After our night out in Moab and a warm comfy hotel room the last thing we really wanted to do was to get up early! Our original plan had been to get up, drive the 2.5hrs down the Needles district of Canyonlands and hike in to Druid Arch. Well, after the disappointment of the Syncline Loop and not really wanted to waste 5hrs driving we decided to hit the Murphy Loop in the Islands in the Sky district and what a great choice!
Looking down into the valley with the trail visible
The Murphy Loop is about 9miles and 1400ft of elevation gain and it’s exactly the sort of trail that I had hoped for out Canyonlands. It carries you across the tops of some huge mesas and then drops you down 1000 ft to the bottom of the canyon where you can see probably 3 more similar drops all the way down to the formative Colorado River.
Looking down into the valley with the trail visible
Me posing with the valley
Jon and Jamie pre-adventure
Choices, choices!
We started out the hike along the “hogback” and then returned via the “wash”, I would advocate this route to anyone else that is doing this trail as it starts you out nice and high and you slowly work your way down in the valley.
The gully we descended
This is a shot looking back at the start of the trail, all of the posing shots were taken at the top of this mesa and we descended along ledges down the middle of the gully! Despite how it may appear at first glance though it really is a well built, clearly marked, and overall safe trail.
Canyonlands
Canyonlands
These were exactly the kind of views I had hope for out of Canyonlands and the hike around the Murphy Loop more than made up for my disapointment the day before in both the Syncline Loop and the Moab Brewery, they were that good! Where the trail ends and it meets the road they have 4×4 camp spots with what I swear are the worlds strongest looking outhouses. I kid you not, you could probably survive a full on desert sandstorm in one of those and probably an attack by a sandworm too.
Jamie takes in the view
That’s right, I’m a tough guy!
But I can’t touch the towers
There is a little road-walking before the trails pick up again and you’re back on the “wash” route. We were pretty engrossed in conversation and nearly missed the turn actually! I wonder how long we would have gone along the road for before noticing our mistake? The wash makes a good trail, again it follows a drainage resulting in a windy (wine-dee not win-dee) path and a sandy surface for walking on that is more tiring than you’d expect.
Right before popping out of the drainage we came across this little gem of a spot, I’ve never been so dry in the bottom of stream bed before!
I feel like I’m scuba diving 10,000 years too late!
I can still climb though
Even if just a little
Sheer cliffs
Sheer cliffs
Back up the gully
The grunt back up the gully was straightforward and easily accomplished, we kept a good pace and the well built trail took us right back up to the top.
Neat patterns
Obligatory trail sign
We arrived back at the trailhead in the middle of the afternoon and never ones to waste daylight we figured we aught to amble in to the Upheaval Dome lookout and see what all the fuss was about. We had originally planned to do so after hiking the Syncline loop but didn’t have the energy or enthusiasm for it then.
As I said in my previous post, the lookout trail is really well worth the effort and we we moseyed in to take a look.
Small figures at the overlook
Jamie takes in the view
Walking back out we both realized how incredibly relaxed we were and how nice of a vacation this had been so far. We both love mountaineering and going for summits but taking a break from that and spending some time in the desert was wonderful. Don’t get me wrong we still hiked 30+ miles and gained some elevation but there was less pressure and great weather too.
The last stop in Canyonlands was a viewpoint right before the gates. I can’t remember the name now but it was an amazing sight to see! That’s a road down there rather than a hiking trail and check out the size of the truck in the next pictures.
Looking down into a huge canyon (that’s a truck road, not a trail)
See, trucks!
Really cool! I definitely want to go back to Canyonlands and explore some more. Arches was neat, and we covered it well in day but I think Canyonlands has a lot more adventure in there still.
That night we drove back up to Arches and camped in the Devil’s Garden again one more time. I’ve always had a fascination with long shutter speeds and especially star-trails so these pictures are the best that I took that night. This one was a 30min exposure and I’m pretty pleased with how it came out.
Night shot at camp
This next one was an hour-long exposure of our neighbours tent all lit up from the inside. Unfortunately the clouds rolled in and obscured most of the sky, but I’m still pleased with the overall effect.
1hr exposure of our neighbours tent
