Hike Canyonlands Park and More

 Departure: Oct 11-17, 2010

7 Days/6 Nights: Starting and Ending in Durango, CO

Group Size: Minimum: 10                        Maximum: 20

Co-Sponsor: Adirondak Mountain Club

Highlights

Explore Needles District of Canyonlands National Park, the less well-known or crowded part. The Needles District forms the southeast corner of Canyonlands and was named for the colorful spires of Cedar Mesa Sandstone that dominate the area. The district’s extensive trail system provides many opportunities for long day hikes and overnight trips. Foot trails and four-wheel-drive roads lead to such features as Tower Ruin, Confluence Overlook, Elephant Hill, the Joint Trail, and Chesler Park. Each day we will hike into and out of remote canyons, mostly on trails, with some backcountry hiking to see spectacular views of Monument Valley, Navajo Mountain, and/or the Henry Mountains.

Program Features

• Participate in a unique, unforgettable, and small group setting
• Learn through hands-on education, exploration, and discovery of places most people don't know exist
• Hikes from 1 - 11 miles per day RT at elevations of 5,000 to 7,000 feet
• 5 nights in a motel near Monticello, Utah/1 night in a hotel in Durango, CO, All meals in restaurants except lunches on the trail
• Visit multiple areas of Needles District of Canyonlands Park, Grand Gulch, Lowry Ruins
• Evening programs by expert staff

Itinerary

Day 1-Monday Oct 11-Arrive Durango, CO by 2pm. Drive to Monticello, UT (2 hours). Dinner and orientation.  Stay at Roughlock Inn for 5 nights.

Day 2-Tuesday-Oct 12-Drive 1 hour then hike from Squaw Flat Campground to Peak-a-boo Springs (10.4 miles). This trail connects Squaw Flat Campground with Salt Creek Canyon. The route crosses two other canyons on the way to Salt Creek, and some minor scrambling is required in a few places to get in and out of the streambeds, especially in Lost Canyon. Lost Canyon was an important location for the early ranchers who ran cattle in the Needles District during the first part of the last century because it is one of the few canyons in this area that contains a relatively reliable water source. Just before reaching Salt Creek the trail passes below an interesting panel of Indian pictographs. This art was painted on the cliff face by the Fremont culture sometime before 1300 AD. The white, shield-like drawings are typical of Fremont art, although there is no evidence that the Fremonts ever established permanent dwellings in the canyon. Also you will see drawings laid down over the top of another very faint collection of reddish-brown paintings that are obviously much older. In fact the underlying art was painted on the cliff face at least a thousand years before the Fremont by the Archaic People who lived in these canyons between 2,000 and 8,000 years ago.

Day 3 Wednesday Oct 13- Hike to Chesler Park and through the Joint Trail (10 miles). Hiking this trail brings visitors to a saddle overlooking Chesler Park, a scenic expanse of desert grasses and shrubs surrounded by colorful sandstone spires. The loop around Chesler is fairly level and winds through a series of deep, narrow fractures called the Joint Trail. If possible, visit Druid Arch.

Day 4- Thursday-Oct 14- Drive 1 hour then hike the Confluence Overlook Trail (11 miles)
from Big Spring Canyon Overlook. 
Unlike other hikes in the district, this trail traverses mostly dry, open country along the northern edge of the geologic faults that shaped the Needles. Trail ends at a cliff overlooking the junction of the Green and Colorado rivers.

Day 5-Friday-Oct 15- Drive 1 hour for a full day hiking in Grand Gulch Primitive Area on Cedar Mesa to see the “Big Man Panel”.  The 8-mile round trip hike will follow an old road, zig-zag down an old horse trail, and then follow the wash upstream to a panel of large anthropomorphs located high above the canyon floor.  This panel is well worth the effort to find. One of the large figures at Big Man Panel has a waist decoration similar to the large anthropomorphs on the San Juan River. Big Man Panel is named for the other large, dominant Basketmaker Style figure with its more certain gender identification. They both have rounded heads with ghostly eyes and pigtail hair. Their shoulders are broad and square. Their torsos include outlining and detailing in white. Handprints, smaller anthropomorphs, geometric figures and tally lines surround them, mostly in white paint. Spend the night in the Roughlock Inn. (B, L, D)

Day 6-Saturday-Oct 16-Drive to Lowry Ruins. Lowry Pueblo had a total of about 40 rooms and 8 kivas at its peak in the early 11th century, and was home to approximately 100 people. The pueblo was arranged in a roughly rectangular block, with some portions reaching as high as three stories. A great kiva, constructed outside the eastern limits of the village, is nearly 50 feet in diameter. Unlike most sites, two different cultural traditions are evident at Lowry. Portions of the pueblo are similar to early styles of Chacoan architecture and later additions are more characteristic of those styles found at Mesa Verde. Lowry was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1967 and in 2000 became part of the Canyons of the Ancients National Monument.  The drive to the Anasazi Heritage Center Museum near Dolores, Co. Lastly visit Notah Dineh Trading post for some last minute shopping.  Then drive back to Durango for a final celebratory dinner at a restaurant and night in a motel.

Day 7- Sunday-Oct 17-Depart for airport after breakfast. Flights out after 9am. Cost:  $1,480.  Price includes all food from dinner on Day 1 to breakfast on Day 7, transportation from/to Durango, CO airport, expert staff and guides, and park fees. Airfare, personal items not included. Single Supplement $260.  If you request a roommate, every effort will be made to find you one.  If no roommate is available, you will be charged the single supplement fee.

Expert Staff

Brett LeCompte, B.A. Geography and Environmental Studies, is an author and solo trekker. He has guided trips for Grand Canyon Trail Guides, NOLS, Outward Bound, Hurricane Island Outward Bound, Deer Hill Summer Expeditions, and Northern Kenya Expeditions over the last 25 years. His book, Southwest Circle Quest, describes one of his several 1,000-mile-plus solo expeditions.