Canyonlands White Rim Trail - September

Sorry for the very long delay in this post, an unfortunate incident with the camera occurred on this trip as well as some technical difficulties with the computer severely limited my ability to upload photos and do anything with them. Luckily Doug got me a new camera for Christmas (early) and the computer problems still aren't solved, but I can at least work around them. So on to the post:

In late September we dropped Rachel off with Grandma Cindy and headed 8 hours southwest of here to Canyonlands National Park...specifically the Island in the Sky district for a 4 night, 100 mile mountain bike/4-wheeling trip on the White Rim Trail. We drove through a snow storm crossing the continental divide and then ended up in 80-90 degree temps in Western CO and Utah, which was interesting in it's own right. We were invited on the trip by Doug's co-worker Cory Bolen, who had reserved our camping areas and entry permits, the group originally in the 14-15 person range ended up being 4 and a 1/2, with Caleb being the 1/2. My primary duty was the sag-wagon driver, which I was fine with, riding a bike 100 miles on rough and sometimes steep terrain didn't sound nearly as fun as driving the truck. In the end I did ride about 24 miles of main trail and side trips which was good for me. The trip was a lot of fun and included some pretty amazing scenery...the photos do not do it justice. I would recommend it to anyone who likes adventures and isn't afraid of leaving technology of almost every kind behind.

We started out at the visitor center leaving all the cars except Cory's truck behind, now we didn't travel lightly the entire truck was packed with all the necessities of 40+ gallons of water, some beer, lots of gourmet camping food and even some toys.

We did the trail in a clockwise direction meaning the rivers and white rim cliffs were to our left. Starting down the Shafer trail, Cory, Doug and Milena...the trail goes for about a mile of nice easy grade down hill until...

the Neck Spring portion of the trail which is a lot steeper/narrower/rougher and longer than this picture could ever describe. The road surface was so slick and steep that braking (both on bikes and the truck) just made you slide, thus my first prolonged experience with 4WD Low and confirmation that the truck was a better way down for me, and then came corner after corner that the truck could barely make...lets just say "nervous sweaty palms"

Caleb's position in the passenger seat for about 90% of the ride, making 4-wheeling sounds, and becoming hysterical with joy over the steep and rough sections

One of our photo op spots atop Musselman Arch, the lighting isn't very good but we are standing on a natural bridge several hundred feet above the ground and only about 5 feet wide and 5 feet thick

Our first campsite (Airport) about 11 miles/3 hours from the visitor center...looks a little bit like an ad for Toyota, the scenery is beautiful and desolate at the same time, not much for shade or greenery around this area.

The next morning we backtracked about a mile to make a side trip down the 4 mile Lathrop Canyon, one of the trips that I rode down, although I will admit there were a few sections that I walked out of fear for my life...and rightly so, rocks had to be stacked in some sections to allow the truck passageway. At the bottom of Lathrop Canyon, which was essentially a huge sandy dry wash at the time. Our first and what turned out to be the only time down to the Colorado river, we all cooled our feet and a few attempted swimming, but the current was very strong and the water on the cool side. We ate lunch here and then made our way another rough 11 miles to Gooseberry campsite. Caleb got a turn riding in the trailer on a few mile section to the camp, but it turned out to still be quite bumpy and a little scary for him.

The next morning we embarked on our longest (mileage wise) day, luckily the road started getting significantly smoother (averaging 15-20 mph instead of 5-10) but was not without it's really hairy spots either

Again the picture doesn't do the steepness justice, but if you look close you can see my head popped out of the window trying to find the road, several of these white rim areas are just a big piece of rock and from the steering wheel vantage point you can't see over the hood to see what is below you or how far away it is all you know is it it down.
Another side trip out to White Crack just north of the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers, that is me straddling the crack, which goes straight down about 500 feet

The common type of scenery to the left of us for the entire trip, the actual white rim is the top parts of those rock formations as well as what we were travelling on

The steep climb up Murphy Hogback, probably the steepest climb we ever did, again I was glad to be in the truck slowly crawling up in 4 low.
Everyone made it to the top but none without a little walking due to various degrees of broken bikes and tip overs...this ends up being a turning point in the trip as Cory's bike is not repairable, which means we cram 3 of us in the front of the truck or I ride...he wouldn't ride my girly non-technical bike! Caleb really like working on the bikes as a break from riding in the truck. We still had 10 miles left till our next camp (Candlestick) we crammed 3 in the cab for this section as it was almost all steep and pretty rough downhill.

Candlestick camp about 100 yards from this cliff edge overlooking the Green River, Doug and Caleb having the doomsday talk about getting too close to the edge.


The next morning I started riding to avoid the crammed truck situation and by the look of the maps the ride was going to be pretty easy, a couple miles into the ride we got to the slot canyon and went for a hike, you can see the truck at the top of the photo, it was amazing how it just started right next to the road. Here is Caleb trying to figure out how to navigate the slots.

The three of us trying to navigate the canyon while avoiding the mud in all of the flat parts, several time Caleb was passed around like a bucket in a fire brigade.

Cory and Doug jumped down to the bottom of this wall and kept hiking till they couldn't physically pass through, the photo isn't the greatest but gives a good scale to the size of the canyon.

Doug and I riding from the slot canyon along the Green River towards our lunch break spot at Potato Bottom, it was interesting that the Green River truly was green, while the Colorado was brown.

Doug starting the climb up out of Potato Bottom to the top of a ridge overlooking Fort Bottom (I am once again a passenger)

Hiking out on the ridge to the Fort Bottom Ruin, Caleb was quite the trooper today with the slot canyon and the 4 mile hike in very extreme heat. This ridge in a couple of places was only a foot wide as you zig-zagged across the top, notice Doug holding tightly onto Caleb's hand. In the distance you can see the ruin on top of the knob at the end of the ridge.
The Fort Bottom Ruin

Finally a much needed shade and water break

Looking back at the climb up to the ridge...glad I was a passenger

From this point we had a downhill ride then a couple sandy dry wash sections to our last camp at Labyrinth right on the river, we were there fairly early in the evening and we all went swimming in the river, Doug was able to wade all the way across the river without going above his head.

The parting shot from our camp at early sunrise of the Green River and the White Rim above. We had a great last night in a beautiful campsite, got up early almost before the sun to get packed up climb back up the 1400 feet and make the long drive home.