Canyonlands in February

I visited Canyonlands yesterday with my father and step-mother, mainly because it is too snowy in Moab to mountain bike. However, with a high of 40 degrees and a beautiful sunny day, this was not a day to miss. We drove an hour and a half down the highway to the Needles district, stopped by to say hi to the lonely ranger at the Visitors Center, then set off on a day hike from Squaw Flat Campground to Chesler Park. We never saw another person all day. Needles was all ours.

The trail system in Needles District felt a bit more primitive than in other National Parks. We scrambled up and down a few steep ledges and drops that while capable of being handled by fit septuagenarians, definitely felt typically untrail-like. The winter season had erased some of the marks of the thousands of tourists of distant summers past, and patches of snow still languished across the trails along northern slopes and in other shady spots. The trails were well-marked with cairns, however, and every interesection was well-signed. Otherwise, I would have felt a bit disoriented as we traversed over low ridges and dropped into canyons and washes as our path meandered crazily across the park.

Arriving at Chesler Park, we discovered that much of the day had slipped away, and so we picked up our pace a little on our way back. To ensure that we would minimize any problems getting back before dark, we came back down the nice, wide Elephant Wash to reconnect with our outgoing trail and follow it back to the car rather than heading down the longer, as yet unexplored Big Spring Canyon. We realized that we did not have a flashlight along, and I hear it gets very cold and lonely in the canyon when the sun goes down. Our hike went smoothly, and we arrived back at the car at 4:30pm, then headed back to Moab for Thursday night burgers at the Moab Brewery. Total time: 6 hours; total distance: 12.5 miles.