Willow Springs Canyon is a mostly-unknown scramble of a hike near the western border of Arches National Park. You’ll need 4×4 to get to the trailhead, but with high clearance, you can get close enough to the trailhead to walk…
Scrambling up Lake Hill
In my perusals of unofficial routes in Death Valley, I ran across three hikes that seemed fascinating (to me, anyway!) in Panamint Valley: Panamint Dunes (which is actually an official route, though its trail is pretty much invisible in many…
French Spring above the Maze District
French Spring is one of the minimal number of attractions to see along NP-633 (the road between Hans Flat and the top of the Flint Trail) in the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park.* It’s one of the more difficult…
Courthouse Wash to Forget-Me-Not Canyon
The hike from Courthouse Wash to Forget-Me-Not Canyon isn’t exactly a route I’d recommend. It’s filled with rock scrambles, delicate Leave No Trace areas (yes, you can do it; I’ll tell you how), zero official trails, sketchy slickrock, and a…
Agate Bridge – Easy to See
Agate Bridge sounds a lot more exciting than the reality in southern Petrified Forest National Park. If you’re into hiking, you’d be better off spending your time in the Crystal Forest or hiking the Blue Forest Route (or if you’d…
Views from the Sand Bench View Area on I-70
So you’re traveling along I-70 Eastbound in central/western Utah. The desert is pretty cool, even if there are big yellow signs warning you to stay alert and to pull over if you get drowsy. You see a sign for a…
Photos from Near the Nautilus
A few weeks ago, I posted a trip report for hiking to the Nautilus in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. In that post, I couldn’t possibly include all of the amazing photographs that I took, not of the Nautilus itself, but…
An Off-trail Hike up Coffin Peak
There’s nothing quite like climbing Coffin Peak in the Black Mountains of Death Valley to see the Funeral Mountains. That’s just too much of a single theme if you ask me! But it’s actually a fun off-trail trek, without too…
Exploring Round Valley Draw
I only did one real slot canyon in Utah last fall (that doesn’t count Resurrection Canyon and Wiregrass Canyon, which I did earlier in the trip, but which weren’t very slot-y). Round Valley Draw was introduced to me as being…
The Painted Desert’s Wilderness Loop
My top favorite trail I did in Petrified Forest National Park last fall was the Wilderness Route Loop through the Painted Desert. Actually, it’s not a trail at all; it’s loosely connected GPS coordinates that take you to some delightful…