Devil's Garden Hike - Arches National Park

On Saturday January 7^th I traveled to Arches National Park near Moab, UT to go on a popular day hike called the Devil’s Garden.  I arrived at Arches mid morning and checked the weather at the visitor center.  They told me there was a chance for rain or snow.  I decided that I had already come this far and I was prepared for a chance of precipitation.

Edward Abby would wish I didn't drive, but I always enjoy the drive through Arches, its not too long and the view from the road is spectacular.

I then took off up the trail. The Devil’s Garden Loop is about 7 miles round trip.  It was January so I didn’t expect there to be huge crowds of people, but there were still about 15-20 people milling about at the trail head. The weather was partially cloudy and temperatures in the upper 40s.

Landscape Arch

I followed a very well maintained “developed” trail until I came across Landscape Arch.  Landscape Arch is the longest arch in the park (Rainbow Bridge National Monument at Glen Canyon is the longest in the world).  I will just say a few words about each Arch, my un-poetic words and untrained photography really do not give justice to most of the things I come across out west.  Landscape is nested in a hillside that has eroded; the evidence of recent erosion can be seen below the arch.  A sign at the view point explains that we are not to go any farther because pieces of the arch are still falling. 

Partition Arch

Navajo Arch (from inside it)

After snapping a photo I continued up the trail, which was now a “primitive” trail.  I had to follow cairns up some slick rock to reach the first junction in the trail.  I chose to check out the two side trails that each lead out to an arch.  Within a half mile I was able to get up close and personal with Navajo and Partition Arches.  Partition Arch was named for the division between the two holes.  Navajo Arch was pretty spectacular.  As I approached it, it didn’t seem like much, but different from the other arches I had seen, this one was more of a doorway into a canyon that resembled a 200 foot wind tunnel. 

Looking out on the hike at the Lasal Mountains 

I returned to the main trail and continued out to Double O Arch and Dark Angel.  I had to cover more ground to get to these features.  While hiking out to them I observed some weather moving in over the Lasal Mountains in the distance.  I made note of it and continued.  As I hiked along some of the ledges and other rock formations I thought how much it would suck to fall and get stuck.  I wasn’t really worried about me, I packed to be prepared.  However, I saw a lot of people hiking in street shoes and wearing only a hooded sweatshirt.  I guess that this is normal for park visitors to not prepare for the activity they are doing.

Double O Arch

I finally arrived at the Double O Arch.  It was pretty cool, one on top of the other.  I had to wait a while to take a photo, because some folks had climbed on top of the Arch.  I was a bit annoyed with these guys, there are signs everywhere saying stay off the rock features, if they fell I would be obligated to provide EMS, and it was just rude to myself and the other hikers who had to wait to get a photo while a couple of people played on them. 

Dark Angel

Anyways I got the shot and hiked out to the last feature, Dark Angel.  Dark Angel is a spire that juts out of the ground randomly.  It was cool; I didn’t sense any dark forces at work there, just a crazy guy hiding in the bushes. 

Snow Falling on an Arches Sunset

After that I hiked back with a father and son who had been exploring the area for a few days.  We also stopped at the Windows trying to get a sunset photo, but the snow had other plans.  We had some good discussions and ended up grabbing some food in Moab post hike.  Overall the hike was good, it is one I would do again.

My thoughts on the shooting at Mt. Rainier

As many already know, on January 1, 2012 the National Park Service Lost one of our fellow Ranger’s in the line of duty.  Ranger Margaret Anderson was shot while attempting to stop a fleeing vehicle at Mt. Rainier National Park. 

As an active Law Enforcement Ranger and member of the close-nit NPS family this incident hit close to home. When I first heard about it, my initial reaction was to play out in my mind how to organize a response if I was working there at the time.  I then thought about how this would affect the staff at Mt. Rainier, Margaret’s family and the NPS as a whole. 

I should take a minute to talk about what I mean by the NPS family.  When working in remote areas, living in government housing areas, most Park Service employees only have their coworkers as neighbors, and friends to socialize with.  This means that after that search and rescue call that everyone worked on; we all go home and then gather at one ranger’s house for beers and a communal meal. We have to rely on each other 200% on duty and then again after work is over.  Rangers in the NPS typically move around the country working at different parks throughout their careers, building a very tight network. So when I say NPS family, I am speaking very literally. 

I personally never got a chance to meet Margaret, but some of my close coworkers did know her quite well.  While the events at Mt. Rainier were unfolding I know there were hundreds of phone calls between Rangers across the country consoling each other.  The outpouring of support in the days following that incident was as comforting as can be expected under those circumstances. 

The thoughts that I take away from this incident are those of pride and sorrow.  I felt horrible for Margaret’s family, including her two children, and for all of her friends and coworkers across the country.  But as I sat in my ranger uniform streaming the memorial serivce video at the District Ranger Station here in Bullfrog; I understood 100% why she loved the job she did, and the selfless action she took to stop a killer in an area of the park known as Paradise.  I can’t remember which important person in a suit it was that said it during the service “the Park Ranger is a noble profession”. 

There is an old quote from Stephen Mather, First Director of the National Park Service “If a trail is to be blazed, send a Ranger, if an animal is floundering in the snow, send a Ranger, if a bear is in a hotel, send a Ranger, if a fire threatens a forest, send a Ranger, and if someone needs to be saved, send a Ranger.” That was said in the early 1900s and is still true today.  However, in our current society Mather would need to add a few lines such as “if a drug smuggler is in the backcountry, if thousands of protesters show up at the gates, if a drunk crashes their car, and if a gunman is on the loose, send a ranger”

I am no longer surprised when a shocked visitor asks me “Ranger, why do you have a gun on your hip”.  In the mind of the average park visitor the park is a special, almost a sacred place to retreat from the troubles of the world.  I think that when people can ask me that, it means that the sacredness of the National Parks still exists at some level.  The incident at Mt. Rainier has brought to light for many how such horrible things can happen in such great places. 

I hope that while the nation now knows of the sacrifice that one Ranger gave to protect the people and resources of Mt. Rainer, there should be comfort in knowing that across the country hundreds more Rangers are there to make everyone’s stay a safe and enjoyable one.

Rest in Peace Ranger Anderson, we’ve got the watch from here.

Trips in the Henry Mountains

One of the more spectacular local sites to see out here is the Henry Mountains.  Located between Bullfrog and Hanksville Utah, they are a small range of mountains that contrast the surrounding canyon country quite well.  I've done a bunch of day trips up to this area, its only 20 miles from my house!

I took a few trips up this fall, the roads are in good shape (as long as you have a 4x4).  Being a forestry student I  checked out a lot of the trees.  There was a fire that traveled through the area about 7 years ago.  I am hoping that some of the Ponderosa Pine will start to regrow.  There are also a lot of Juniper, Pinyon Pine, and Aspen Groves. I have found the Henry's to be a  great break from the brutal Lake Powell heat in the summer.  Temps up in the mountains only reach into the 80s, which is much appreciated on the 115 degree days at lower elevations.  I've found more wildlife per square mile than almost any tract of land back in Iowa.

A few "facts" I've learned from talking to the locals out here:

• They are home to one of two surviving natural herds of bison, the other being the Yellowstone herd.
• There are two 11,000+ foot peaks Mt. Ellen and Pennel 
• They were formed by lava pushing up on the rock
• They were the last "discovered" and explored mountain range in the US
• "Its BLM land, so anything goes, like international waters" - don't trust everything people say 

So needless to say, there is a lot of cool stuff up there and I will just let the photos do the talking.  It would be safe to guess that this will not be the last posting about the area.

I found an old mining cabin, maybe future home?

The "Bullfrog" on the back of Mt. Holmes, as seen at mile marker 19 of HWY 276

Some Fall Color

A beautiful little grove

Pedestal Alley Hike

There are just a few actual established nature hikes in the Bullfrog District of Glen Canyon NRA, Pedestal Alley is by far my favorite.  Its an easy 3 hour hike.  I recommend doing it in the fall or spring, since the sumer here is quite hot.  The hike starts off of the Burr Tail, north of the Bullfrog Developed Area. It takes you across open desert land along a wash.  After about a half mile. You take a turn onto some slick rock and follow some well established cairns (little piles of rocks to denote the trail) for another half mile around a mesa and boom you're there.

The attached photos show the Pedestals, they are similar to the "hoodoos" that you might find at Brice Canyon National Park.  I thought it was interesting how the spires were of such different sizes.  I took these photos to share, but as with almost anything out west, its better in person.

This one was more than 60 feet tall

Escape to the Mountains

Last month I was able to get some time off and meet my family at Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a well needed break from the Lake Powell heat. We were able to go on some hikes in both the lowland areas and in the alpine areas.  As a forester, I was excited to see trees again. As with so many places I've been,I took a lot of photos but they hardly do justice to the landscape. This is an area  I could see myself working in in the future.

Quzel Falls Trail

New growth!

Up in the high country

I do enjoy alpine plants

Found a Moose in the woods.

Cataract Canyon

Big Drop #2

A Tour Group Riding the wave

The NPS Jet Boat on Standby

My view from the spotter tent

Sunrise at My Tent

The Hite Bridge

Well, I’ve made it back safe and sound from Cataract Canyon.  Eight days on the Colorado River was awesome.  I was able to see a lot of new areas that are in Glen Canyon and I got to travel through Canyonlands National Park as well. 

As I had stated in my previous post, we were sent to Cataract to do preventative search and rescue.  With the extremely high water flows, many boat were having difficulty navigating the Class V rapids. In addition to rescue, we still checked permits and other rangering duties.

We set a base camp down below the “Big Drop Rapids” at Ten Cent Camp.  This was a nice sandy beach that is right along the river.  From here we would respond to all the boats and rafts that ran the rapids above us.  As part of the operation we set up an observation post above the rapids and we took turns spotting for inbound boats.  Having this eye in the sky helped the rest of the team on the rescue boat to know what is headed down river.

Speaking of the rescue boat, it was very impressive.  A 400+ horse power jet driven boat. This boat was able to drive up the rapids to get where ever needed.  It was always fun and a bit frightening to cruise up such a powerful river.  You can imagine that there was a lot of bouncing around and walls of water crashing over the boat, aka fun. On a few occasions I was allowed to drive it, and I was glad that I had an experienced river ranger guiding me through navigating the white water,

We ended up doing a few rescues of people in the water.  Everyone was okay after getting on land and catching their breath.  I can speak from experience that floating down the rapids in just a life jacket is not fun, I was very glad to see our boat come to pick me up and pull me back in.

At the end of the week long shift, I was asked to drive one of the boats out of the canyon to Hite.  This was a very special boat.  It was a “J-Rig” that had served as the fuel dock for our jet boat.  This was just a floating gas can, and of course the engine had died, leaving me with a 15 horse power back up engine… It was a long slow trip to Hite, UT. I was very glad to be back in Bullfrog (jokingly called civilization). After eight days on the river I needed a shower real bad. I was also very glad to see some of my favorite Bullfrogers again.

So its 4^th of July weekend now back at Lake Powell, and I’ve been busy already.  Time to get ready for another shift.

Off into the Great Abyss

Its been a few weeks since my last entry. I have been loving life at Lake Powell. Work has kept me quite busy, but that's how it goes. We have a great group of people to work with. It makes all the difference.

Recreationally, I've been working on my tan and other beach activities. We are looking into brewing our own beer "Bullfrog Brew" as a hobbie. The fish are starting to bite, just never when I have my pole in the water.

Currently I am at Arches National Park, crashing on another ranger's couch. Tomorrow morning I am headed off into the abyss (Quote from John Wesley Powell, the original Colorado River runner). I am joining rangers from Canyonlands on an assignhment at Cataract Canyon on the border of Glen Canyon and Canyonlands. We will be doing search and rescue for 7 days and camping out on the river. Its going to be a lot to learn, but I am quite excited. Cataract Canyon has world class rapids and with the current snow melt from the rockies, the river is flowing fast.

I will be taking a few photos to share upon my return to civilization.

Untill then, take care.