arrive (again) at North Platte NE
• Sunday April 7—Finish driving home.

I'd plan tentatively on camping the first night not too far from the Coke Ovens; but I'll probably make the climb up to the Black Ridge Trail and camp on the other side of the road somewhere.  For the second night, I'm thinking staying in the canyon alcove somewhere after doing the Bench Trail.

The second day is quite long, and the first day is kinda short; just under 7 miles (although with a pretty steep and significant climb.)  There's a good chance I'll take advantage of my fresher state and push further on the Black Ridge Trail to make a slightly more equitable mileage total between the two days.

UPDATE: I changed the route slightly; the first day now goes all the way to the western trailhead.  I probably won't really walk that far, although by the time I get up to the top up there, I've already done all the climbing I'm going to do and some flat walking might be OK.

On the other hand, did you see that elevation change?  Do I really want to climb the better part of three thousand feet in one day?  Ugh.  I'm having second thoughts about this backpacking loop portion.