Talking Rockies

A New Mobile Guide Intended to Cause Upheaval (Dome)

Together with Utah hiking writer David Day, TalkingRockies has another mobile hiking guide in the iTunes App Store: ArchesCanyonlands. As I worked on adapting Dave’s great content to work in a mobile guide, it took extra concentration to stay on the task, and not start rounding up gear, jumping in the car and pointing to to Moab, Utah. There are things out there I just want to see! This sun-baked redoubt has an arrangement of terrain like nowhere in the world, with the snow-capped La Sal mountains on the east, presiding over rolling expanses of sunbaked terrain.

To make it easier for the first movers, the app is out at an introductory price of just $3.99. This offer is only good until the end of March, and then the price goes back up to the normal range for great content of this quality.

The purpose of this guide is to get you out into the backcountry, away from the masses, and take in the amazing sights back there.

Arches is a small park, with lots of really short hikes, and there just isn’t as much backcountry back there. However, there are a few longer hikes we want you to know about (and we put Delicate Arch in there just because it’s sui generis). So, here it is

• Devils Garden and the primitive trail. A varied loop hike with 10 natural arches in their different stages of development, from nascent to mature (Landscape, vying for world's longest) collapsed (Wall Arch). A  fin-top walk to Double O and the Dark Angel, and a primitive hike back through Fin Canyon.
• Delicate Arch. A short hike up a slickrock wedge to Utah’s talismanic geologic feature. Pleasant winter weather makes this hike a great cure for the winter blahs or any form of Cabin Fever. Be ready to share the trail with throngs of fellow wanderers.
• Lower Courthouse Wash. A pleasant riparian walk down a pretty wash carved into Navajo Sandstone. Start inside the park and finish just short of the Colorado River. There’s usually water, so there are cottonwoods and tamarisks all along it. Some people go barefoot in the sand.

The Moab area has some great hikes, and we wanted to tell you about 3 of the best:

• Mount Tukunikivatz. Saying the Ute name is fun (too-koo-NIH-ki-vahts), but hiking it is much better. Walk in Edward Abbey’s footsteps on this steep route-finding route to the top of one of the La Sal Mountains’ most famous 12,000-footers, and a stunning alpine contrast to the sunburned red rock all around. Earn vistas of “a sea of burnt rock, arid tablelands, barren and desolate canyons.” This is a challenging, exposed hike on loose talus.



• Fisher Towers. A short hike to geologic features that look like petrified skyscrapers, with branching arroyos as streets. Pass a half-dozen towers and end at The Titan. Climbers love these brick-red towers, adding to the interest of this hike. A breathtaking sunset promenade.
• Negro Bill Canyon. Named after William Granstaff, an African-American rancher, this gash in the Navajo Sandstone provides a verdant streamside stroll in a Wilderness Study Area, ending with a stunning natural bridge carved by a waterfall instead of a stream. The mouth of the canyon was the scene of a fracas when the locals bulldozed a newly-erected barrier as a protest, kicking off the “Sagebrush Rebellion” (which enjoyed a shorter life than Disco).

The hikes in Canyonlands are pure magic, with candy-striped hoodoos lined up in tantalizing rows, a huge impact crater, riparian pathways through parched terrain, a stunning confluence of two mighty rivers, and an abundance of Ancestral Puebloan (Anasazi) pictographs and dwellings.

• Alcove Spring Trail, Island in the Sky. A there-and-back stroll down to an oasis under a sandstone alcove, then a canyon walk to a spur of the White Rim Trail. Visit a formation that resembles Moses talking to Zeus. Possible as a day hike, or a nice overnighter.
• Big Spring Canyon-Elephant Canyon Loop, Needles. A good, long loop hike through three different washes with a fine traverse of undulating sandstone between whimsical formations on the final stretch. The traverses between the washes add to the interest of the hike. Lots of variety, and the best of many great loop hikes from here.
• Chesler Park, Needles. A loop walk through canyons and pinnacles, across Elephant Canyon, over slickrock and to an uncharacteristic broad, flat meadow in the middle of craggy sandstone terrain. A tight squeeze through the Joint Trail from the Chesler Park Trailhead, the best part.
• Confluence Overlook, Needles. A rigorous stroll on an up-and-down, wind-around trail across broken terrain takes you to the spot where John W. Powell first took in this magnificent view of the mighty Green and Colorado Rivers flowing together in the sun-baked rocks.
• Druid Arch, Needles. A jaw-dropping, there-and-back stroll along the bottom of Elephant Canyon to an arch that looks like an inspiration for Stonehenge. Small springs and pools along the bottom of the canyon. A nonstop show of varied formations in a rainbow of colors.
• Lost Canyon Loop, Needles. A loop hike through a canyon that’s deeper and greener than the nearby Squaw Canyon, making this spot dear to cattle and cowboys in the first half of the 20th Century. Check out the side trip to the Cowboy Camp if you want more adventure.



• Murphy Trail Loop, Island in the Sky. This loop hike lets you enjoy Canyonlands's wild beauty and expansive vistas on an historic cattle trail and a segment of the White Rim Trail. The bends of the Green River come into view with glances of The Needles and other exotic formations all around.
• Peekaboo Trail, Needles. A through-hike over broken terrain, from the Squaw Flat Trailhead to the Peekaboo Camp on the Salt Wash Trail. Either a long there-and-back trek or a one-way with shuttle cars at the end. Exquisite Fremont pictographs at Peekaboo.
• Salt Creek, Needles, 4 days, 3 nights. A 4-day backcountry reek in the Salt Creek area. Arches and Ancient Puebloan ruins and petroglyphs, as well as the remains of old ranching operations abound. The star pictograph is All American Man. Since traffic was closed here, bears have come back, so keep it clean.
• Upheaval Dome, Island in the Sky. Start from the edge a massive and ancient impact crater about 3 times as old as the Colorado Plateau itself, and visible from space. Skirt this fascinating blemish on the Syncline Loop Trail, and optionally work your way to its center. One of the most popular hikes in Canyonlands.

Try this app out, and no matter what you do, find some time to get out on these great trails! Get it in March only for $3.99 on .

*The photo of Delicate Arch is by John Ross. The photos of Tukuhnikivatz and Canyonlands are by David Day.