I’ve been eager to get back to Salt Creek Canyon in Canyonlands National Park since exploring
Horse Canyon and the
southern end of Salt Creek this spring. This trip to Angel Arch made a great overnight backpacking trip.
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| Rabbitbrush fills the canyon with golden blossoms. |
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| Following the fresh bear tracks for the first two hours. Shouting "hey" around all the blind corners just like when I hiked in Montana. Even though there are "only" black bears in Utah, I still don't want to startle one. |
Many people do a one-way hike of Salt Creek Canyon but I just had my two
day weekend. An out and back gave me more time to explore side canyons,
chase butterflies, and watch clouds.
Seeing the fresh bear tracks made me nervous since I was going solo and tend to be a quiet hiker. So I was happy to meet a friendly couple near the trailhead who were just finishing a long hike who reported they hadn't had any trouble. They also reported that there was only one place with flowing clear water but that I would have no trouble finding it. They were the only people I saw all day so I was glad for such good intel.
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| After ominous clouds move through all morning, finally large raindrops splash on rocks and fill the air with the scent of rain. |
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| The burn area near the side canyon to Angel Arch. |
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| Angel Arch really is quite spectacular especially in real life and made a satisfying turn-around point. |
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| Trying to hide from the wind behind a juniper. I moved my bear canister far from camp before bed. Thankfully there were no critters to bother me during the night. |
On my way back to the trailhead the next day, I saw arches and archaeological sites I had missed on my rush to reach Angel Arch.
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| How could I have missed this arch the first day? |
I used to ignore all the white butterflies thinking they were all the same. But it turns out there are several different species of whites with subtle differences. Like most everything in nature, there is pleasure in becoming engrossed (and lost) in the small details.
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| Becker’s white (Pontia beckerii) |
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| Checkered white (Pontia protodice) |
There are also more field crescents flying around. I love how they have such variability in coloration within the same species. Seeing how some are very bright, others more dull, some darker, some more orange made me wish I could study them to find out what accounts for all the variation.
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| Field crescent (Phyciodes pulchella) |
More Information
Permits are required for camping in Canyonlands National Park.
Bear canisters are required for overnight trips to Salt Creek Canyon. I brought my own but you can also borrow them for free from the Needles visitor center. You also need to pack out your poop in a wag bag.
Salt Canyon has a rich history of the Ancestral Puebloan and Fremont peoples. The Salt Creek Archaeological District is on the National Register of Historic Places. I have chosen to not publish my photos of archaeological sites and pictographs that I saw in order to help protect them and to allow others to “discover” them on their own. Do your part to help protect the archaeological sites and pictographs by staying off them and not touching them.
Dates: September 23-24, 2017
What stunning images.! Bears would worry me . I see you are on the ground . No trees I assume and looks like a fragile environment. Thanks for sharing .
ReplyDeleteIt's a beautiful spot. I was concerned about bears because there were lots of signs and I'm not familiar with the black bears in this area. In other places I've hiked, there are habituiated bears that aren't scared of people and have experience with human food. Those areas make me nervous because those bears become a problem.
DeleteI didn't know if the bears around here were habituiated, or if people have been properly storing their food in bear canisters to keep the bears (and humans) safe. I'm hoping everyone in this area is complying with the bear canister rules. The one black bear I saw in Utah near here did run away quickly when he heard me and that makes me hopefully that bears around here are not habituiated.
Yes I choose to bring my tent on this trip because I wanted more options of where to sleep and I knew it would be very windy. I'm getting better about sleeping on the ground. It was still challenging to find a campsite because of all the delicate soils, but I did manage to find a sandy spot so didn't do any damage I hope.
Thanks for the comments Steve!
A big Aggie tent
DeleteI assume ? Looks good . I'm still a tarp tent habitor.
Yes, it's the Big Agnes one-- the same as Jan and Renee both have-- and since they are the ones I hike with the most recently, at least on long trips, I decided I would go with what they have so they can help me out and give me tips.
DeleteI tried out Jan's tarptent for a while but had trouble with a non-freestanding tent a bunch of times with so much rock around. Oh tents!
wonderful. i love your photos the apparent eternity of rock and the fleetingness of butterflies. its all mysterious absorbing and healing.
ReplyDeleteYes, and even the apparently solid redrock is eroding away. Maybe that's the draw of the arches for me.
DeleteThanks, Joe.
Gorgeous hike! I need to slow down and look at the sulphurs---they are hard to look at, too!
ReplyDeleteOh the sulphurs! I've been seeing them here too, but they are so fast that I rarely get good photos of them. That's why I didn't talk about them here. Started carrying my butterfly net backpacking though (talk about a luxary item!) so been catching them to photograph and that's helping.
Delete