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Dang fires. Those are nice pics though! The fire here has grown to 205k acres and is like 8 miles away from my house as the crow flies. Haven't been hiking in a month, and running outside has been a no go as well. Sucks.
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Oct 20, 2020 18:49
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MonkeyWash posted:I'm thinking of taking off before the election and doing some BLM camping. Covid is uncontrolled where I live and I need a break from people. My wife and I are thinking of heading to the Cortez, Colorado area for a couple days and then on into Bears Ears and Grand Staircase. Maybe passing through Zion and Bryce on the way home. Yeah I have a bunch as far as the Utah stuff goes, I can type up some recommendations when I get home and have a keyboard in front of me. What length of hike do you prefer?
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Oct 20, 2020 21:53
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MonkeyWash posted:Oh, that would be great. Much appreciated. I can't hike too far due to health issues, also have two dogs, so short hikes, 4 or 5 miles max. I have been to Moab, Canyonlands, and Dead Horse SP in the past. Hoping to see some more remote areas that are camp-able in November. All right, back home. So, I've been to Utah/AZ three times in late Nov, Thanksgiving timeframe. Two of those went great, but the last one not so much due to early snowstorms and explosive diarrhea. As long as it's not raining/snowing and turning the dirt roads to a sticky nasty mess, you'll have a good time. Snowstorms aside, the temperature on my other trips was usually mid-30s lows at night, and mid-high 60s in the day. Perfect hiking weather. A little chilly at night sleeping in the car, but nothing an issued 3-piece Army sleeping bag wasn't able to handle. If you've already seen the Moab area stuff and you're looking to go further south, here's what I'd recommend. Zion: the main canyon is usually pretty crowded, but has a few shorter hikes. Angel's Landing is currently closed due to the plague, and a couple other trails are closed due to rock falls last year. If you can do 6 miles on mostly flat ground and the roads don't get wet, doing Observation Point from the East Mesa trail is about a 6 mile round trip and a great view down the main canyon. The road to the East Mesa trailhead is a little rough, but I was able to get there in an Outback. The Kolob Canyons area also has some nice shorter hikes. Bryce: several shorter hikes here, lots of overlooks. My least favorite of the five national parks in Utah, but still totally worth visiting. North Rim Grand Canyon: closes 1 Dec, but if you get in there in late Nov, it's not crowded at all and much different from the South Rim experience. Not as much to do or as many overlooks, but I like it better than South Rim. Capitol Reef: my favorite national park, and there are several hikes there that you could do. Cassidy Arch and/or Capitol Gorge would be my recommendations. Likewise as long as the roads aren't wet and you can handle about 6ish miles on flat ground, the Strike Valley Overlook is a great one. (6ish if you don't have a 4x4 vehicle, much shorter than that if you do.) The Burr Trail switchbacks are really pretty too, from the top looking down. The Capitol Reef/Grand Staircase area is full of BLM land that you can park and camp on. I tend to not even bother planning a camping spot when I'm going there, because I've always found a suitable one just off the cuff. Hwy 12 between Capitol Reef and Bryce is a gorgeous stretch of road with lots of nice overlooks. Near Escalante, there's plenty of good poo poo. I haven't explored it as thoroughly as other places, but there's more than a few slot canyons that would be suitable. Devil's Garden is a nice picturesque little area as well. Some nice burger places in Escalante too. Near Kanab: if you have a 4x4 vehicle or don't mind renting one, or don't mind hiring a tour company, White Pocket is the most feature-dense area you'll ever find. The South Coyote Buttes is amazing as well, though it requires a permit and some kind of 4x4 vehicle. You can get that either a few months ahead of time on recreation.gov, or in person via lottery the day before. This late in the year, you shouldn't have any trouble with the lottery. It's the North Coyote Buttes that people flock to due to 'The Wave.' I have yet to get lucky on that one. There's tons of other neat stuff near Kanab, like Edmaier's Secret and the Paria Rim Rocks. The BLM office in Kanab has spigots outside that you can fill up your water bottles with. There's a dirt empty space of sorts just north of Kanab by the Hog Canyon turnoff that I've car camped at several times without being bothered. Have seen people with RVs and camper vans there as well. Near Page/Big Water there's a dirt road that goes out to Alstrom Point, which is a very pretty view. It's kind of rough, some places say 4x4 is needed. I got to within a mile of it with my Outback before it got rocky enough that I wasn't comfortable continuing and went the rest of the way on foot. If you're going to be around Bears Ears national monument, stop and check out Natural Bridges national monument. Really cool big rear end rock bridges. Then further south of that you have the Moki Dugway that makes for a really rad view. Not much further you have Goosenecks state park, which is great to camp at and get sunrise/sunset shots at, but no hikes there. Western CO: Black Canyon of the Gunnison is super rad, but they close the road past the south rim visitor center once the snow starts falling. Biggest thing I can say about southern Utah is that if the roads get wet, DO NOT GO ON DIRT ROADS. They turn to a sticky nasty clay and you may get stuck and end up with a $500 towing bill like I did last year cause I'm an idiot  Further south in AZ, there's Petrified Forest national park, though that one is more or less a half day drive through. East of that you have El Malpais national monument which is pretty cool. There's so much cool poo poo out there and I've barely seen any of it. I have a short trip planned there this Thanksgiving, short because my gf just got a new job and doesn't have any leave time yet. Still hoping that the weather will stay dry. Hopefully that wasn't too incoherent, let me know if you want some more specifics!
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Oct 21, 2020 01:23
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Oh yeah true, forgot about the snow thing. The north rim does have my favorite view of the Grand Canyon, that being of Wotan's Throne.  Hey at least with the Cameron Peak fire being so big now, we're beating Wyoming! Go Colorado! 
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Oct 21, 2020 06:06
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Looking at the Inciweb map of the fire spread, it's made its way down Spruce Canyon and hit Spruce Lake and Fern Lake. Not at all surprised at Spruce Canyon going up at first opportunity, it was dense and full of deadfall when I went through it a couple months ago. I just hope Sprague glacier doesn't get melted from the heat  Looks like the towns of Granby and Grand Lake are getting proper hosed up too.
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Oct 23, 2020 13:39
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Looks like fern falls and the whole trail up to the fern lake/cub lake parking lot are burned up now too
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Oct 25, 2020 06:09
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Hotel Kpro posted:Ended up being 8.9 miles and 4300 feet one way for the day Jesus that's fuckin brutal.
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Oct 27, 2020 19:32
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Internet Wizard posted:Anybody have opinions on this tripod? https://www.rei.com/product/170490/nikon-compact-outdoor-tripod This was my first tripod and it was decent for the price: https://www.manfrotto.com/us-en/ele...FwaAvebEALw_wcB I still use it for my spotting scope, though I've gotten a different tripod for photos.
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Nov 13, 2020 21:07
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Those are some lovely shots. I dig that kind of desert landscape. Boot chat, I've been wearing Merrells for the last few years and I really like their comfort and ability to grip rock. Durability is not great though, as the soles tend to flatten out with use and I end up replacing my summer weight boots once a year. How do Salomons compare?
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Nov 16, 2020 05:12
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How does the rock gripping and durability compare? The rock gripping is critical for me, but what I'd like is a little more durability. There are govt discounts on both brands via expertvoice.com so either way it's not bad. (If you aren't on expertvoice yet, get on there for a lot of good discounts.)
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Nov 16, 2020 19:11
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That tree is neat as gently caress. Brutal rear end hike you did there too. I just got back from my first road trip in a year. Went to Utah, slept in the car and hiked for a week, was socially distant as gently caress. Which I guess isn't at all different than my usual road trips, other than masks and hand sanitizer after refilling my gas tank. Will have pics processed sometime in the next few days. Almost considered going out to see the mysterious monolith while we were out there, but after learning that it was just some sheet metal thing, lost interest. Would have been a long and bumpy road for what was essentially an internet meme.
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Nov 30, 2020 16:26
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Shortly after taking this shot, I fumbled my lens cap, heard two near bouncing sounds, and then nothing. Rest of the trip was without a lens cap on that lens.  Natural Bridges national monument   Petrified Forest  The Maze petroglyph site. (Best said in a drawn out haggard Ed Harris Westworld tone.)  Grand Canyon north rim just past sunset in the blue hour  The dragon at Edmaier's Secret  Brain rock field at Edmaier's Secret From up on West Bench   Coming back down Buckskin Gulch  Yant Flat   Cassidy Arch trail   Hickman Bridge   Tower Arch   The weather was not especially cooperative on this trip. Precipitation on the forecast caused me to cancel going to the South Coyote Buttes, which I had a permit for. So that's a downer. Lots of chilly weather, and lots of clear blue skies with zero clouds that made for some harsh glare on the rocks. Hopefully it'll be better next time.
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Dec 4, 2020 20:40
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A quickie at Dream lake after finding that the trail to lake Haiyaha was entirely snowed in and undefined past the first 100m. Was trying to get as low as I could on my tripod to show the ice texture. Would like to get back sometime and get this angle or a lower angle at sunrise, but the next week or so is looking like nasty snow.
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Feb 5, 2021 17:20
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Work called a day off today due to excess cold. So I bundled up and tried to get up to Dream lake for a nice sunrise shot. Unfortunately, wind and snow at the lake itself was such that visibility was <200m. So I took this one as I was coming back down the trail instead.  And then I got down to Bear lake and still no one was around, so I wandered around to see if I could find a good angle, since I had not previously Waldo'd Bear lake. Found this and couldn't resist. 
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Feb 15, 2021 18:07
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That looks like it was a fun time, apart from the wind. What sort of camera are you using?
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Feb 25, 2021 17:15
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Made another attempt for a Dream lake dawn alpenglow shot this morning. Got to the lake about 20 minutes before dawn and was very happy to find that the moon wasn't all the way down yet. Unfortunately the snow/wind haze around the peaks kept the alpenglow from hitting full force. Was still a fun time though! 
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Mar 1, 2021 00:24
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Grip it and rip it posted:That looks pretty chilly, you bring any specialized gear? Apart from my camera and tripod, just cold weather clothing and the usual crap in my backpack (Waldo, first aid kit, emergency beacon, clif bars, etc.) It was pretty chilly, somewhere between 0-10 degrees. By the time I left around 7:30AM, I was shivering until I started moving again. Spent quite a bit of time proned out behind my tripod and camera and not moving a whole lot.
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Mar 8, 2021 00:18
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